Since I had my tank setup,almost a year ago,my nitrates have always been between 20-80ppm.I do regular water changes. I have had much sucess with livestock and corals which I thought would not do too good with high nitrates.I assume the high nitrates are because I have crushed coral substrate which I am not going to change any time soon.I have a Fluval 304 filter with carbon and Bio-Chem Stars that have been in there for about 6 months now.Do these Bio-chem stars need to be cleaned ? Does the carbon need to be changed ? Is ther any other bag of stuff to put in to lower nitrates ? I have 75 lbs of LR also.Thanks
High Nitrates
- Thread starter zibnata
- Start date
zibnata":nungajqx said:
Yes on both accounts. I'd wash the 'stars' out under some dechlorinated tap water to remove all of the "gook" that's accumulated on them. Your carbon also should probably be changed every 2 weeks or so.
The reason you're seeing high nitrates is more than likely due to your Fluval getting plugged up w/ gook from your tank and not from your substrate.
If possible, could you describe your setup in detail -- equipment, liverock amount, lighting, etc? The more we know, the more it will help us figure out a solution to what you're seeing.
hth
Shane
The nitrate reducing media available all work off of bacterial dentrification principle. That is, you need to pass water very slowly over the media to induce an anaerobic condition for dentrification to exist. It's better just to replace your CC with fine aragonite sand. This will act as a bigger, better denitrification bed then any nitrate reducing media ever can.
Make sure also to test your "input" water (top-off freshwater and saltwater). If either has high nitrates, they you will need to fix that. No point in doing water changes or topping off if the water being used is rich in nutrients, right?
Make sure also to test your "input" water (top-off freshwater and saltwater). If either has high nitrates, they you will need to fix that. No point in doing water changes or topping off if the water being used is rich in nutrients, right?
This is what is in the tank:
2-55 watt 10,000 k, 2-55 watt actinic, 55 gallon, 70 lbs LR, Crushed Coral substrate , Fluval 304 filter,
seaclone 150 protien skimmer, 300 watt heater, aquaclear powerhead,yellow tang, hippo tang
tomato clown, 3 damsels,1 royal gramma, 2 cleaner shrimp, snails, hermits, 2 emralds,1 sally lightfoot,1 porclain crab,1 banded coral shrimp,1 serpent star,2 flame red scallops,2 feather dusters, mushroom coral, bubble coral, plate coral, anthelia, purple gorgonian, yellow gorgonian.The tank is almost a year old.
Thanks.
My tap water is acidic so I use a buffer to raise ph.Also tap water isnt high in nitrates
2-55 watt 10,000 k, 2-55 watt actinic, 55 gallon, 70 lbs LR, Crushed Coral substrate , Fluval 304 filter,
seaclone 150 protien skimmer, 300 watt heater, aquaclear powerhead,yellow tang, hippo tang
tomato clown, 3 damsels,1 royal gramma, 2 cleaner shrimp, snails, hermits, 2 emralds,1 sally lightfoot,1 porclain crab,1 banded coral shrimp,1 serpent star,2 flame red scallops,2 feather dusters, mushroom coral, bubble coral, plate coral, anthelia, purple gorgonian, yellow gorgonian.The tank is almost a year old.
Thanks.
My tap water is acidic so I use a buffer to raise ph.Also tap water isnt high in nitrates
I took that filter attachment off the aquaclear because it looked nasty.I am in the process of slowly vacuuming out the CC to put in NATURE'S OCEAN BIO-ACTIV ARAGONITE. Does anyone know the cheapest price oh th net for this stuff? Petco gets $25 for 10 lbs.SWF.com is $69 for 40 lbs,shipping included.
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