BEST WAY TO GET LOWER NITRATES IN A NANO

[jeeperreefer]

i know this has probably been asked a million times and i have seen so many different answers. i was thinking about adding a refugium to my 20 gallon long. my system holds 14 gallons total and i do a 2 gallon weekly water change that includes a siphon of the 1/2" sandbed. i am going to start using a turkey baster on the rocks as well. i have 3 small fish that i feed once a day for 2 minutes and i target feed them. my red sea test kit shows nitrates at the max on the high chart. thanks for the help as always.

 

[Sosuke]

i know this has probably been asked a million times and i have seen so many different answers. i was thinking about adding a refugium to my 20 gallon long. my system holds 14 gallons total and i do a 2 gallon weekly water change that includes a siphon of the 1/2" sandbed. i am going to start using a turkey baster on the rocks as well. i have 3 small fish that i feed once a day for 2 minutes and i target feed them. my red sea test kit shows nitrates at the max on the high chart. thanks for the help as always.

How much food are you feeding?

 

[Just_Pete]

Up your water change to about 5 gallons.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Increase your flow. Turkey baster and water changes. Get a HOB media reactor fill it with floss and some carbon stir up your tank and use it to filter out all of the crud.

 

[Wolf89]

Just do bigger water changes. 5 gallons a week

 

[jeeperreefer]

How much food are you feeding?

i use sustainable aquatics hatchery diet. i target feed them for 2 minutes as much as they can eat without it floating to the bottom.

 

[manlykady]

reduce feeding
water changes
and when you do a water change add a small amount of turbo start or any type of bacteria

 

[Shaka_Reefer]

+1000 on bigger and consistent water change and feed less. I’d personally cut down to 30 second feedings since you target feed. What kind of fish do you have?

 

[jeeperreefer]

+1000 on bigger and consistent water change and feed less. I’d personally cut down to 30 second feedings since you target feed. What kind of fish do you have?

i have two clowns and a royal gramma.

 

[jeeperreefer]

i have a fiji cube in tank sump i use. thinking about adding their hang on back refugium or should i just stick to bigger water changes ?

 

[Shaka_Reefer]

i have two clowns and a royal gramma.

Oh you definitely don’t need to feed those fish that much. It also depends on what type of fish food you feed.

 

[Shaka_Reefer]

i have a fiji cube in tank sump i use. thinking about adding their hang on back refugium or should i just stick to bigger water changes ?

If it’s a small fuge, it won’t do much. Water change is the best solution in my experience!

 

[brandon429]

the best way to remove nitrates in a nano reef is to rip clean it like we do in the sand rinse thread. no additive or other action will beat it, and its free. however much all new water costs you to make up is how much it costs to rip clean.

if you can reach in your tank and grab sand and drop it, and a cloud occurs, thats nitrate. same for rocks, if you swish one mid tank with no current on at night holding a flashlight, a literal storm will come off them. nitrate/detritus particles. A rip clean fully cleans your sandbed and rocks all at once, doesnt recycle the tank, and can be ran on any age system nanos are especially easy since they're small. The final step is all new water, and the tank is the most balanced it will be until it all piles up again.

any doser or purchase or refugium that is in place to handle nitrate, while the rocks and sand are cloudy, is being offset by that compiling waste. not having the waste means the supports aren't necessary.

in nearly all cases of nitrate management, aquarists are making big tank moves using unverified readings that wouldnt align with any other nitrate tester. the beauty of a rip clean is you cannot harm a tank with it; no way to over do one even if your starting nitrate levels are actually ok, to be clean isn't harmful to a reef tank. see the last five pages for killer nano reef post rip clean follow ups, months later.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[jeeperreefer]

Oh you definitely don’t need to feed those fish that much. It also depends on what type of fish food you feed.

i use sustainable aquatics hatchery diet the .8 mm size.

 

[esse]

You may consider how you could integrate carbon dosing into your system
I dose saturated lime water with vinegar & I think the vinegar helps with nitrate & the kalk helps with phosphate

I may be off here, but I don't run any other form of nutrient control & I've been running around 5ppm nitrate & 0.055 ppm phosphate

 

[ThePurple12]

Water change! Since your tank holds 14 gallons, a 7 gallon change would remove half of your nitrates.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

That’s easy, 90% water every other day maybe

 

[WVNed]

You have 3 fish in 14 gallons. Change more water more often.

 

[Tahoe61]

No skimmer?

 

[jeeperreefer]

No skimmer?

no, i do not have a skimmer. i was trying the brs method of 20-30% water change every two weeks but breaking it up into weekly changes. i am going to cut back on feeding and use a baster on the rocks as well as some bigger water changes and see what happens.