sponges

[Davidson]

Hi Again,

I am in the process of trying to reduce my nitrates. I have done about a 75% water change over the last week and a half, but they are still really high. My hunch is that it is the sponges in my canister filter (using just to polish the water and to add "Flow"), or even my wet/dry filter. I just added about 25 lbs of live rock to my 35 gal tank, so I am planning on removing the bio bale from my wet dry and just using it as a small sump.

My question is should I replace the sponges, or should I remove them completely and just use carbon, since I am just "polishing" the water?. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks again,

Davidson

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Unless you are keeping to a very tight schedule and cleaning the sponges out weekly... I would get rid of them completely.

If the LR you just added was not fully cured this could be your problem or part of it anyway.

Keep up on regular 20%-25% weekly water changes and run carbon in the canister instead of sponge filters and watch that your not over feeding the tank.

 

[Davidson]

outstanding!,

Thanks for the help, I JUST put the rock in yesterday, it was cured (the LFS guy said so and there was no bad smell) and i dont think i am over feeding. the spnges were really nasty when i removed them, so yeah i think this is was big part of the problem, thanks again.

Davidson

 

[SALTY WATERS]

If you just added your LR even if it is cured your probabley going to see a small spike as it adjust to your tank water peram's and lighting conditions. I would do as I recommended above and just keep an eye on your tank for at least the next 2weeks before you think of adding anything new.

Hope it all works out. Oh and do you got any pics of your tank?

 

[Davidson]

Hi thanks again,

No pics yet, i need to dust off the ol' Digi and take a few, im thinking of getting about another 10 lbs of LR cause the 25 i am starting with really didnt cover the volume of space i had thought it would, i am going to try to get the nitates to drop a bit first I think.

On a side note, i really wasnt sold on using LR mostly cause i wasnt sure if I would lke the "Looks" of it, but boy was i wrong. It has made my tank look 100% BETTER. I am really excited about geting more coralline growth as well as adding some corals when the time is right.

Davidson

 

[fish outa wata]

it also looks great at night if you have a moonlight. If you don't get one cause they make the tank look so cool.