Nitrate Question

[J Codling]

Hello from NC. Here are my tank specs:

55 Gal bowfront
50lbs LR
3" Agronite, very active, seeded with LS 2years ago
1 Eheim PRO wet/dry
1 HOT Magnum running carbon
1 CPR backpack skimmer with bio string stuff

Livestock: 1 clown, atlantic anenemoe, 4 turbo snails, Wrasse, 3 damsels,
coral beauty, and a few small gobies

Been running this tank for sometime and got a hair algae outbreak not too
long ago so bought the turbo's, noticed the turbo's were very lethargic
after a week in the tank so tested the water, which to my admission I don't
do often. The Nitrates were off the scale, the nitrates barely registered,
little ammonia.

I change water with RO/DI water every 3 weeks or so, 10% and top off with
RO/DI once per week roughly. I use Instant Ocean salt.

My question is should I do anything about it. I have been running this tank
for well over a year without adding much livestock to it, in fact I've taken
some fish out in the past 6 months. THe fish do not appear to be stressed
at all, so I'm not overly concerned with the Nitrate levels, but am somewhat
concerned about the snails and getting rid of the hair algae. I've setup a
separate refugium that is thriving. I haven't connected the two together
yet, probably will do this weekend, wife willing :). I have more liverock,
about 15 lbs, caulpera and spaghetti algae and 30 gallons of water volume in
the refugium.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jim

[J Codling]

Sorry, I meant the Nitrites barely registered, Nitrates were off the scale.

[Dinky]

"J Codling" > wrote in message
nk.net...
| Sorry, I meant the Nitrites barely registered, Nitrates were off
the scale.
|
|

Could be due to the filter you've chosen. The Eheim is about the same
filter I was going to use when I started, the experts in here said it
wasn't a good idea, as w/d's are "nitrate factories". You'd probably
be much better off with a sump\refugium system.

Just my 1.5 cents.

billy

[PaulB]

I do a 10% change every week and still have some nitrate problems.

Fish are not a sensitive as inverts to nitrates.

..
"J Codling" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> Hello from NC. Here are my tank specs:
>
> 55 Gal bowfront
> 50lbs LR
> 3" Agronite, very active, seeded with LS 2years ago
> 1 Eheim PRO wet/dry
> 1 HOT Magnum running carbon
> 1 CPR backpack skimmer with bio string stuff
>
> Livestock: 1 clown, atlantic anenemoe, 4 turbo snails, Wrasse, 3 damsels,
> coral beauty, and a few small gobies
>
> Been running this tank for sometime and got a hair algae outbreak not too
> long ago so bought the turbo's, noticed the turbo's were very lethargic
> after a week in the tank so tested the water, which to my admission I
don't
> do often. The Nitrates were off the scale, the nitrates barely
registered,
> little ammonia.
>
> I change water with RO/DI water every 3 weeks or so, 10% and top off with
> RO/DI once per week roughly. I use Instant Ocean salt.
>
> My question is should I do anything about it. I have been running this
tank
> for well over a year without adding much livestock to it, in fact I've
taken
> some fish out in the past 6 months. THe fish do not appear to be stressed
> at all, so I'm not overly concerned with the Nitrate levels, but am
somewhat
> concerned about the snails and getting rid of the hair algae. I've setup
a
> separate refugium that is thriving. I haven't connected the two together
> yet, probably will do this weekend, wife willing :). I have more
liverock,
> about 15 lbs, caulpera and spaghetti algae and 30 gallons of water volume
in
> the refugium.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated.
>
> Jim
>
>
>

[James Codling]

What would would happen if I just removed my media from my wet/dry and my
skimmer? Could my LR/LS handle the ammonia load by itself?


"Dinky" > wrote in message
nk.net...
>
>
> "J Codling" > wrote in message
> nk.net...
> | Sorry, I meant the Nitrites barely registered, Nitrates were off
> the scale.
> |
> |
>
> Could be due to the filter you've chosen. The Eheim is about the same
> filter I was going to use when I started, the experts in here said it
> wasn't a good idea, as w/d's are "nitrate factories". You'd probably
> be much better off with a sump\refugium system.
>
> Just my 1.5 cents.
>
> billy
>
>

[Simon O'Keeffe]

Make sure you clean all prefilters and if possibel remove them.
It's not so much the triclke and the canister creating nitrates but
probably the way the entire tank runs.
You have to keep the waste in the water column, increase intank
circulation, more skiming less food. Fish need surprisingly little food.
Your refugium will help a lot but make sure you have a nice light (250w
+) and put a decent amount of flow through it.
At least 5 times tank volume per hour.

Nitrate is easy to beat.

Simon

Dinky wrote:

>"J Codling" > wrote in message
nk.net...
>| Sorry, I meant the Nitrites barely registered, Nitrates were off
>the scale.
>|
>|
>
>Could be due to the filter you've chosen. The Eheim is about the same
>filter I was going to use when I started, the experts in here said it
>wasn't a good idea, as w/d's are "nitrate factories". You'd probably
>be much better off with a sump\refugium system.
>
>Just my 1.5 cents.
>
>billy
>
>
>
>

[Ken N]

If you are adding uncured live rock to your tank, you may be going through
mini cycles. I would hold off putting any more live rock into the tank and
see if the levels dissipate.

