i have a 30 gallon fish only that i am trying to convert to a mixed reef tank, but i have a problem with nitrates. i have done 10% all the way up to 45% water changes. and reduced the amount of food that i feed the fish. i have read different things saying do 5% water changes every three days. i tried that for a couple of weeks but it bumped the nitrates up to 60ppm. any suggestions.
Need Help. Nitrates.
- Thread starter kevheng
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i have a coralife super skimmer 65, 30lbs of live rock, 5 fish: 1 percula clown, 1 canary wrasse, 1 flame hawk, 1 lawn mower blenny, 1 flame tail blenny. i feed them frozen food. formula one once to twice a day, 1/8 to 1/4 of the cube. i am doseing 5ml of purple up every two days. i dont have a sump yet. and i don't know what a fuge is. i am not vaccuming the sand, and i dont have bio balls. i am planning on getting a trickle fillter soon. other than water changes i am not doing anything else about nitrates.
Depending on the size of the fish that COULD be a pretty sizable bioload. Looks like you're feeding roughly 1/4 to 1/2 cube DAILY which doesn't seem excessive. I say get the junk out of the sand by vacumning to see if you have a nutrient build-up.
I hope you are feeding something else too with that lawnmower unless your tank produces LOTS of hair algae.
I hope you are feeding something else too with that lawnmower unless your tank produces LOTS of hair algae.
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When you vacuum the sand bed aren't you removing any beneficial bacteria that might help the nitrates? I think if you were to feed a little less also maybe one cube every day or even every other dayt that would help the most, I feed my 55gal every 2 day and all my fish are healthy and thick. I feed the loinfish in my reeftank about one every 5-7 days.
Chris c
Chris c
The bacteria are attached to the sand and rock. Vacuuming won't remove them. It's also very unlikely to catch any small fauna like worms or pods but if you're unsure, let the waste water stand in a bucket for a while and check (they can move pretty fast away from a siphon).
I'd feed every other day - but a smaller quantity daily works out to about the same. Some folks feel better about feeding at least something daily. A lionfish doesn't need to eat as often.
How long has the tank in question been set up and what were maintenance procedures prior to wanting to change it? Nitrate is usually a long-term build up of nutrients that have accumulated over time.
Jenn
I'd feed every other day - but a smaller quantity daily works out to about the same. Some folks feel better about feeding at least something daily. A lionfish doesn't need to eat as often.
How long has the tank in question been set up and what were maintenance procedures prior to wanting to change it? Nitrate is usually a long-term build up of nutrients that have accumulated over time.
Jenn
2 months?
Ok... time to backtrack. Please post all of your parameters.
At 2 months it's barely through cycling, let alone being fully stocked (which IMO you are fully stocked - perhaps too much for the youth of the tank).
Very unusual for nitrates to be so high, so fast... unless something has gone very wrong. Nitrates can spike, but usually are something that occur over time (ie old tank syndrome) - or they build up when the amount of waste being produced, exceeds the amount of export (ie denitrification and dilution via water changing).
Something is up somewhere. Have you had the results checked using another testing method?
Jenn
Ok... time to backtrack. Please post all of your parameters.
At 2 months it's barely through cycling, let alone being fully stocked (which IMO you are fully stocked - perhaps too much for the youth of the tank).
Very unusual for nitrates to be so high, so fast... unless something has gone very wrong. Nitrates can spike, but usually are something that occur over time (ie old tank syndrome) - or they build up when the amount of waste being produced, exceeds the amount of export (ie denitrification and dilution via water changing).
Something is up somewhere. Have you had the results checked using another testing method?
Jenn
Uh? Do you mean Nitrates or <span style="color: red">Nitrites</span><span style="color: black">.</span>
Make sure you're refering to (and testing for) the correct substance/toxin.....
At two months, you should be past your nitrite phase, but no where near a build up of nitrate.
If the theory above doesn't pan out, I'm stumped, unless it was a reset from a very old tank with a much worse nitrate problem.
Make sure you're refering to (and testing for) the correct substance/toxin.....
At two months, you should be past your nitrite phase, but no where near a build up of nitrate.
If the theory above doesn't pan out, I'm stumped, unless it was a reset from a very old tank with a much worse nitrate problem.
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