how do u keep nitrates down?

DclownD

DclownD

Large Fish
#1
Jul 11, 2006
477
1
0
Syracuse, Ny
#1
would green hair algea keep nitrates down as i have one fish 6 sand cleaning snails 6 blue legged hermits that are about the size of half a pea 3 brown hermits there about a dime... i have alot of hair algea 10 or so pounds of live rock.. i dose kent essentials and calcium 2 times a week i have 1 pwer head actually its a pump from a filter... a 30w and a 10w light.. if i can keep this tank mostly alive ill be buying a 55 with everything come tax time.. iv already lost the heater and plan on replacing it next week... i also have these little green buble things on my rock and a 2 little red phuzzy things...
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#2
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#2
Why are you dosing calcium? You don't have any coral or clams so there should be little demand for calcium ? What is your ca level at? You really don't need to dose anything just do your water changes and you should be fine. I don't dose anything into my 20g just do a 10-15% water change bi-weekly.

The water changes should reduce the nitrates too. Why are your nitrates high? Usually they are from overstocking or overfeeding ? do you have a dsb? you seem to have enough rock?
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#7
May 16, 2003
8,589
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Colorado
#7
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but also many types of filters that used to be commonly reccomended are terrible about producing a lot of nitrates. Anything with bioballs or a canister filter. So if your friend has an outdated system he might get nitrates that high.

Nitrates of 50 in saltwater is HUGE! Usually I see people reccomending nothing over 5ppm.
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#8
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
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New Jersey
#8
In a fowlr you have more leway (sp>) but a reef with 50 ppm of nitrates isnt really a reef.

Im having problems with my nitrates atm aswell and cant get them to go below 5 and stay at 0. Im thinking the bb is the culprit but I think you have a sand bed correct?

What do you have running in the HOB or is it just for water movement?

Hair algae would help a little but I wouldnt bank anything on it to keep the nitrates low (what are yours at?)

Are you a heavy feeder?
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#10
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
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#10
so does some of the food not get eaten and goes to the bottom, if this is happeneing then that would be the most likely catalyst. Feed enough so the fish can finish it within a minuet no need to over indulge them and cause param problems.
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#11
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
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#11
Hm, I'm a heavy feeder too, so this light feeding stuff isn't going to go down too well with my fish. To get nitrates down you can use algae, in or out of the main display, a deep sand bed with/without plenum, and again in or out of the display, you can skim to reduce the organics available to become nitrates, and at the end of the day you can always buy a costy and fiddly denitrafication filter. Relying on live rock to do it is not likely to be successful - it does reduce nitrate, but not so uch as the other methods.
Nitrates of 50 aren't too rare, and tho' not ideal, not necessarily a calamity. You do run the risk of algae wars tho'. Normally during a full blown algae war nitrates go to zero anyway as they're all assimilated.
A full blown reef in good shape will generally have low nitrate as it's all being 'used'. Some people actively drip sodium nitrate into their tanks as they think their nitrate of zero is too low.
 

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

Superstar Fish
#14
Jun 12, 2004
2,778
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Montreal, Quebec
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#14
tested. Good little thing, last for a long time.
Can be renewed with bleach.
It'll help to decrease your nitrates/phos but for 50 ppm you'll have to use a big amount.
I used it a lot when i had a crappy seaclone skimmer. Now no chemicals, better skimmer and no problems. Skimming well is a better option..
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#17
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
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#17
You need to have a nitrate level to keep algae right? - no algae prefers to ingest ammonium- your rotting organics might never even make it to the nitrate stage. Thus you can easy get zero nitrate during an 'algae war'
 

YahooFishKeeper

YahooFishKeeper

Superstar Fish
#18
Jan 14, 2006
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#18
wayne said:
You need to have a nitrate level to keep algae right? - no algae prefers to ingest ammonium- your rotting organics might never even make it to the nitrate stage. Thus you can easy get zero nitrate during an 'algae war'
Click to expand...
cant you only have ammonium at lower than tropical temperatures though? not saying your wrong or anything, and i know salt water is WAY different that FW, but FW plants dont care what stage the nitrogen is at, it just takes whats available.
 

YahooFishKeeper

YahooFishKeeper

Superstar Fish
#20
Jan 14, 2006
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#20
JWright said:
Do you keep your FW tanks that much cooler than your SW?

It's true that at higher pH levels, as well as higher temperatures, there is less ionized ammonia (aka Ammonium, or NH4+). However, most organisims metabolize both free ammonia and ammonium in exactly the same way.
Click to expand...
no, i dont. but i heard ammonium just broke down into amonia after higher ph or temp. does it gain electrons to become ammonia or something?
 

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