My nano is coming along, but I can't get the nitrates down. Everything else seems fine. Long story short its my daughters tank so its fed everyday. The only things in there is 1 damsel, 1 emerald crab, 1 halloween crab, and 3 snails. Corals is just paly's and zoa but they aren't looking so hot. I do a 50% water change once a week. Whats on there now is a Aquaclear 70 HOB filter with a sponge and rubble rock and a small powerhead on the otherside. Should I just cut the feeding back to twice a week?
-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Lowering Nitrates without a skimmer
- Thread starter ThatGuy
- Start date
Start by feeding every other day. We also need to look at what are you feeding and how much?
Is it an all in one tank or is it a standard tank with a HOB, and how many gallons is it?
Is it an all in one tank or is it a standard tank with a HOB, and how many gallons is it?
What if I just ran Carbon by itself? I still have some from BRS. Would that do anything or no?
Carbon will help. I think what people are trying to figure out is your source of nitrates. In a nano everything is just so magnified. I am also a big fan of just a few large water changes. Like %50 a week for like 4 weeks. Or do them twice a week. The benefits to a nano is that you can do that without making your self crazy or spending a ton of cash.
LOL. I've been doing 50% since week 3 of having this thing. Like I said though everything else is exceptable.
Nitrites-0
PO4-.05(LOTS of algea on the glass so higher if I were to clean it)
Nitrates-20+
Sal-1.023
Amonia-0
I'm going to cut back feeding and see if that helps.
How much are you currently feed everyday? If you are over feeding and don't have the snails/hermits in your cleanup crew to eat the extra food, it will breakdown and send nitrates through the roof.
Was a pinch a night. I have 1 halloween hermit, 1 emerald, and 3 Super Tongan Nassarius Snail as a cleanup crew.
is there any kind of rock in there?
I have found rouble rock in a HOB filter to be something that traps detritus, personally. You may want to remove it. You can also try adding some macro algae; I have seen several "refugium" mods to HOB filters that have worked well at reducing nitrates.
When you set the tank up, did you use cycled live rock and sand? How much live rock do you have in the tank? How long has the tank been up? Do you have good flow, or are you getting dead areas around the rocks where detritus settles?
When you set the tank up, did you use cycled live rock and sand? How much live rock do you have in the tank? How long has the tank been up? Do you have good flow, or are you getting dead areas around the rocks where detritus settles?
Has about 15 lbs LR.
When I first set it up it was used water, rubble rock, new sand, and one new one old rock. About a week in I added another 10lbs of LR. I use to have cheto in there but when I added the larger HOB it just sucked it up. Tanks been running since begining of july.
So I went and pulled the rubble rock out and put a new sponge and BioChem in the HOB filter. Its only been 2 days and Nitrates are 0.
Edit: Bio-Chem Zorb is made by API. It says "Ultimate filtration medium for crystal clear water. Bio-Chem Zorb® removes organic aquarium pollutants, including colors, odors, heavy metals and toxic gases as well as other compounds that carbon alone cannot remove. Bio-Chem Zorb® also removes light blocking impurities for improved growth of corals in saltwater and plants in freshwater aquariums". So far I'm liking it.
Edit: Bio-Chem Zorb is made by API. It says "Ultimate filtration medium for crystal clear water. Bio-Chem Zorb® removes organic aquarium pollutants, including colors, odors, heavy metals and toxic gases as well as other compounds that carbon alone cannot remove. Bio-Chem Zorb® also removes light blocking impurities for improved growth of corals in saltwater and plants in freshwater aquariums". So far I'm liking it.
Wow. Sounds like good stuff. Glad it worked.
Does the packaging say how often to replace it?
Does the packaging say how often to replace it?
It say's up to 2 months. I just figured I'd keep track of my nitrates and if they look like they're going up I'll replace it.