Finding Sauce (a lot of tanks in a little time) RSR 250 Nem tank

[fishguy242]

they do look lighter than earlier,when you clean your can,add a nitrate absorbing pad.

 

[Eric R.]

Amonia is reading between 0 and .25, nitrates still read coolaid

It's my understanding that the API ammonia test is notorious for never really showing 0ppm, and always showing in that 0-0.25ppm range when it's actually 0. Perhaps someone else can confirm this? Best way to bring down nitrates is regular water changes. You could setup a temp qt tank for the new corals if your nitrates seem too high in your DT and you're worried it would affect them.

 

[Erin O]

agree fail safe on overflowing!! great skimmers ..would be my go to if i needed to buy!!
@sfin52
and @Erin O ? have you started yours yet??

I'm waiting until @sfin52 get here. I figure that he can make sure I don't mess things up lol

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

they do look lighter than earlier,when you clean your can,add a nitrate absorbing pad.

Wait... Is that actually a thing? I'd happily add a bag of something that's going to leech nitrates out.

The red is less red but still Very red. Been up on water changes every 3 days for two weeks but I don't see any results. Of course I have recently moved the rock around (last weekend) and Turkey baster/water cannoned the crap out of the live rock. Nitrite also looked like 0 when tested.

Am I on the right track here?

 

[danieyella]

Wait... Is that actually a thing? I'd happily add a bag of something that's going to leech nitrates out.

The red is less red but still Very red. Been up on water changes every 3 days for two weeks but I don't see any results. Of course I have recently moved the rock around (last weekend) and Turkey baster/water cannoned the crap out of the live rock. Nitrite also looked like 0 when tested.

Am I on the right track here?

Blue life makes a nitrate absorbing resin that you can recharge a few times. I think up to 6?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

It's my understanding that the API ammonia test is notorious for never really showing 0ppm, and always showing in that 0-0.25ppm range when it's actually 0. Perhaps someone else can confirm this? Best way to bring down nitrates is regular water changes. You could setup a temp qt tank for the new corals if your nitrates seem too high in your DT and you're worried it would affect them.

Good to know on the test. Nitrites and ammonia near 0 but nitrates still sky high AFTER changing out I'd say 110 gallons in the last few weeks on a 75g system. Realistically how long could it take to bring them down to a decent level?

I'm feeding 1 frozen cube per day. The fish obliterate each half completely within 15-20 seconds of feeding so I do not think I am Over feeding.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Blue life makes a nitrate absorbing resin that you can recharge a few times. I think up to 6?

You awesome in case nobody told you today.

Is there a downside to these products?



Something like this?

 

[danieyella]

You awesome in case nobody told you today

Something like this?

Similar yes, but I believe the API one only works for freshwater.

 

[danieyella]

You awesome in case nobody told you today.

Is there a downside to these products?



Something like this?

https://www.marinedepot.com/nitrate-fx-media-advanced-regenerable-nitrate-control-blue-life-usa

 

[Eric R.]

Good to know on the test. Nitrites and ammonia near 0 but nitrates still sky high AFTER changing out I'd say 110 gallons in the last few weeks on a 75g system. Realistically how long could it take to bring them down to a decent level?

I'm feeding 1 frozen cube per day. The fish obliterate each half completely within 15-20 seconds of feeding so I do not think I am Over feeding.

To reduce nitrates by half, you have to change half of your tank water. Doing larger water changes accomplishes more than more frequent smaller changes totalling the same amount. Your water changes may be too small.

 

[Eric R.]

I'm a fan of Rich Ross and really like the tank he keeps, his nitrates tested at 41ppm, so you can be successful with higher than normal nitrates if you know what you're doing. Having algae eating fish helps. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/rich-ross-home-tank-guess-the-phosphate.296635/

Some folks would definitely advocate removing the old sand, giving the rocks a good cleaning in buckets outside of the tank, and putting everything back in with new sand to just take care of it before you start adding too many corals to the tank. If you were to do this, you could rinse and keep some of the old sand to help seed your new sand.


