Finally.. Great News

[boges_au2006]

Finally i woke up today and i have tested my water
after having trouble with nitrates for like ever. i have finally had a win.
my nitrates have been 80-60 usually and now it has dropped down to 30 yey looks like they are going down. all other tests come back good. ph is up to 8.2 nitrite and ammonia is 0. am doing a water change tomorra to see how that goes.

quick question. what level does the nitrate have to be to have corals??
i want my clowns to have a anemone cheers

[melosu58]

0 is the ultimate goal but if you can keep it less than 20 I think you`ll be OK. BTW there is no guarantee the clown will host an anenome if you get one. My two clowns totally ignored my BTA for a pagoda cup and bubble coral.

[austinsdad]

Maybe it was another post of yours, but I gotta ask again - why where those trates so high and what made'm come down? For them to be at 60-80 tells me something was very wrong. New tank? How new.

How often and what do you feed BTW??

[seaham358]

I would not even think about an anemone until you can keep the tank stable for at least 6+ months. And i don't recommend one until your tank is a year old.

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by seaham358

I would not even think about an anemone until you can keep the tank stable for at least 6+ months. And i don't recommend one until your tank is a year old.

As far as the anenome I agree. They need a stable tank. I always suggest a yr old tank too. I was thinking about the corals when I answered earlier.

[boges_au2006]

ok ill try and answer your questions.
basically it was a second hand tank i got from someone. it was a mess when i got it but have brought it up to scratch. limited LR sponges in canister filter. protein skimmer was not working properly. i have had the tank now for a few months now. i got the protein skimmer working. have done several water changes. added more LR and also removed the sponges and replaced it with purigen. seems to be ok now.
only feed twice a day. mixture between frozen meaty food. pellets and nori. but only feed what they can eat in like 1 minute. no food is ever left over.

anything else? just ask.
also thanks for the tip with the coral.

[tecwzrd]

IMO for corals your no3 needs to be 10 ppm or less and as Mike said 0 ppm is optimal but not always possible. po4 should also be 0 ppm and with high no3 you probably have higher levels of po4 which can damage certain corals.

I'm curious also how your no3 got so high and what steps you took to get it lower.

Clowns do fine without an anemone and as said I wouldn't rush anything till your tanks parameters are very stable and you have the proper lighting to support it.

[boges_au2006]

i have the proper lighting i know that cant tell you what it is exactly until i got home but the lfs measured it all out and done it right.

also some strange news. i did a water change on the weekend cause i thought it would be a good idea. now i have tested the water i use before for nitrates and it always comes back 0. however my nitrates went from like 20-30 back up to like 60 after the water change. why has this happened. i have no idea. could it be the salt im using or something?

[seaham358]

what kind of water are you using? Tap or ro or ro/di, other??
Test NEW salt water and your fresh water source for nitrates... Phosphates is a good idea also.
Post what light you have, some LFS have no clue and will sell you anything telling you its ok for corals.
Probably getting N)3 from water source..

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by seaham358

Probably getting N)3 from water source..

My guess also