NITRATES????????????

[purpletanglvr]

I have a fish only tank that i cant seem to lower the nitrates any on. The tank has been set up for 1 year. IT is a 42 gallon, has 4 fish, 3 snails, 40lbs of crushed coral, 12 lbs of fiji in it. I use a fluval 204 on it with prefilter, carbon, purigen, phosguard, and biomax biological filter media. I have a bakpak 2 for a skimmer, and use a maxijet 900 for circulation. Any suggestions on how to get the nitrates down in this tank. I want to make it into a reef just as soon as i get the nitrates down and the light hood built. thanks

[Neal358]

what are the nitrates in the tank a fish only can take much much highter nitrates then a reef. i know some people with fish only and the nitrates are around 50-60 ppm and have no problem with the helth of the fish

[purpletanglvr]

they are between 30 and 40 but i want them to drop so i can make this a reef tank. i am almost to the point of starting it over......

[rreed]

How many fish do you have in the tank would be my first question? Second how often are you feeding would be the second? What I would do is start by a 10% water change and then start changing 1 gallon of water each day. You may have to many fish in the tank for now.

[greenlincoln]

I believe the problem is being caused by your crushed coral substrate. Unlike a DSB, CC cannot completely break down (nitrate to nitrogen gas) the waste. I suggest before you go to a reef environment, that you replace your CC with aragonite and LS. HTH

[GOOD (G)REEF]

I agree with green. I would take out the inhabitants of the tank and the live rock and transfer them to a holding tank. You can you use buckets with airstones or a hospital tank. Just make sure they are big enough. Then siphon out the cc and add about 4" of aragamax or ESV sand. If you can find Southdown sand at Home Depot--that's the same stuff and it costs alot less. Just make sure you are getting the right kind of sand. I started a thread with pictures and the skew # of the right kind of sand. Then eventually you need a detrivore kit to seed the DSB with stuff like bristle worms and pods. They mix the sand together and eat the detritus that falls to it. It is very important that you have these. You can also get some from fellow reefers and live rock. You should get a recharge kit (another detrivore kit) to resupply your tank with these critters once every one to two years. Wait until the cloud clears (do not rinse the sand; doing so will wash away the small particles that are essential to a good DSB), this should take a day or two. Then add the fish and LR back to your tank. Do a search, there are many threads about changing out your substrate and if you go to Dr. Ron's website there is a very good article containing everything you need to know about DSB's. HTH!

Lol!! I forgot the original subject. I would lessen feedings, take off the mechanical filter, or clean it regularly. If they become clogged they create nitrates from all of the decomposing waste in them. Then I would do 10-20% water changes every week, to lessen the load on your cc. If you want you can try some caulerpa or other macroalgae to take some nutrients out of the water. I would put these in the sump if you have one, because they can spread very quickly and overrun the display portion of your tank. I don't think you're overstocked so that isn't a problem. HTH!

[BurnNSpy]

You need to add enough Seaflor aragonite to make your sand bed 5"+ deep by covering the CC and add detrivores.

Get rid of the mechanical filtration in the canister filter it is a nitrate factory, use it as a pump only.

The only mechanical filtration you should use if any is a small power filter where you can change it out every week in a few seconds.

Did you mention a skimmer, if not get a skimmer too.

I hope you have at least VHO lighting if you plan on getting corals, but I recommend 1-175 6500K MH with 2-VHO actinic for support.

You will need a calcium and phosphate test kit for corals also.

BurnNSpy

[purpletanglvr]

thanks for the suggestions. I do have a skimmer, a bakpak2. it seems to work pretty well, but i might get a berlin hangon eventually. the problem with the 42 hex is there is not much room for equipment. I will take the prefilter out of the canister filter, and only leave the biomax in it. Should i leave the carbon in it, or just use it time to time?? I also use carbon in my fish only set up, should i do this? I have been looking at buying
"the package" from tampa bay saltwater that contains the live sand, the live rock, and all the cleanup crew i will need. IF i do this, i will most likely take the fish out completely and either have someone hold them or put them somewhere in my mixing container. Then i will take the crushed coral out. I will do a major water change, half or so to clean it out. For lighting, since the surface is small, I am going to use 3-32 watt powercompact lights. Im not planning on having too many corals that require high lighting. If i do, i will put them near the top of the tank. thanks