nitrate

[drewstaxplaya]

started feeding reef roids over the past week daily. i have a 29 biocube, so used a 1/3 tsp as it says 1 tsp for every 100g. well longm story short my polyps didnt look too happy so i took my water to get tested tosay with salifert tests and everything came back good, besides for my nitrate which was a very high 75. the guy who works at the lfs near me is an on-staff marine biologist and sais just do a small water change for a few days. so i did a 5g one at like 5pm and will do another 5g one tomorrow as well. how many water changes should i do to bring that 75 down? my other params are:

alk 9.4
cal 530
mag 1500
salt 1.025
nitrate 75
phosphate .75-1

im a newbie still, just learning and want my tank in tip top shape. he said small frequents are best, but how many? im bringing the water to be tested again next friday so should i do a 5g change daily? let me know any tips or advice you guys have for me. thank you :)

 

[drewstaxplaya]

i didnt mention it but it goes without saying, ill be cutting down to feeding 2-3x per week for my corals lol

 

[drewstaxplaya]

any one ?

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Could be the test error. But feeding reef roids is probably the cause. Just stop feeding and do a larger waterchange. 15 gal This week and 15 in 2 more weeks

 

[morpheas]

You have to consider if the reef roids are the source of your problem. Have you monitored nitrates before? Were they always low and suddenly spiked? How old is the tank by the way? Inhabitants? Corals? Any other numbers?

In any case, just to give you an idea, if the reef roids are the culprit I would stop feeding them altogether until the nitrates are under control. The water changes (maybe 10-15% twice a week) should bring them down if the reef roids are the only problem.

If not and the bioload is such (or your feeding habits etc) you might have to consider your nutrient export strategy. Are you using a skimmer? Carbon dosing? Refugium? Anything else?

Regardless, a little tip on feeding is that pellets, flakes and a lot of the coral foods (including reef roids, reef chili and some others) are nutrient dense meaning a little goes a long way. Only feed those sparsely and not as a staple and I would advice using frozen or fresh food for fish and occasionally coral food (I use oyster feast) at least until you figure out your system's filtration and what it can take.

 

[drewstaxplaya]

sorry guys. tank is a 29 biocube. mostly polyps, 4 acans, 1 coral bandit and a mellanarus wrasse. dont believe the test was an error. a marine biologist who works at the store tested with a salifurt test. this was the first time my nitrates were tested. no skimmer. tank has been set up at my house for a month (bought while it was a running system). i havnt fed any coral foods in 3 days now and wont for about a week or so, but figured overfeeding was probably the culprit and wondered how many 5 gallon water changes i should do in a row to get them under control

 

[beaslbob]

depends on your tank but IMHO nitrates can actually be a sign of a stable tank.

algae prefers to consume ammonia over nitrates so if there is an ammonia spike the algae switches from consuming nitrates to consuming ammonia. Then once things settle down the algae are forced to consume nitrates again. this prevents ammonia spikes and even possible tank crashes.

I think especially with a new system, it is best to let things settle down. Sometimes I tend to over react and create much more serious problems then if I had done nothing.


my .02