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#1
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nitrate.
alright, so basically my tank has been up for about 10 months now. First couple months my levels were great. nothing bad. then 6 months hits and like 100ppm of Nitrate. I had added about 6 fish over the course of 6 months and a couple coral; Nothing too drastic. It feels like i've tried everything. I made a refugium in my sump. Changed my rock around to make sure there aren't any dead spots, and try to feed as little as possible. and i also have a euro reef protein skimmer. I also have tried doing a 10 % water change every week, and nothing seems to work. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me now. At this point in completely lost.
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#2
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Don't starve your fish.... please.
Give this a read. Nitrates in the Reef Aquarium http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm |
#3
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are you using a wet/dry filter??
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#4
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or a biowheel, what filtration are you using? live sand? what test are you using?
__________________
A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them G.Washington |
#5
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No, I'm not running a wet/dry filter or a biowheel. I have a protein skimmer rated higher than what i need, i have about 4 inches of live sand, and 70 lbs of live rock.
Oh yeah, also i used nitrate remover, which helped temporarily, but it still came back. |
#6
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oh yeha and the test kit brand i am using is API.
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#7
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A second opinion on the test kit might be useful, but that's a reasonable brand. This article covers nitrate problems in detail:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm
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Jonathan Bertoni |
#8
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#9
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#10
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What fish are in the system, and how much food is going into the tank? How much live rock is present?
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Jonathan Bertoni |
#11
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#12
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#13
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where did you source your liverock?
if it was from an established system, it is possible the liverock has absorbed enough nitrates/phosphates over time that it is slowly leaching it, much like a full dsb. however if your liverock was "fresh" rock cultured in or collected from the ocean this is unlikely the case. i suffered from this problem for a long, long time with my old system. no matter what i did i could never control nitrates. with my new system i used recycled dry rock and acid-bathed it to release the bound nutrients from the surface. so far so good, and i'm at about 1 year running. |
#14
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rock can't store NO3 like it can PO4 so it won't be a source unless there is continued decomposition.
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