Nitrates going up

[mikelam]

I opened my 1st SW reef tank (75G) almost 3 weeks ago, I put in approx. 80lbs LR that the LFS said was cured. 60 lbs LS, using a wet dry with bio balls. I put in some Chromis, 2 anemones, 1-neon gobi, 1-royal gamma, 1-angel pygmy, 12-turbo snails, 4-pepermint shrimp. All seem to be doing fine. I know I rushed the process by adding live fish etc. All of my levels are good except nitrates are at 15ppm and seem to be rising daily. Is a water change a good idea this early? From what I read I should hold off on WC for a while longer.

[itsthesong]

Get rid of the bio balls. They are a nitrate factory. With that much LR and LS, that is all of the biological filtration that your tank will need. Bio balls are redundant, and the cause of the rising nitrates. Dump them now.
Also, it appears to me that you have far too much in your tank far too soon. You can't have an anemone this soon, let alone two, and the fish will need to go back. In this hobby, patience is key.

[Norward]

you "rushed the process" by putting all of that live stock into your tank within three weeks of setting it up and now you are concerned "is a water change this early a good idea?". you would appear to be beyond "early". With the above already said, do a 10% water change now and see if that helps, but you are going to have to do something about your high bioload and limited filtration. Get a protein skimmer going asap.

[dmilne85]

thats a lot of fish and livestock, i would say 15 ppm of nitrates wont hurt the fish but its rising b/c you rushed your livestock . i would do a water change just for safe measures. i would also take the bio balls out, they will trap alot of stuff and cause the nitrates to rise. your better off using the wet dry as a refugium for pods and growing algae. i would keep an eye on the anemones, they usually are sensitive to new tanks and require a matured tank depending on what kind you have.

[mikelam]

I know that I rushed it.
Are the bio balls that bad. Should I pull them out and run the filter with that empty space. Is there another alternative?

[mikelam]

Thanks dimil. Could you eplain what I need to do/purchase to convert to a refugium.

[mikelam]

explain Sorry

[Zestay]

a refuge needs a light( on a timer )
pull out all the bio balls use them as golf ball whiffle balls....
you can add a sand bed to the refuge area if you want.
add some macro algae . thats it.

also pull the sponge filter off the pump that pushes water back up to your tank. this way the pods can make it up to your tank. also those sponges if uncleaned are nitrate bombs as well.

[DoctorLps]

I agree with evreyone who thinks you rushed it alittle to soon.
I havent had expierence using bio balls myself, but have been told many times they are nitrate traps.
Patience is a plus in this hobby and we all know it is hard, but it does make it worth your while setting up a tank the right way!!!

Good luck!

[mikelam]

Thanks Zestay

[Magic Hook]

What is macro algae and can you buy it at the fish store? Any special lighting? Sorry to be so uninformed, what are pods?

Thanks

[drillsar]

I would do more then 10% water change more closely to 20%

[mikelam]

The bio balls and filter sponge are out.
I only question how the water will be filtered.

[Amyandlars]

Your Live rock is your filter. Also when you do a w/c use a powerhead to put detrius from the rocks in the tank into the water column and suck it out. I also battle high nitrates, and adding another powerhead and sucking out the detrius from the tank, cut it half in 2 weeks.

Macro algae can be purchased at the LFS, from most of the sponsors of reefcentral, and look in the for sale forum alot of members have cheato on sale.

[mikelam]

I guess I will keep the filter sponge out. Thanks for all of your help