same ol nitrate question! #@!

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cmar

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May 18, 2007
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okay... my nitrates have been hanging around the 20 to 30 mark. so i got real aggressive with the water changes. for example, in the last 3 days, i've changed 15 gallons twice, after doing 15 last week . nitrares read the same as before the changes. i have a 55 gal., skimmer,2 powerheads,30 or so lbs of live rock, 2 inches (+ _ ) of sand, 2 damsels, one clown, one tang. handful of snails and 3 or 4 hermits. coraline growing great, no real problem at all with algae or diatom. what gives? i thought that an almost 100 % change within a week would make some sort of significant change! also, if i let it go for a week or two, with no changes, they are not much higher! is my kit just orange/yellow dye?!!:wall:
 

Reefscape

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are you running a sump on this system? any sponge media anywhere in the system?

Whats your feeding schedule? and do you pull out any uneaten food?

Have a scan around your tank for dead spots..These area's are bad for gunk / detrius / rotting food to accumilate and give off nitrates if its not cleared up by the cleanup crew...

Niko
 

cmar

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May 18, 2007
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no sump yet, feed once or twice a day, small amounts and as i said, no real problems with detrius ( although i misspoke and said diatoms), pretty good flow thru-out tank
 

BeelzeBob

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Mar 18, 2006
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dont change too much water. you could very possibly be preventing the bacteria from "catching up"

first off, what gph are your powerheads? you want 1100-2200 gph runnin through there (20-40 X turnover)

how long has the tank been set up?

how long therafter have you added each fish?

everytime you add a critter (especially a fish) you want to let you system catch up to the new bio-load. if you add too much too fast, in addition to waaaaay too many WCs (100% in one week is too much, there darn be like, good stuff in all that water.) could most def attribute to an inadiquate NO cycle therefore, High NO3
 

cmar

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okay...using tap water w/ conditioner, reads zero trates. tang is about 3" ( i know, i know...but it was my daughter's choice!) got around 300 gps movement,( or so they say ) no new members in the past 3 months. tank is @ 9 mos. old. am i really changing too much or too often? all fish and critters seem well, and i usually only do 8 to 10 gals. every week or so. all in all, seems to make no diff! also, should i take the water from the top, bottom, or anywhere special?
 

BeelzeBob

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well i think we just solved your problem.

tap water may not have nitrates, id bet you 100 bucks that its chock full of crap that causes nitrates.

so what else are you testing for in the tap water?

tap water is pure crapacola. go to yer local grocery and get RO/DO or just RO water. do a 20-30% WC and continue on a 10-20% Weekly schedule with only good water
 

Reefscape

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What sort of time scale was there between adding the fish? however i dont think that adding stock too fast is the cause of your issue if it was 3 months ago when you last added..

Makes no odds where in the tank you take water from for the water change..on water changes, shoot for around 10% per week..
 

BadRoma1

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Nov 29, 2005
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your nitrates aren't that high to start out with. from my own experience, nitrates do not change for long with water changes. water changes are a must, but does nothing or very little for lower nitrates. there is something that keeps your nitrates higher than you want them to be. more details on your system is a must
 
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