High nitrate question....help!

[match55]

First thing I want to do is thank everybody on this forum. My tank already looks better than it has for a long time. To be honest I got really frustrated and gave up on the thing for awhile, but this forum has gotten me going again. THANK YOU ALL.

I think the fact I have a DSB and even though I have been doing some vaccuming when I do water changes what comes out of the sand bed is pretty nasty and dark. I just kinda feel that there is a lot more in my sand bed that needs to be cleaned out. I would love to order some feather dusters and corals but I first wanna get my Nitrates down more. The 55g package they have has 55 sand bed stirring snails which I think is really what I need. I am also hoping that since I have a Chocoalte Starfish and a few crabs that adding the clean up crew will help me to reduce nitrates by causing my skimmer to work more?

just becareful u might end up having too much snails and don't have enough food for all the cleaning crews. ^^ nitrate at 15ppm is not that bad, and cleaning crews really won't help much reduce nitrates, they will eat left over food but they will also poop as well., which they slow down the nitrate raise IMO. what you need is some marco algae~ get some chaeto, they worked great for most people. long term nitrate control--- mangroves r suggested!

isn't that great if your skimmer doesn't have much to skim, thats mean your water is clean!! hehe, I love to see my skimmer collection box empty, thats mean my mangroves n marco algae r working XP

 

[bavass]

Don't get me wrong I love to see it empty too, lol! But with Nitrates at 15 I want to see some in the cup. I will take a look at the smaller clean up crew they offer

 

[bavass]

Actually if I order the 40g clean up crew I get a mini clean up crew free. I think that might be the route I go. I might add a few sand sifting crabs too.

 

[match55]

^^ god I love your starfish, make sure it doesn't eat crabs n hermits OoO.
I want a star too, but most of them is not reef safe. ToT

 

[bavass]

I think the chocolate starfish is reaf safe. I don't think he will eat them or has eating them. The other day I had one crawling over him to get to the other side of my rock. The hermit is still alive.

 

[melosu58]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the CC star is not reef safe. It will decimate your corals. You`ll need to get rid of it before you get any corals.

Chocolate Chip Starfish - Protoreastor nodosus

 

[bavass]

Just read a thread that said Chocolate Star Fish are NOT reef safe! They love to eat corals.

 

[match55]

any star is reef safe??

 

[bavass]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the CC star is not reef safe. It will decimate your corals. You`ll need to get rid of it before you get any corals.

Chocolate Chip Starfish - Protoreastor nodosus

melosu58 Just for that Go Purdue, LOL! j/k

 

[thincat]

any star is reef safe??

"Linckia" stars are reef-safe...

 

[melosu58]

any star is reef safe??

Blue linknia

Purple linknia

Orange sea star

 

[thincat]

Nice photos Mike!

 

[match55]

cool!!! I like that goby too haha

 

[bavass]

melosu58 Just for that Go Purdue, LOL! j/k

Ok...so we both sucked today. LOL! but come on when the line judge moves the ball ahead 3" after the mesurement you know at that point you don't stand a chance. Granted GT out plyed VT at that point you know you don't stand a chance

 

[bavass]

Ok so here is a pic of my nitrate test this morning. Looking a lot better. When I started this thread this vial looked like I had just given blood. Nitrates were at 160+ I think I am winning the battle. Still have trouble getting them down from 20. In the photo the test is actually a little darker than the real test. In my eyes its about 15+ in the photo it looks dead on 20. Will this kill a clean up crew? Will the cleanup crew help to bring this down?

 

[melosu58]

20 is not a killer. The goal is 0 but you`ve made some pretty good strides so far. Give it some time and you should be OK.

 

[bavass]

I had been doing big water changes every 3-4 days. I think this week I am going to wait a week and let the skimmer work. The problem with doing them every few days is it takes about a day before the skimmer really starts working again. Then it runs for a day, I change the water and then it has to build up pressure again. So I am going to wait till this coming weekend and let the skimmer work and the BioClean populate and work. Does that sound right or should I continue to do water changes every 3-4 days?

 

[thincat]

1) I would cut back to 1 PWC a week and see how it goes.
2) You can add your CUC anytime now.
3) Why are you getting so much skimmate if you have nothing in your tank?

 

[bavass]

1) I would cut back to 1 PWC a week and see how it goes.
2) You can add your CUC anytime now.
3) Why are you getting so much skimmate if you have nothing in your tank?

I had been doing some cleaning of my sand a little at a time. So the skim is from stuff floating in the tank. I also do have a starfish and a few hermits. I am hoping that the skim is nitrates going down.

 

[thincat]

The skimmer does remove DOC's. Dissolved organic compounds).