chaeto placement and nitrates?

[ozorowsky]

Hi all,

I'm trying to get my 125g in order; My nitrates are sitting between 40ppm and 60ppm

I bought some chaeto stuffed into a bottle I have laying around with a thousand holes poked into it.

Its been 3 days now and my nitrates haven't seem to go down; am I doing something wrong?

Also for long term, where can I put this stuff? I have a sump with bio balls and a protein skimmer in the other side taking up most of the sump. Should I get another sump or wet/dry filter or even an old 20 gallon fish tank and put the chaeto in that with a return pump up into the main tank?

How much do I have to worry about the chaeto growing or trying to grow into my pump?

Thank you all.

[Kmurraylhs]

When was your last water change? I would put the cheto in the sump.

[ozorowsky]

Originally Posted by Kmurraylhs

When was your last water change? I would put the cheto in the sump.

I did a water change 3 days ago (Keep in mind my tank hasn't started yet; I have some live rock some base rock (about 150lbs total), some live sand, and some sand that someone gave me (about 120lbs total).

Where in my sump would I put the chaeto? I don't want it to wrap its way around my protein skimmer/suck into my return pump.

Would I be ok to put it under the bio balls? Will it try to weasel and make a mess of the bio ball area?

[Kmurraylhs]

Was the live rock added recently..that can cause a spike. Cheto is pretty easy to to remove. I would not put it under the bioballs because of a lack of light. You could keep it in the 20 gallon tank you mentioned earlier.

[ozorowsky]

Originally Posted by Kmurraylhs

Was the live rock added recently..that can cause a spike. Cheto is pretty easy to to remove. I would not put it under the bioballs because of a lack of light. You could keep it in the 20 gallon tank you mentioned earlier.

I added the live rock last weekend

[Kmurraylhs]

That is probably it.. I just added 50 lbs and had a spike too.

[ozorowsky]

Originally Posted by Kmurraylhs

That is probably it.. I just added 50 lbs and had a spike too.

id like to start adding fish soon but I don't think I can with nitrates being so high right? That's why I'm stressing about these nitrates so bad

[Kmurraylhs]

I did get that wrong I would do another water change if I got the same tests results. And yes I wouldn't add fish.

[Sergie]

Uhhh you have that backwards. Ammonia to nitrtite to nitrate. He doesn't need bacteria if he's showing high nitrates. The nitrate is the end result of the cycle, the waste. If the cheato isn't doing it, a large water change will. I'd do a water change. Wait a day, retest. If it's still high I'd do another water change.

[ozorowsky]

Would you guys recommend a 50% water change? I hate to spend tons of money and time mixing water and don't even have a single fish in there yet

[Sergie]

Yes I would do a large water change to get the nitrates down.

[Ricksreef]

Did I see Bio balls in one of your posts?That could be part of your problem.

[ozorowsky]

Originally Posted by Ricksreef

Did I see Bio balls in one of your posts?That could be part of your problem.

Yes I do have bio balls. Why is that a problem?

[mr_X]

you aren't going to have a problem with bio balls yet. the tank is barely cycled. i would also suggest removing them, but they are not the source of nitrate yet. adding a substantial amount of rock will definitely change your parameters.
If you can't afford to do water changes, you may want to rethink the salt tank.

the chaeto stuffed in a bottle is not going to help anything. it's definitely not going to change parameters in a few days. remove the bio balls and put it in there with a light over top. use a mesh screen to stop it from traveling to the return pump and skimmer.