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]

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]

Probably getting N)3 from water source..

My guess also

 

[boges_au2006]

i thought that to. i tested the water before i put the salt in and the water had no nitrates at all in it? could it be the salt then?

 

[melosu58]

Test it after you mix the salt and see if it is.

 

[austinsdad]

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.

I'd still consider feeding only once daily - or every other day. Lot's of folks do.

Also, in case I missed it, what kinda substrate? Any bio-balls anywhere in your system? And lastly, how much LR? The answer to any one or more of those questions could also be a nitrate culprit IMO.

 

[boges_au2006]

yeah im really thinking there isnt enough LR in there. that is my guess. i started with a lot of base rock and seeded it withCured LR. the base rock is getting the coraline algae and there are worms and little bugs on the base rock now too. i think i need to add more LR in the tank.
here is some questions i asked and the answer i got from my LFS:
Is the live rock rubble alright to put into a canister filter and take out the bioballs/ceramic rings?

They both will do the same type of thing - provide surface area for bacteria to colonise and break down ammonia and nitrite. You could not have any bio-media in the canister and let your live rock in the tank do the breakdown of nitrite into nitrogen gas.

Well what would you recommend. Do you think I just run purigen thru the canister and let my live rock do all the work?? Just use canister for purigen and also for water movement?? I just read (and its probably wrong) that bioballs can increase the level of nitrate if they are not cleaned and Live rock rubble would work better.

Sounds like a good option. The live rock will eventually assist in the breakdown of nitrate into Nitrogen Gas.



I also took out the sponges as I thought they might be leading to my high nitrate and replaced it with bag of purigen

I doubt the sponges will increase Nitrate in a tank. The purigen will assist in removing some low level waste.

Ok then well I might just leave the purigen in and sponges out. They were pretty filthy.

Sounds ok, but I would still like some form of mechanical filtration such as sponge or filter wool to extract larger bits of waste.



With my high nitrate problem would it be an idea to remove the crushed coral as substrate and replace it with live sand??

I wouldn't do this the crushed coral will be assisting in keeping Kh and pH stable, also as the tank has been running a while it will effect the bacteria level if you were to change this.

ok then. Well how can I get rid of my high nitrate J its driving me insane. Tried water changes and I get nothing.

Time and water changes. The live rock will take some time to grow the bacteria to break down the nitrate. Trust me it will happen. Regular water changes of about 10% will assist in keeping the nitrates at an acceptable level

 

[austinsdad]

Crushed coral. Bio balls. Light on the live rock I'm assuming. The combination of those 3 in your system - in that order IMO are and will continue to cause nitrate problems. Is that skimmer you fixed really removing gunk from the water?

How many gallons is this 5' tank? As far as rock additions go, I'd shoot for 1 to 2lbs per gallon, depending on whether you go reef or fish only. My vote would be to upgrade the rock to establish a good bacteria base. Then focus on removing the bio-balls and the curshed coral. Replace it with sand, maybe 2-3". It'll handle you pH just fine too.

I don't know what purigen is, but I'd be wary of additives.

 

[boges_au2006]

hey. cheers for the tip. well get more LR in two days.
skimmer is def removing gunk. emptied it just 3 days ago.

as for the water im using. came back clear.
checked the water tonight and it is back down to 40 the nitrate is maybe its going back down again. i dunno whats happening

 

[macman7010]

boges,

I really don't feel that nitrates have to be 10ppm or 20 ppm or less for you to keep corals. Naturally the lower the nitrates the better your growth and survival rate will be, although LPS and Soft Corals often do well with nitrate values ranging from 20-30ppm. SPS corals are the real kickers, they require that nitrate values to be right in around 0-10ppm, but LPS and Soft can tolerate a wider variety of dissolved nutrients.

The common misconception is that nitrates kill corals. Nitrate accelerates the growth of zoxenthelle algae within coral tissue. The added algae growth slows calcification and stunts growth. Basically in time this can stress the coral to the point of very little growth or perhaps death. All in all though LPS corals should be able to be maintained in nitrate values around 20ppm though the 40 that you quoted as of today is too high, perhaps even for shrimp and crabs.

 

[boges_au2006]

ok then cool. thanks for the tip macman

i have 3 crabs in there now that are going very well. ned to get more though.
LPS corals include such things as what
although i wont get any until its below 20 at least. and also my LFS wont sell em to me anywyas lol

ps here is my LFS not much on there website but they are pretty good people.

http://www.tankaquariums.com.au/

 

[macman7010]

boges,

some hardy LPS corals would include:

The pearl or octo bubble coral
The hammer or wall hammer (anchor) coral
Frogspawn
Torch Corals

some hardy soft corals would be:

Toadstool Leathers
Green Star Polyps
Pulsing Xenia (This would actually help assimilate and lower your nitrates)

Although if I were you, living in AU, I would trade that aquarium for an open water scuba card. With the great barrier reef there you could easily see all the coral/fish you could imagine without setting up a tank, LOL! Not to mention the giant potato cod.

 

[roka64]

My parents dove there a few years ago!
Boges, what type of crabs do you have?