Nitrates

kcmo lawman

kcmo lawman

Just a SimpleMan
Dec 10, 2004
241
0
0
54
Kansas City, Mo
Just one quick question. Will a skimmer help to reduce nitrates? My Ammonia levels are at 0ppm, nitates 10ppm, nitrites 0ppm, and ph 8.2.
Salinity is at 1.023 and temp is at 79 degrees. Everything seems fine other than my nitrates. I did a partial water change, and checked for food and or dead tankmates in the tank and found nothing. Not sure why my nitrates are at this level. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bradd
 
I don't know about a skimmer for this, I think not thoug, what are you using for fill water, many home water supplies have nitrates in them..So test your water source. 10 isn't bad at all though.

It also could be a build up of wates in a filter or in the substraight
 
am using ro/di water for top off and pre-mixed salt ro/di for water changes. I do have the biowheel filter, but took the wheels and filter floss out so not to get too many nitrates. Not sure what else to try.

Thanks,

Bradd
 
Regular partial water changes seem to be what most people recommend for controlling nitrate. It seems like the general rule is about a ten percent water change once a week, so that's what I do and it works pretty good. I got my 90 gallon FOWLR tank from someone in town who had had it a year and a half, and he never changed the water. The nitrate levels were higher than what my chart can read, which is 160ppm. I've been doing a twenty five percent water change once a week on it and as of last week after three big changes the nitrates were at 40ppm. I had been doing ten percent changes on it with no success, but I think when I get them down to 0 then I will just do 10% once a week. Last night was big change number four and I'm hoping for 10-20ppm. Another thing that a lot of people do is plant seaweed in a sump, because it uses nitrates and turns them into gas which is released into the air. There are nitrate removing filter medias out there too, but I don't know if they work that well. I do 10% weekly on my reef tank, and I never have nitrate. I even use tap water, but I had it tested first and it has only .03 ppm nitrate and no phosphate. I can't afford an RO unit, would like one, but not neccessary now. Basically, I would just do regular weekly water changes and It should be fine. Good luck!
 
10% changes won't do alot, most people do between 25% and 50% changes weekly I am lazy and busy and do about 50% every 2 weeks.
 
zog said:
Regular partial water changes seem to be what most people recommend for controlling nitrate. It seems like the general rule is about a ten percent water change once a week, so that's what I do and it works pretty good. I got my 90 gallon FOWLR tank from someone in town who had had it a year and a half, and he never changed the water. The nitrate levels were higher than what my chart can read, which is 160ppm. I've been doing a twenty five percent water change once a week on it and as of last week after three big changes the nitrates were at 40ppm. I had been doing ten percent changes on it with no success, but I think when I get them down to 0 then I will just do 10% once a week. Last night was big change number four and I'm hoping for 10-20ppm. Another thing that a lot of people do is plant seaweed in a sump, because it uses nitrates and turns them into gas which is released into the air. There are nitrate removing filter medias out there too, but I don't know if they work that well. I do 10% weekly on my reef tank, and I never have nitrate. I even use tap water, but I had it tested first and it has only .03 ppm nitrate and no phosphate. I can't afford an RO unit, would like one, but not neccessary now. Basically, I would just do regular weekly water changes and It should be fine. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I have a 55gal fowlr and I usually change out 15gal a week. I can't, or have been told not to do a BIG water change unless I have to due to the fact that I have a brittle star and a sandsifting star. From what I understand it is hard on them to go through such a big water change. As of now I don't have a sump, but am planning on that here soon. Any other ideas?
Thanks,

Bradd
 
Yes, Brad a skimmer will help reduce the waste matter in your water and that will translate into a reduction of nitrate. How long has your tank been set up? It may be that your base rock doesn't have a large enough colony of bacteria to remove the nitrogen from your water.
You could do larger water changes but, you'll have to make sure that it's as close to your tank water in ph, and salinity as you can or your stars will have a very hard time.
You don't still have the bio wheel on your filter do you? If so that's probably a lot of your problem . If you remove it your conditions should improve fairly quickly unless there is some other issue.
hth
Chris
 
I agree that the skimmer will probably help. Some of the nitrate is a result of the breakdown of organic molecules that will be pulled out by the skimmer. Although getting nitrate down would be good, 10 ppm nitrate is not a huge problem.
 
Thanks for all the help. I already took the wheels out of the biowheel filter. I thought that might help, and since I took them out the nitrates have dropped some already. I am glad to know that 10ppm isn't too awful bad for nitrates. My tank has been setup and cycled for about 2 months now....yeah, I know, pretty new tank...lol.
Once again, thanks for all the help and advice,

Bradd
 
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