Nitrates

[stormin_Norman]

I need help (ha ha ha)! I have been fighting Nitrates in my tank for several months now. I am not able to get them down no matter what I try. I am changing 10 gallons of water for DI water once a week or so (It is a 55 gallon tank). We have a 20 gallon sump with live rock and live sand. We have lots of live rock in the main tank (best guess is 75 pounds as we have two rocks that are 25-30 pounds each). I have an Emperor 400 attached to the main tank and I have a SeaClone 100 Protein Skimmer. I have very little (practically no) 'reef' items, a normal fish load, and LOTS of cleanup crew.

I found an article discussing a Coil Denitrator (http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/pro...coildenitr.htm). I have never heard of one of these and didn't know if this sort of thing actually works. Please let me know what you guys use control your Nitrates.

[Stealth91RT]

I know I was fighting nitrates in my 55 for a while. the best thing I did was make sure everything was taken out and cleaned two times a week filters, skimmer, power heads, walls of the tank, the sump, used a turkey baster to blow up debris from the top layer of sand, and whatever plumbing I could get to. I also started watching what I put in my tank as far as food and basically feed each fish individually once a day only what it could eat, not any more. you might get some algae to put in your sump and throw a daylight florescent bulb on it. Other than that keep up the water changes you actually might do a 20% to help it along and be patient they won't disappear over night.

[mskohl]

You have a sump and are still running an emporer 400? Do you still have the wheels in it?

If so, take them out and put them in the sump for a few weeks. Then, get rid of the emporer unless you like the trickle sound for flow.

The bacteria that live on the wheels are oxygen loving bacteria and they convert nitrite to nitrate. The bacteria that convert nitrate into nitrogen live deep within the rocks and in a deep sandbed. If you can make a 6" sandbed in a refugium, they will knock out your nitrates.

Then, blast the rocks before a water change and clean only the shallow sandbed.

[poke75]

yea, like she said.

[jkhudson]

You should only use a wheel when you're breaking the tank in. The filter works great for a wavemaker and you can use it for carbon and any other media you might need.

[SoonerReefer]

I would do big water changes,maybe 75% at one time and then 25% after that.I run a 400 as well on our 55 but only use it for carbon,you might consider a better skimmer in the future.
We change about 12 gallon of water every 2 weeks out the 55 and I dont have a sump.
I would also check your TDS of DI water,making bigger water changes and having a good skimmer will keep those Nitrate levels low...

Donny
OMAS

[Cichlid-Dave]

Here is a link to ebay for a coil denitrator for sale.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tab%3DWatching

[jkhudson]

You can make one for a fraction of that price. Go to the RC DIY page.