I'm new to this...

[ChristianLucca]

Hello everyone, I just joined the community. I'm new to the salt life. I started a 55 gallon salt water tank roughly about 9 months ago. To this day it seems like everything is going pretty well... I have purple coraline algae growing on my rocks. I've been having somewhat of a problem keeping my nitrates low... I don't over feed in fact I feel like I'm not feeding enough. I have 2 T5 lights... One is purple and one is white. I also have a strip of blue LEDs... So far I'm happy with my tank. Does anyone have advice on what I can do to keep my nitrates low? Any feedback on lighting spectrum is welcome as well...

 

[Ward9320]

First I would like to welcome you to the forum!

About the nitrates... what are they at exactly? Depending on what kind of corals you are keeping sometimes its alright to have "some" nitrates. But if you are looking to cut them down, large water changes are the quickest way to do that but for a more long term approach put some cheato in your sump/refugium if you have one (If you don't have one I would highly suggest getting one). The cheato absorbed the excess nutrients in the water to help cut the nitrates down. The only other thing I can think of at the moment is to have a good CUC that will eat up the extra food that falls to the bottom of the tank.

 

[ChristianLucca]

Thanks for your reply Ward9320... I don't remember where they are off the top of my head. I tested last week. The guy at the reef place told me some nitrates are good as well... I do have a sump and I put a couple of mangroves in there. I heard it was a good natural way to keep them low. I will take another water test tonight and post. I have a basic CUC...

 

[Ward9320]

Thanks for your reply Ward9320... I don't remember where they are off the top of my head. I tested last week. The guy at the reef place told me some nitrates are good as well... I do have a sump and I put a couple of mangroves in there. I heard it was a good natural way to keep them low. I will take another water test tonight and post. I have a basic CUC...

I don't have any experience with mangroves so I can't speculate there, I have always used cheato. Not sure what you have for a CUC but nassarius snails are awesome, I have a ton of them. They hang out in the sandbed and when you feed the tank they all come out. They are great for eating up the extra food and the fish poop. If your tank has been up for 9 months it might be time to get some more cleaner to add to your clean up crew. After a while they die due to lack of food or hermits killing snails and each other for shells. Reefcleaners.com is a great place to pick some more up if you need them.

 

[mike007]

Welcome

 

[spspirate]

Welcome to REEF2REEF!!!!

 

[josh4107]

Welcome! Make sure to take a turkey blaster and give your rocks a good blow every now and then. Your would be really surprised at the amount of detritus that builds up in the rocks. How often do you feed exactly? To me more than once a day is over kill. I feed my fish once a day and they are all fat and happy.

 

[resortez]

welcome ! before i give any answers, i have a few questions. i would & probably others would like to know also, your weekly, bi weekly & monthly routines with your tank. as far as feeding regimen, water changes & water quality that you are using, salt brand, if you gravel vac, etc. just a walk through of the things you do to the tank, would be very helpful. to quote Ward, water changes with RO water & good quality salt mix, is the sure & bullet proof way of dropping the NO3 count, no other way. about the mangroves, they actually deplete your magnesium levels. according to a marine biologist i know, its a slimy coat that is several inches thick, that actually feeds on NO3 & not the mangrove itself. he has tried very hard to transport that gooey slimy stuff, but no luck. the moment it is separated from the tree, it starts decomposing. the only way he can study this, is in the wild. it must suck to have his job, lol! i would love to play with nature, the way he does. good luck & happy reefing.

 

[bettababy]

I'm with resortez with wanting more info... especially wondering what your animal stock/population is in this tank?
In regards to the mangrove, I've never heard of the "slime stuff" that was mentioned but I do have some experience with growing them... never had an issue with magnesium being depleted either. The store I used to work at started out a small 4 - 5 inch sapling (mangrove) about 10 - 11 yrs ago, in the saltwater tide pool. The tree is now about 10 - 12 ft tall and still growing nicely. It did help with nitrate levels, but, that is greatly dependent on the stocking level and the amount of waste being produced. It can help, but it can still only do so much. I would be monitoring all of your levels closely if using mangrove to help with nitrate (magnesium, strontium, iodine, etc.) because the tree will suck whatever it needs in way of nutrients out of the water and the rate at which it happens will change over time as the tree grows. In something as small as a 55 gallon tank that could mean drastic changes in a hurry at some point.
I will echo the good luck & happy reefing!

 

[Singlefin]

More info on your setup. Sump. Return pump. Skimmer. Powerheads. Livestock. Cleanup crew. How much do you feed? Most Fish don't need to eat everyday.

 

[revhtree]

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