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#1
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Nitrates are killing me!
Ive been battling nitrates for some time now, Im wondering if maybe my lionfish and grouper are the cause.
I have a 15 gallon fuge full of cheato lit 24/7. 4" dsb fairly new switched from BB about a month ago. asm g3 skimmer fish: maroon clown purple tang clown grouper lionfish Im stumped as to where the nitrates are coming from the are 20+ all the time. I do bi weekly 30 gallon water changes. I only feed 1 time every 2 days at the most. Do you think the big carnivores are the cause? Im sick of my sps stning over the nitrates. |
#2
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Why dont you get a 55 gallon can and prep some water for a change. Do 2 water changes that big in a week and see if you still have nitrates. If you get them low, they will be easier to maintain with your usual 30 gallon change.
__________________
I love being a turtle!!! |
#3
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get some live rock and try some prime
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#4
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mayb ur fuge is too full so the chaeto can't grow as fast as ur NO3. pull some out
__________________
I'm one of those reefnutz that are actually nutz. |
#5
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i have 100lbs of live rock, I may try the water change method......
Im pretty sure my fuge is good the cheato isnt that big yet. one thing thats weird is my salifert kit reads 50ppm or so(its really hard to tell exactly what its reading since the test only uses 1ml of water., but my red sea reads 20ppm....I know the salifert has a bad reputation for the nitrate kit..which one do you guys think is closer to the right reading? |
#6
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Did you have high nitrate levels when your tank was barebottom? What skimmer are you using?
Inefficient/insufficient skimming, overfeeding, messy tank inhabitants, detritus build-up and insufficient water changes are the most likely causes. |
#7
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yes they were higher than they are now.
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#8
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There is always the sugar/vodka dosing method in the Advanced or Chemistry forums. If you still can't figure it out, you can always try to cook your rock by dipping and keeping them in the dark for long periods of time, probably releasing a LOT of stored up detritus.
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#9
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Have you tested your water source? Nitrate tests are very unreliable. There is a thread here about testing many brands of nitrate tests, the numbers are all over the board.
I started sugar addition and my algae has since disappeared in my tank, but the test kept showing 10ppm until I tried a different test showed zero. If your livestock are doing good, and you don't have bad algae growing in your tank under strong lighting, your fine. |
#10
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Are you using RO/DI water? If you are not seeing 0 TDS from whatever water you are using to topoff with - that may be the source.
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#11
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IMO you are right, groupers and lionfish are really dirty. It sound to me like your setup is perfectly all right. Nitrates are sign of high bio-lode, so it sounds like waste is to blame
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#12
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Quote:
I tried the sugar method and all I got was bad cyno=/ |
#13
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#14
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#15
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WATER CHANGE! And see where you're at. Nitrates arent gonna go down by themselves. Get them low and be careful feeding, then your fuge and rock should be able to keep them low.
__________________
I love being a turtle!!! |
#16
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I wish that was my coral ceegee
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#17
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Water changes and try some Purigen.
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#18
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Don't use any chemicals or additives. Be diligent in cleaning your tank of detritus, cut back on feedings (if you're feeding every day, try feeding every other day), and skim like a mofo.
A little elbow grease usually solves the nitrate problems. Also, what skimmer are you using? |
#19
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asm-g3, i also am very diligent with my cleaning...30g water change every 2 weeks.
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#20
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What brand of test kit are you using?
__________________
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will spend all day in a boat drinking beer." |
#21
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Re: Nitrates are killing me!
Quote:
It is accurate though, the fish you are keeping are rather messy and not helping the cause.
__________________
Kid I’ve been from one end of RC to other and I have seen a lot of strange stuff but I haven’t seen anything to make me believe there is one all powerful way of setting up a tank that fixes everything |
#22
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red sea and a salifert.....now I tested my make up water today with red sea and it read 20 while salifert still reads 0...
tank water reads 50 with salifert and 20 with red sea. |
#23
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im about to throw in the towel though and buy a FO tank....Its getting really frustrating I read and read, ive bought everything I need to run a successful tank....but I still keep loosing my corals or they just brown out....and the only logical cause I can think of is nitrates because its the only nutrient I cant keep in check. Its been over a year and its still not solved and im begining to think I should save my money.
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#24
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Re: Re: Nitrates are killing me!
Quote:
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#25
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A stock G3 isnt nearly big enough for big dirty fish like that.
It probably would need to pull 3 times the air to handle that load. Look into meshmod, or buy a better skimmer. The ASMs are really sub par.
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72 Bow w/6x54w T5HO,,2xMaximod1200, PS-3000 skimmer |
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