how to lower nitrates??

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#1
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#1
i wanted to know how to lower my nitrates because ther way high... besides doing like a 80% water change.... this is on my 55 gallon that is about 2 or 3 months old i did a 10% change yesterday and there still high...by the way the reason i say 80% water change is because that what another website suggested
 

yamahaguy06

yamahaguy06

Large Fish
#3
Feb 28, 2005
569
0
0
36
Waterford, CA
#3
LOL, nice guy aresgod. well you should never ever do an 80% water change, and your tank is still young, some tanks can take a long time to cycle. I imagen you dont have anything in it right. And what kind of filter do you have or are you using a skimmer? and you should be changing about 25% of your water a month. and someone will probably put a beter post up than me so keep an eye out.(that is if they are nicer than aresgod) lol *twirlysmi
 

J

jammerz

Large Fish
#5
Feb 28, 2005
308
0
0
45
Boise
#5
aresgod is nice... but this questions been answered twice for just me on this site. If dude doesn't want to read or at least thumb thru the old posts on this site im sure the vets on the site aren't willing to help if he isn't gonna help himself. Just my interpretation.....
 

A

aresgod

Superstar Fish
#6
Jan 14, 2004
1,987
2
0
mass
Visit site
#6
yes to both of you but we have made numerous suggestions to TRe here at MFT and he/she has taken none of them....so i figured i wasnt worth my time, plus I kind of enjoy being an ***
Brahm
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#9
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
3
0
#9
Well if they are really high you are going to have make some massive changes as 10% is really very small. FWIW I'm running a 5 gall atthe moment , and am seeing what happens when I do 50 % 2 or 3 times a week.
Dinatrification filter ($$$) or algal refugium? What skimmer?
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
2
0
42
San Ramon, CA
#10
like wayne said, 10% is not very much. if your nitrates are 80ppm and you do 10% then you are only taking out 8ppm so you are still at 72ppm...theoretically

an 80% water change will be a temporary solution but your bioload will need to be reduced or you will have to do consistent large weekly water changes to keep the levels down

wayne: i do not believe he is skimming this tank and if you look at the signature it is way overstocked. i think you missed the string of posts about it all while you were on hiatus (hence aresgod's frustration)
 

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#11
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#11
i did get a skimmer... the prizm protien skimmer and i do a 5 gallon water change every week...do you suggest i do a larger water change each week?? btw thanks for the help wayne and camaro
 

NoDeltaH2O

NoDeltaH2O

Superstar Fish
#12
Feb 17, 2005
1,873
0
0
52
SC
#12
you probably overfeed the fish. I've found that if you feed them just enough to satisfy their hunger, but don't allow them to stuff themselves, then they don't produce much waster at all. FEED LIGHTLY. They will not starve.
 

A

aresgod

Superstar Fish
#13
Jan 14, 2004
1,987
2
0
mass
Visit site
#13
well he has a puffer,notoriusly messy eaters, so even to feed lightly there will be wastes, TRe has high nitrates because the tanks are overstocked producing lots of amonia, then nitrite, then massive amounts of nitrate, which has to be manually removed or with a fuge, or many other options
 

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#17
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#17
i do listen (sometimes) *twirlysmi gave back the queen,got a protien skimmer, got power heads...the one thing i wont give up though is the puffer he's the only fish i have that actually has a personality.. he'll come up to the glass and beg for food, he'll actually take the krill right from your hands,when ever i put something new in the tank he'll try to lay right ontop of and i mean anything crabs fish what ever he's definitly the coolest fish...id like to get him a much larger tank but that'll have to wait a while
 

J

JEP

Small Fish
#20
Mar 22, 2005
24
0
0
Elgin, IL
#20
Curious, why do you say that Tre's tank is overcrowded? He lists:
{
55 Gallon - saltwater
45 lbs. live cured hatian rock, 30 lbs. black sand
-- porcupine puffer, niger trigger, yellow tang, 5 hermit crabs, mexican turbo snails
}
That's three fish, unless they're each a foot long.
If not, as was suggested, I would check how much they are being fed and keep water changes consistent.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.