Nitrate reductor

well theirs good news and bad news. you have good skimmers. i think you said 2, sadly they are only rated for 450 gallons each. so if you do have a 1000 gallon tank your skimmers are good enough. even if you do have a 700 gallon tank the recommendations arent made for heavily stocked systems like yours. i would recommend another skimmer for the tank or replacing the existing ones with a real monster like a G6.(you may even want to keep one of the g4 if you get a g6)

next time you replace your lighting go for a lower kelvin rating on your fuge around 6500k or 10000k.
it would really be in you best interest to remove the fish from the fuge and set up a seperate system for them. as you are quite right they will pick at your sharks eyes. sorry i know that is inconvenient.

turf scrubbers may help but i would think you would need several, for fast reduction. you may want to just use your screen door lol

 

Sostoudt:

Okay I am really depressed and stressed and wish I knew what else to do.

I called someone who sold me most of my fish - haha - and he said that yes I should get rid of fish - a donation - he'd take them.

He said I should probably go with 5 inches per fish per gallon which means I could have only about 2 sharks with that calculation.

So, now I have to figure out how to get rid of all my eels and 2 sharks and everything else. I really would have never gotten into this if I only new I could have so very little in my tank- I feel like just getting rid of everything but when you spent probably 25,000 so far, it's a real killer - yes, we got a loan for my stupid idiot hobby - I think I will go to a psychiatrist who will tell me it has something to do with not getting a toy when I was five or something.

Anyway, it was lots of fun that I just saw one of my eels savagely attack my wrasse because I switched lighting - the lfs sold me the wrong light - too bright, even though I asked for a low light blue, I was given a high light white which upset everyone as if they were going to die and hell broke loose.

Don't know what to do. My husband will be very upset about all this and will think I am over reacting. He really knows nothing either and thinks everything is always fine.

Thanks guys.

 

Well I for one feel for you, this hobby is supposed to be very enjoyable! And it still can be, however somethings just need to be addressed. First and foremost realize that everything is alive at this point. And even though your nitrates are high (I believe you said you had a sick shark due to this), they are still alive and kicking.

Also be aware that there are many place open to you in which you can seek your answers including our 3reef form. As you can tell most of us here love answering questions. ;D

But what I would recommend at this point is to take some time and begin studying some articles. There are some really good ones here that can help you understand the bio-load, nitrate reduction techniques, setting up a low maintance tank, etc. But don't get too discouraged, we've all been there at one point or another but we pull through to rekindle our love for this hobby.

-Gavin

 

Problem lies here:
top tank:
4 sharks - bottom dwelling all fat and happy
6 fat and happy eels
4 tangs happy
1 panther grouper fat and happy
1 wrasse happy
2 triggers
2 more small eels
2 puffers




i hate to be the bearer of bad news. and i hope that im wrong since i dont do predator tanks. but my general expierence in the hobby tells me if you dont do anything now your tanks will crash and most if not all animals will die. our tanks do not age gracefully. many people dont realize that just because it works now doesnt mean it will work years from now. very few people in this hobby understand that these tanks basically turn in to septic tanks, until they have there 5 year old tank go down hill(me). and the only way to keep them for the life span of the fish is to make sure your water quality is perfect all the time. your very high nitrates will continue to rise and kill all your fish unless something changes.

which is why i will basically tell you the options you have to make it easier to choose.
1) remove some of the bioload
2)upgrade your filtration and nutrient export.
3)do some of 1 and 2.

i have tried to make this comment well thought out and clear.

option 1 may seem hard, but it isn't really when you accept that this is for the benefit of the animal. to make the biggest impact I would suggest some of the sharks or eels. i have tried to not let my feelings about the situtation influence my advise in this case, the only thing i will say is that i believe sharks belong in the wild or a public aquarium where they have plenty of space and will be well taken care off.
it will be hard at first to seperate a few of your animals but you should realize you have plenty of fish. and its really the size of the animals that are stressing your filtration.


Top tank is 48 inches wide , 87 inches long, 38 inches high=700 gallons
i know this sounds like a lot but it really isnt for a predator tank with as many big fish as you have.
if you had animals that are less huge you would think you had alot more, you could have athias or damsels out the waazo.


how you go about option 2 may very, but what every you do it need to be significant to get you out of the whole your in. the phrase "go big or go home" comes to mind. im sure what ever the way this would happen would end up being pretty costly(multiple turf scrubbers being the cheapest probably) and require plumbing changes in the system.

option 3 would have the fastest results.


also it may be worth it for you to take a step and decide at this crossroad if you would rather go a different way with the system, maybe reef

anyway i wish you good luck and will be happy to answer any more question you may have. just remember its all the thinking and dread that is making this unenjoyable take a hint from nike and just do it.

 

Hey you guys - please do not give up on me no matter how annoying I may sound....please.

Okay, so I went to my main fish store who sold me all this stuff - the fish.

I saw a large fiberglass tank with koi in it. I told him that since he's the one who said, get this, get that, that now he is also partially responsible for what I've done - I would not have gotten all those fish without him telling me it was ok. So he understands my predicament.

I asked if I put that under the house (in garage with all the other stuff) and connect it to my tank will it help. It is an 800 gallon capacity but I would only be using around 500 because of overflow issues if power outage. I would then use the middle of it with a basket (which I don't fully understand yet) and use that as a refugium - plants and mud and rock.

I would also take my pool filter which I previously bought but had to stop using because the flow was too slow for some reason - the pool filter will now be refigured into all of this. It is very large, I don't know the specs.

Plus he told me he would contact someone who makes something that helps with nitrates and ask him about my predicament.


I will get a much larger pump to handle all this remodel.

What do you think? Right now I am cleaning tank 2 times a week.

Thanks.

 

I for one am enjoying this thread and can not wait to see what you do. This sounds incredible.

Will love to see pictures

You are really exploring some avenues here. I hope everyone keeps helping you.

 

i think that was just the kind of thing i that is needed, your going big so you dont have to go home now lol

 

Agreed

Good way to get some more volume so the bio-load is more spread out. Something like that setup as refugium loaded with macro algae would help alot with the export of nutrients. Would still recommened what sostoudt said about getting some more filtration, as with more gallons means the need for more filtration

P.S. I know I'm beating the ATS thing with a dead horse, but check out
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic89570-4-25.aspx and look at reefski's pictures. Might be something worth looking into if indeed your going this route...

 

You can probably get the same results with a 100 watt CFL 2700K or 3000. That's what algae need to grow. Anything over 5000K is more for looks, than growth.

 

Thanks guys. I'm really scared about all this but something drastic needs to be done.

I'm scared about my husband drilling a hole in my sump. What if it cracks???

I'm scared about the money - but that's life in my hobby.

To DaGopherboy - I will be using the pool filter - it is an actual pool filter so it is very large. Just need to get rid of the old filter media and figure out a better filter media so it does not clog so easily.

Thanks a lot and when I get it done I will get pictures and post them. I really hope it all works out - wouldn't that be nice? This has to work because my husband is absolutely adamant about not getting rid of any fish. He also thinks I'm over reacting and doesn't understand how important this nitrate issue is.

So thanks for listening to me and giving me all this advice. If I don't mention anything you've mentioned it's just I'm really figuring out how to implement things.