Nitrate!

I also have made a resolution to never ever buy anyhting but fish and
clean up crews that are capable of moiving aorund on its own. Never
ever will I buy any mobile corals. Its a never ending hassle keeping
them happy. If its not food its water if its not water its light, if
not light its current flow, if its not current flow its
location........the list never ends, and just when yu think they are
happy where they are at, and re-arrange everything to suit "their"
chosen location they pack up and move again.


On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:55:08 -0500, KurtG
wrote:

RubenD wrote:
Anemone, tough call. I got 3 bubbletips and they slowly die.
They need good water quality, strong light, sometimes manual feeding, and
most of all (on my case),
Be far from the filter since they move a lot and get trap on
filters/powerheads.

I've lost two: One to predation and the other to a powerhead from hell
(1800 l/hr now removed).

So far, all are doing much better. The bubble tip is staying put, but
the ritteri does move around. I have two smaller ones that the clowns
ignore and they seem to have found a home and are staying put as well.

--Kurt



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Most if not all lFS here in the states use the same exact hobby ty0pe
kits they sell to test water. MOst foks wil not pay big bucks for
higher end kits and IMHO they really are not needed either, so its
kind of hard to have a LFS sell low end but use a high end to check
water. Its like owning a Ford dealership but the owner drives a Chevy.

NItrates are a by product of what and how much you feed. Reduce
feeding amounts and even amount of times yu feed, and look at what yur
feeding. Also look at the water osurce. Lots of water has high nitrate
already. Are you usuing a rodi unit for water? Is its filters in good
shape? You can add macro algae like Chaeto morphia, or even some types
of calurpea, as they are good at exporting nitrates. Shaving brush
p0lants also work as does some corals like Xenia and yellow polyps.


On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 14:34:43 GMT, wrote:

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:55:08 -0500, KurtG
wrote:

RubenD wrote:
Anemone, tough call. I got 3 bubbletips and they slowly die.
They need good water quality, strong light, sometimes manual feeding, and
most of all (on my case),
Be far from the filter since they move a lot and get trap on
filters/powerheads.

I've lost two: One to predation and the other to a powerhead from hell
(1800 l/hr now removed).

So far, all are doing much better. The bubble tip is staying put, but
the ritteri does move around. I have two smaller ones that the clowns
ignore and they seem to have found a home and are staying put as well.

--Kurt

Kurt,

If, as you are implying, your anemonies are still thriving, your water
conditions are possibly not too bad. It may be that the testkits are
giving false readings. If so, you are trying to fix something that
"ain't broke". Remember that hobbyist-kits are not very accurate, even
when first bought, and deteriorate rapidly with age. If you can, take
a small polybag of water to a LFS for confirmation of your readings.
If you are a regular customer, they may make tests free.

Regards, Fishnut.



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:39:00 -0500, KurtG
wrote:

snip .
It's clown is bordering on a psychotic obsession (!), but it
seems happy as well.

The ritteri and others look great.

--Kurt

I have always viewed all clowns as being psychotic. They do suffer
from excessive compulsive behavior



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

KurtG wrote:

Don't the live rock and sand cycle out nitrate as well? I don't know
how much, but I'm hoping small water changes will take the edge off
until the protein skimmer & bacteria can do their job done.

That claim was made in another thread, but I've not seen this in my tank.
Nitrates do get pulled out by plant matter, which is why many people keep
mangroves in a refugium.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Tristan wrote:

I also have made a resolution to never ever buy anyhting but fish and
clean up crews that are capable of moiving aorund on its own.

I think the moto is "don't fight it". They seem to have a mind of their
own.

I've been trying to reward them with additional light when they stay in
the spot I'd like them to. But, they'll up and wonder for no good
reason, but I reduce the lighting until they return. Then I increase
lighting again. Don't know if it works, but it does seem to.

--Kurt

* George Patterson wrote, On 12/18/2006 11:27 AM:
KurtG wrote:

Don't the live rock and sand cycle out nitrate as well? I don't know
how much, but I'm hoping small water changes will take the edge off
until the protein skimmer & bacteria can do their job done.

