Nitrates zeroed out

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Scoot

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Messages
670
Location
Nebraska
Did a small PWC today (<25%), and tested the water 3 hours later.

Everything, including Nitrates are reading zero (!!!)

This is with about 85 pounds in a 75g tank, with a 20g fuge (about 17g of water in there).

No chemical treatment - the only filtration I have in the system is a sponge on the overflow, and a phosphate pad (that doesnt' remove anything but PO4) in the sump.

I'm doing 25% changes weekly now, just to replenish trace elements, as per advice of various members here.

Tank is around 6 months old now.

The only problem I've really had since removing the HOB filter a week and a half ago is that the system is slower to remove particles in the water, like when my parrotfish or blenny stir up a bunch of sand. I've also been battling cyano, but that's why I added the PO4 pad. Tapwater reads 0.5ppm PO4.

I also occasionally get some old mysis parts pumped into the tank when I stop/start the return pump from my sump. I think they're accumulating in the UV filter somehow, so I've been trying to stop/start it a few times a day to flush it out.

Now - I need to get an RO or RO/DI filter (looking at some on eBay and at Lowes), and some stronger lighting (I have a stock hood with 64W and a Jebo 260W PC fixture), and I'll be set.

I should restate that - I need to convince the wife that I need an RODI, and more lighting ;)

I also plan on adding another 40 pounds or so of LR, to get around 2 pounds per gallon, but I'm doing that piece by piece, as I find good ones at the LFS.
 
I should restate that - I need to convince the wife that I need an RODI, and more lighting

Good luck with that! :) Sounds like you have everything squared away on what you need to do. As for the return pumps, do you have sponges over the inlets of the pump or is it an external pump?
 
Internal pump, its behind its own baffle, so nothing ever really gets to it, not much anyway. But what does, seems to stick in the UV
 
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