at last, ZERO nitrates

Well, I have posted on here a few times about my nitrates and it's time for an update. ~ 20 day's ago I finished my crushed coral to sand conversion. today on 12/31/08 I tested the water and the nitrates are at zero. I actually just went out and bough a 2nd test kit, to verify. (no more red)

As a freresher, I have 3 tanks that all share the same water, all 3 had CC (lots of it). the large main tank also had an under gravel filter ( I know.. gasp..).

I started with one tank, pulled it all appart, put in sugar sand, all the rocks, water and let that "do it's thing" for a while. Next week, I did the 2nd tank, same process. Between the 2 "side" tanks, they had a total of 120 lbs of CC, replaced that with ~ 50 total lbs of sand.

I let time go by and then I attacked my main tank(135 gallon). lets just say it had over 150 lbs of CC itself, I got carried away when I added it.

Picture buckes with fish, buckets with LR, and LOTS of buckets of water. I cleaned that up, put it all back, added 60 lbs of sand ( just about and inch to an inch and a half depth).

I have 2 nitrate removing coils and I thought that they were useless. (I had even thought for a while about adding 2 more) After more then enough time to cycle, they were not cutting it. Then TigerMike made a post (obvious, but something I had not thought about). if your nitrates are at 500 and via a water change (or the coils) you remove 50%, you are still off the charts. ( Mike, I think you example was 30%, but same issue). Mix that with an undergravel filter and lots of CC that were pumping out nitrates, there was NO way I would ever really see a drop.

Also thanks Luna for pointing out that I was crazy for having CC and an UG filter (you did not say crazy, I did). But you were right.

I Ditched the UG, ditched the CC and give things time to work... and with the 2 coils, today I am nitrate free.

Anyone reading this, if you have CC, replace it as soon as possible, if you are just starting out, Say no to CC. (and run from an undergravel filter)

 

Great news!!! Dont you love 0 NO3's? lol Gotta love it. I bet you that if you would disconnect the coils one-by-one, you just might still be at zero. Of course, having enough LR and/or a refug would help. Luna

 

when I first saw zero, I re-tested (2 more times). I did not think I (me) could have a tank that is almost normal. I have thought about removing the coils, or maybe just removing 1 of them. I will see as time goes on. If you remember to my "my tank" post, I have a high population. My main tank is more an an apartment building, not a house in the country.

 

After reading your post I am also going to change out my CC. My nitrates are only reading 20 but its been that way for a while. I too added a DIY coil, which is not matured yet. Only about a month old. Did you notice any of your other params change? I am concerned seeing that I don't have any tanks in series. Just a 65 gal. with a 15 gal w/d. Anything else I may want to be concerned about? Thanks in advance.

 

my amonia and nitrites where almost always zero ( or got there pretty quick) at first, I did not give the coils time to work, Mine took almost 3 months, before I would say they where cycled. I am not used to waiting.

If you are serious about doing a swap, planning, planning, planning, it's very important. you need to have the entire process planned out. for me (in my set up) when I did my main tank, I took everything out. that casued my main tank to have to cycle from scratch.

where are you going to keep your LR, your tank water, fish, corals, etc. have all of that planned out. keep as much water as you can. I pre-made salt water the day before, when I went to put my fish back in, I slowly mixed the new water into the bucket the fish were in, ( took some out, and added some new) I went VERY slow, so I would not shock/kill anything. I started 3 day's before I actually touched the tank with my planning, getting things in place ( buying things). where will you put the buckts so you don't trip over them ( and 100% a MUST.. lots of dry towels..).

after I did it, my amonia did go up as I was basically staring over. I did have the other tanks to buffer slightly. my nitrites bumped slightly too. I was very careful and did not touch my canister filters. I did not want them to recycle. I knew they will keeping my amonia and nitries down.

many people have done 1/2 a tank at a time ( and that's a great idea) for me, I had to do it all, as I had one big undergravel filter under everything. so it all had to come out.

so for me, my water stayed pretty calm and in less then 3 weeks, things where better then before I started, I would say a week-ish for my amonia/nitrites to get back down. Keep a close eye on thigns. but remember, plan it all out first.

 

oh, my other 2 cents.. give your coil more time to grow before you do anything, also dont mess with your 15 gal w/d. those will help keep your tank in check while the CC is replaced and the new cycle starts.

best guess, give your coil 4 more weeks before you mess with anything.