Ken N.
"J Codling" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> Hello from NC. Here are my tank specs:
>
> 55 Gal bowfront
> 50lbs LR
> 3" Agronite, very active, seeded with LS 2years ago
> 1 Eheim PRO wet/dry
> 1 HOT Magnum running carbon
> 1 CPR backpack skimmer with bio string stuff
>
> Livestock: 1 clown, atlantic anenemoe, 4 turbo snails, Wrasse, 3 damsels,
> coral beauty, and a few small gobies
>
> Been running this tank for sometime and got a hair algae outbreak not too
> long ago so bought the turbo's, noticed the turbo's were very lethargic
> after a week in the tank so tested the water, which to my admission I
don't
> do often. The Nitrates were off the scale, the nitrates barely
registered,
> little ammonia.
>
> I change water with RO/DI water every 3 weeks or so, 10% and top off with
> RO/DI once per week roughly. I use Instant Ocean salt.
>
> My question is should I do anything about it. I have been running this
tank
> for well over a year without adding much livestock to it, in fact I've
taken
> some fish out in the past 6 months. THe fish do not appear to be stressed
> at all, so I'm not overly concerned with the Nitrate levels, but am
somewhat
> concerned about the snails and getting rid of the hair algae. I've setup
a
> separate refugium that is thriving. I haven't connected the two together
> yet, probably will do this weekend, wife willing :). I have more
liverock,
> about 15 lbs, caulpera and spaghetti algae and 30 gallons of water volume
in
> the refugium.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated.
>
> Jim
>
>

[Dinky]

"PaulB" > wrote in message
om...
| I do a 10% change every week and still have some nitrate problems.
|
| Fish are not a sensitive as inverts to nitrates.
|
| .

Very true! However, an "off the scale" nitrate reading would be
dangerous to just about anything in a marine tank (dependant on the
tesk kit's limits obviously), and a 10% weekly water change in a
large tank can start to get expensive, particulariliy for folks who
do not own an RO unit.

billy

[Dinky]

"James Codling" > wrote in message
ink.net...
| What would would happen if I just removed my media from my wet/dry
and my
| skimmer? Could my LR/LS handle the ammonia load by itself?
|

Once you're sure the LR in both the display tank and 'fuge is cured,
and they're connected, I'd hazard, yes. Between what's in the display
and the fuge, and the fairly light bio-load, it should be able to
self-sustain. What kind of lights are you running?

billy

[J Codling]

Currently running 1-15W Daylight and 1-15W standard fluorescent. Just
received in the mail a new set of PC 2-96W daylight/actinic lamps.


"Dinky" > wrote in message
nk.net...
>
> "James Codling" > wrote in message
> ink.net...
> | What would would happen if I just removed my media from my wet/dry
> and my
> | skimmer? Could my LR/LS handle the ammonia load by itself?
> |
>
> Once you're sure the LR in both the display tank and 'fuge is cured,
> and they're connected, I'd hazard, yes. Between what's in the display
> and the fuge, and the fairly light bio-load, it should be able to
> self-sustain. What kind of lights are you running?
>
> billy
>
>

[CapFusion]

"James Codling" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> What would would happen if I just removed my media from my wet/dry and my
> skimmer? Could my LR/LS handle the ammonia load by itself?
>

I would suggest slowly remove the media. I assume the media you refer to are
those Bios-Balls. If have good handle of your tank need then you can try
skimmerless and see what will happen. Self-sustain tank is good but you will
need to determine yourself, though. Every tank have it own personality
(so-of-speaking).

CapFusion,...

[Marc Levenson]

Well, I'm late on this discussion, but here's the article that covers the
problems and the solution:

http://www.melevsreef.com/reducing_nitrates.html

Marc


Ken N wrote:

> If you are adding uncured live rock to your tank, you may be going through
> mini cycles. I would hold off putting any more live rock into the tank and
> see if the levels dissipate.
>
> Ken N.
> "J Codling" > wrote in message
> nk.net...
> > Hello from NC. Here are my tank specs:
> >
> > 55 Gal bowfront
> > 50lbs LR
> > 3" Agronite, very active, seeded with LS 2years ago
> > 1 Eheim PRO wet/dry
> > 1 HOT Magnum running carbon
> > 1 CPR backpack skimmer with bio string stuff
> >
> > Livestock: 1 clown, atlantic anenemoe, 4 turbo snails, Wrasse, 3 damsels,
> > coral beauty, and a few small gobies
> >
> > Been running this tank for sometime and got a hair algae outbreak not too
> > long ago so bought the turbo's, noticed the turbo's were very lethargic
> > after a week in the tank so tested the water, which to my admission I
> don't
> > do often. The Nitrates were off the scale, the nitrates barely
> registered,
> > little ammonia.
> >
> > I change water with RO/DI water every 3 weeks or so, 10% and top off with
> > RO/DI once per week roughly. I use Instant Ocean salt.
> >
> > My question is should I do anything about it. I have been running this
> tank
> > for well over a year without adding much livestock to it, in fact I've
> taken
> > some fish out in the past 6 months. THe fish do not appear to be stressed
> > at all, so I'm not overly concerned with the Nitrate levels, but am
> somewhat
> > concerned about the snails and getting rid of the hair algae. I've setup
> a
> > separate refugium that is thriving. I haven't connected the two together
> > yet, probably will do this weekend, wife willing :). I have more
> liverock,
> > about 15 lbs, caulpera and spaghetti algae and 30 gallons of water volume
> in
> > the refugium.
> >
> > Any advice would be appreciated.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> >

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com