Dead Coral causing Nitrates????

Does anyone here use Dead Coral in their tank? I don't see very many postings with dead coral. I was taught that this was the best for fish only tanks......I later learned that Live Rock beats dead coral hands down. I currently have Nitrate issues......could the dead coral cause this problem? I have tried large water changes, Frequent water changes, reduced feeding, The Bag, algae turf filter but nothing seems to reduce my nitrates. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

180 G mixture of dead coral and live rock
Regular flourescent lighting 2X 36" and one 48"
10 G sump - No skimmer
No RO system use tap water

See Picture

 

Im just going to say something that you are going to here. Unless you are using a tds meter to check your water, and your sure theres no metals or anything bad in it, you are going to have problems. I know that I used it and had major diatom blooms until I starting using RO

 

that dead coral with become live rock in time. LR is merly an abject with surface area. the more pourous the better. how hi are the nitrates? as long as there are no inverts in the tank, if they are not threw the roof, it wont be a huge issue to the fishes health. most fish arent effected by hi nitrates compared to corals/inverts. i would add a skimmer first. why is ur sump only 10g? ohh and have to tested ur source water?

 

Simple answer, no. Dead (decorative) coral can not cause nitrates.

 

live rock (by and large) is dead coral.

I assume you don't mean rotting dead coral flesh but just coral skeleton? That's just (by and large again) calcium and Mg with some other elements thrown in.

no nitrates from that...

 

You have nitrates because you don't have a skimmer, are using tap water and the water changes are just putting more tap water in the tank.

Your tap is probably a major source of your nitrates. You're adding them quite possibly with every WC.

Surface area bacteria does not break down nitrates, you need deep pores where 0 oxygen can enter to get anaerobic bacteria that will break down nitrates. Not sure how well the dead coral in your pic will handle the anaerobic bacteria.

 

Peredhil,
I am getting an RO unit and Skimmer for X-Mas. What are the best of these for my buck?

Thanks for your replies BTW.

 

JM'sRSM,
Thanks for your repley...
Unfortunantly for me I had a LFS teacher who made me believe that all of you reefer's that bought LR, Protein Skimmers, RO units, MH and VHO and T5 lights were; pardon the expression but, full of it. I actually believed him for a long time....Long story short, I Learned the hard way. I now have a REAL LFS teacher that got me straight. The idiot that I was going to actually told me that testing water was impossible. What a Jerk!!!!

Thanks for all your help....
3reef is a good site

 

awesome. both will make a huge difference.

for the RO\DI unit, I suggest going to http://www.bulkreefsupply.com and cehcking out their units.

For the skimmer, we need more info. In sump, HOB, etc that you want.

 

Predhil.....
I have looked into that some and have questions. I have 22" clearance from the floor of my cabinet up to the bottom of the tank. Most skimmers I see are 22-23" tall. Is there special reasons against having the HOB design apposed to the in-sump? I also have a tiny 10 Gal sump - (Bad teacher). I hate to have to buy RO/DI, p Skimmer and Sump all at once. What do you think?