Nitrates

[Mikro]

Once a tank cycles are nitrates always present?

[jdbassin]

I have a 5 inch sand bed in my tank nitrates are @ zero. Without a deepsand bed or some sort of denitrification unit the only way to change them would be to do frequent water changes but I would imagine they would always be present. Don't know for sure though never had a bb tank


jd

[ronkent]

yes and no. with the use of a skimmer and a refugium u can get your nitrates down to or close to 0. in one sense ther is always some nitrate as the nitrogen cycle is always taking place but usually quickly enuff that all levels should be at 0.

[ronkent]

oh yea and jd mentioned water changes...i forgot that 1 :)

[Mikro]

Originally posted by ronkent
yes and no. with the use of a skimmer and a refugium u can get your nitrates down to or close to 0. in one sense ther is always some nitrate as the nitrogen cycle is always taking place but usually quickly enuff that all levels should be at 0.

Whats the diference between a sump and a refugium?

[BMitch]

Sump is just a place to house all the equipment that would normally clutter the display area in the tank. For example, heaters.

Some people have even used converted wet/drys where the bioballs are removed. Basically, a sump just adds water volume to the total system.

[bertoni]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

That article has a lot of information about nitrate levels in aquaria.