What are you using in your canister filter, and what are you using for water changes, distilled, homemade RODI, LFS water,...? Are you cleaning your canister filter as well?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

To reduce nitrates by half, you have to change half of your tank water. Doing larger water changes accomplishes more than more frequent smaller changes totalling the same amount. Your water changes may be too small.

Wouldn't taking 30% of the tank water out every 3 days be considered larger water changes?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'll take a look at the tank you linked.

I think I screwed up by not removing most of the sand from the tank initially a well as not cleaning the rock enough the first time. I added 20lb to the sand that was there as it was a bit low. Knowing the tank has not very well kept, should have trashed it.

I have not been vacuuming the sand at all and it is kind of gross honestly. I've added send moving cuc. I've heard cleaning the sand now could start a tank crash at this point. Should I be gravel vaccing it?

 

[Eric R.]

Wouldn't taking 30% of the tank water out every 3 days be considered larger water changes?

You said 110g over a few weeks, so I wasn't sure what size changes they were.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

It's 75g I've done a few 20g back to back and was 15g/ before that.
I'm getting water from LFS because I don't have RO yet.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'm a fan of Rich Ross and really like the tank he keeps, his nitrates tested at 41ppm, so you can be successful with higher than normal nitrates if you know what you're doing. Having algae eating fish helps. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/rich-ross-home-tank-guess-the-phosphate.296635/

Some folks would definitely advocate removing the old sand, giving the rocks a good cleaning in buckets outside of the tank, and putting everything back in with new sand to just take care of it before you start adding too many corals to the tank. If you were to do this, you could rinse and keep some of the old sand to help seed your new sand.


What are you using in your canister filter, and what are you using for water changes, distilled, homemade RODI, LFS water,...? Are you cleaning your canister filter as well?

Forgot the rest of your questions. The canister fx4 is running stock with the addition of a sack of charcoal and about another 4 cups of media balls to fill in all the available tray space.

I clean my canister every Monday. Here's my process on this brand new to me filter. Lmk if you see something off.
Remove it from the stand, drain existing in the canister water into a Rubbermaid container. Remove the top, and internals. Remove the white outer sponges and squeeze them a few times in the water. I'm not making them WHITE WHITE again, just looking to get 80% of the color back. At this point the water is thrown out. In another gallon of waste seawater, a different shake the media baskets and black sponges. Use my hand to clean off any gunk inside leaving the slime coating. Reassemble, prime, and hook back up.

 

[fishguy242]

Just add the nitrate absorbing media this monday

 

[danieyella]

Forgot the rest of your questions. The canister fx4 is running stock with the addition of a sack of charcoal and about another 4 cups of media balls to fill in all the available tray space.

I clean my canister every Monday. Here's my process on this brand new to me filter. Lmk if you see something off.
Remove it from the stand, drain existing in the canister water into a Rubbermaid container. Remove the top, and internals. Remove the white outer sponges and squeeze them a few times in the water. I'm not making them WHITE WHITE again, just looking to get 80% of the color back. At this point the water is thrown out. In another gallon of waste seawater, a different shake the media baskets and black sponges. Use my hand to clean off any gunk inside leaving the slime coating. Reassemble, prime, and hook back up.

Way better than me lol. I was the *worst* with canister maintenance. I think once you get everything where you want it you can probably space that out to biweekly or monthly - just test regularly initially to verify. And yes, add that nitrate absorbing media and see where it gets you.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Just add the nitrate absorbing media this monday

By doing the wink face, I can't tell if that's serious or not. . when texting my 15 year old, that would mean he's screwing around with me.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Found something interesting today going back through the notes that were started a few years ago by the original owner.

It looks like these were the initial setup/recycle numbers when we set it up at his house.

Until he stopped taking notes, nitrates were reading 160+..

Unfortunately, this is the first and last page of notes that were taken.. I'm going to have my LFS test today and compare numbers vs my kit.

What is everyone's thoughts on vacuuming out the sand bed? Is there such thing as too late to start?