That claim was made in another thread, but I've not seen this in my
tank. Nitrates do get pulled out by plant matter, which is why many
people keep mangroves in a refugium.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Oh! Yeah! My mangroves started as stubs a couple months ago and are finally
opening their first set of leaves. Have pretty good roots.

Cindy

KurtG wrote:

I have an anemone that didn't look so hot, so I finally sat down with a
notebook and started working through my jr. chemistry set.

Arg! Eye popping levels of nitrate! I only had ten gallons of water
mixed up, so exchanged that. And, I put the fish on a crash diet. I've
only had the protein skimmer running for 72 hrs, but that should help.

All my other levels are normal except for Ca+ which is 600ppm.

I'll continue doing water changes as soon as the salt water gets 24 hrs
to stand.

Anything else I can do? (Remember: I'm a newbie.)

--Kurt

Best thing for Nitrates is macro algae. They will absorb it (it's a
fertilizer)

If you have a lit sump or refugium, put some Chaetomorpha or Calurpa in
it (Calerpa pulls the niates down faster, IME)

Or you can stick either straight in your tank if you have no sump or
fuge. Problem is your livestock may munch on it (less so with the caheto
than the calerpa, but I have seen tangs munch on chaeto...)

Been there done that with calurpea. It can get to be quite invasive
to the point its hold fasts get into liverock pores etc and it is just
about impossible to get rid of. Chaeto is best to have unless of
course you have veggie eaters like tangs, then they will keep the
calurpea in check, and probably more than likely devastate it that it
will not propagate to well. I do not keep large fish nor do I keep
tangs, however I am partial to foxface / rabbit fish.

n Wed, 20 Dec 2006 14:31:27 -0500, Add Homonym
wrote:

KurtG wrote:

I have an anemone that didn't look so hot, so I finally sat down with a
notebook and started working through my jr. chemistry set.

Arg! Eye popping levels of nitrate! I only had ten gallons of water
mixed up, so exchanged that. And, I put the fish on a crash diet. I've
only had the protein skimmer running for 72 hrs, but that should help.

All my other levels are normal except for Ca+ which is 600ppm.

I'll continue doing water changes as soon as the salt water gets 24 hrs
to stand.

Anything else I can do? (Remember: I'm a newbie.)

--Kurt

Best thing for Nitrates is macro algae. They will absorb it (it's a
fertilizer)

If you have a lit sump or refugium, put some Chaetomorpha or Calurpa in
it (Calerpa pulls the niates down faster, IME)

Or you can stick either straight in your tank if you have no sump or
fuge. Problem is your livestock may munch on it (less so with the caheto
than the calerpa, but I have seen tangs munch on chaeto...)



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

KurtG wrote:
George Patterson wrote:

Well, it won't really be quick. It would take 7 partial water changes
of 10% to cut the nitrates in half. If no nitrates are generated in
the meantime. Kick it up to about 25% if you can. Three 25% changes
will bring it well below the halfway mark.


Don't the live rock and sand cycle out nitrate as well? I don't know
how much, but I'm hoping small water changes will take the edge off
until the protein skimmer & bacteria can do their job done.

--Kurt

Only happens in limited oxygen envionment, Bacteria deep inside the live
rock will do it, and deep in the sand if you have a deep sand bed...

Bacteria that live on surface of rock and sand bed can't metabolize
nitrates.

Add Homonym wrote:
Best thing for Nitrates is macro algae. They will absorb it (it's a
fertilizer)

If you have a lit sump or refugium, put some Chaetomorpha or Calurpa in
it (Calerpa pulls the niates down faster, IME)

Or you can stick either straight in your tank if you have no sump or
fuge. Problem is your livestock may munch on it (less so with the caheto
than the calerpa, but I have seen tangs munch on chaeto...)

Thanks! I'm working on a refugium setup. I thought I could postpone
it, but in for penny in for a pound. I was hoping to feed my tang out
of it, so that's good news.

--Kurt