Help reading my nitrate test, please

IMO, it looks like it's between 25 and 50 closer to 50. It's an improvement from your other test (I'm a glass half full person). I kind of consider myself the nitrate queen, not a title I'm proud of. Anyway, when I started my quest to lower nitrates, someone on here told me that for whatever percentage of water change you do, you can count that as the amount of nitrate reduction. For example, a 20% water change should reduce your nitrates by 20%. That kind of puts it in perspective in terms of how much and how many water changes you'll need to lower them (using water changes alone as your solution).

Another avenue to consider is what is causing them? For me, I kept a FOWLR for years with a canister filter and I had very poor husbandry (used tap water, only did water changes about every 6 months) so part of my nitrate issue I figured out (thanks to many on here) was from my live rock and sand bed leeching. I eventually switched out my sand bed except for a little to seed the new sand, took out some live rock and added a couple new pieces, used only RO/DI water, increased flow, upgraded my skimmer, did more frequent water changes, and added biopellets. After all of that, I still have trouble getting them lower than 20 but considering I started out at >160, the changes have been successful. I only rambled because perhaps some of these solutions may be applicable to your situation if there are any similarities HTH.

 

I agree from using those tests, but I would actually err on the side of high and say 75 because it looks like 50, but, it also has a darker tinge to it that resembles 100. Could be my old eyes failing me though.. Lol!

I can't make any simplistic suggestions Tbh, because the two things I have done and used to knock out nitrates are: sulfur reactor and pellets in a recirc reactor.

Of the two, without a doubt, the sulfur was easier, but part of its function was that when it really, really got to working well, it smelled. But the thing was effective and very hands off as I built my own. The pellets work great also, but there a bit more caution involved simply because they are so efficient and the tumbling aspect.

But I rambled on, apologies..

 

yes, the more detail the better here. This is very similar on how this tank got to where it is today. My GF bought this tank and had a cichlid tank for a while. Then (with help of her LFS) she turned it to a FOWLR and they told her to get a canister filter and one Korila (SP?) powerhead. She ran that for a while, she was told NOT to do a water change from her LFS at all . Top off and cleaning the canister would be all she needed to do (what she was told) I came along! the fun begins! haha
She has some fish and I've (up to this point been a FW guy) but just never took the jump to SW. I've wanted a salt/reef tank since my first trip to the Shedd when I was in middle school.

So, since then, we've tried a couple corals, didn't work. also got a HOB skimmer. This was almost 2 years ago and she was 2.5 hours away for the first year of our relationship. So her tank suffered but survived as a FOWLR while she was coming up to stay with me. Her mom would feed and make sure nothing too bad happened.

So, onto moving the tank up here. We were talked into buying 40lbs of crushed coral as a new substrate. We moved all the LR, keeping it wet and all the fish moved with no problem. That was one stressful day.

However, things always get worse before they get better. Once I started really digging in and asking more and more questions, I finally started to make some headway.

I bought another powerhead maxi w/ eco mod, well actually two, I just don't have the other mounting part yet. So now I have two powerheads pointing to each other. I make sure that I change the pattern every so often to break up the flow. I will blow off the rocks to get some of the detritus off and into the water column. The last thing was to replace the air-inlet hose on the skimmer and finally be able to figure out how to fine-tune my skimmer. Well, at least I was able to better fine tune it! haha

Doing that made a visual difference in my tank and even started seeing better health in everything. I am going to be doing more scheduled water changes and getting a sump, RO/DI unit and an ATO to relieve some of the manual maintenance. That will be the end of phase one. I want to also take a lot of sand out of the DT and move it into the fuge section of the sump for now. There is too much CC in there now and the Tom Clown will make sure he moves what he wants moved so his LTA friend won't be affected by it. I just recently read that CC is not good at all for an LTA. Maybe that's why he moved up to higher rocks...

I don't like that I did everything wrong to figure out what to do right. I want to have a healthy system that can be enjoyed. I do have a better grasp on what I am doing. I also have a couple of great people from around the area that have helped me out so much!!

Thank you for your extra detail, it does help. Posts like yours are ones I would find and most of the time make things click. ;D I feel like I just rambled on, but it also helps me understand of what I do. haha

I think this friday I will get a 20 gal water change done.

Thanks!

 

See, the reactors and pellets and that stuff are over my head at this point. I have limited myself to fixing my problems without too much equipment upgrades right away. Plus my wallet refuses to let me do too much at once! booo

It's good to know there are other options out there that work. I am sure someday I will read about them or see one and be like, I gonna need to get one! hahaha

thanks!

 

No,I understand. I just got into the reactors and the like a year or two ago. I'm still learning the pellets as that's new to me. Understanding the theory isn't the sane as practical application. So your not alone.

So, fir basics, old school was dead on! Water changes with good salt and di water. Just takes a while as he mentioned.

And Weber all been there with the "had to learn by research and being told wrong by a LFS" unfortunately. Also, we've all had a guide of some sort along the way. It's one of the beautiful things about this hobby: for every bad person you meet, your going to encounter 10 good ones. Your doing things completely right! Just take your time and enjoy your progress and learning..:thumbup:

 

I'm glad you were able to get something useful from the post It took me quite a while to figure it all out in terms of what I needed to do to get the trates down. Something that I learned which seems like it should be saltwater 101 but I had read differently in the past - clean out the neck of your skimmer regularly. The advice used to be to just empty the cup out and that some stuff in the neck helped to create a surface to improve the functioning but that is incorrect.

One thing I might mention since you may not want to go the pellet route, is to explore some of Dr. Tim's products and vinegar dosing (there are threads on here regarding both). You're still going to want to continue to do the manual water changes so you can get the nitrates into a reasonable level but believe it or not, they are not at an unmanageable level. I'm very impressed that you have found an anemone that is living in the tank with high nitrates - that's hard to do because they can be as sensitive to phosphate and nitrate levels as SPS corals.

 

I guess in a way, it's good to actually learn from the bad LFS. It makes it stick more when I find out what I did wrong and then find out what it takes to make the tank happy again!

So, the LFS is nowhere near where I live today. However, he is the only marine FS in that town or within a hundred miles radii... So, you know what that means. Ten gallons of tap salt water was $20.

I bought my GF the HOB skimmer from Amazon, for it was almost half the price of the one he had. He got mad when my GF went in and asked him if he could help her out. Sure, I could see his point, to an extent. He then set it up (weeks later) properly, but wouldn't tell us or show us how to do it. He just said, don't touch the dials. Then to follow that up with, "well, if you would have bought it from me, I would have set it up for you" :

I'm so glad to be working with people who are willing to be generous with their information. I went into a couple places around town and while they all have their minor idiocentrics, most of them were more than willing to tell me how to do something cheaper or myself and really explain what's going on. I was almost shocked when a LFS told me where to look for good used equipment, when he had brand new stuff sitting there he could have tried to jam down my neck-hole.

 

Haha, me too actually! The worst thing I could have done was read how hard the LTAs are to keep. Once I read that, i got super nervous. Like reading that is going to make him get sick and die, hahahahaha.

I have read about the skimmer neck cleanout, that's a great tip. I can't wait to get my new R.O. skimmer going. I have to unscrew the collection cup to clean it out really well. The only problem is putting it back on, it has a face seal with o-ring and never seals up the first time. So, about 1-2 times a week, I get in there with paper towels and clean as much up as I can. Then on a weekend, I will remove the cup and clean it out with hot water. Then I can sit and wait for it to leak, so I can adjust it again to wait for it to leak and usually the 3-4th time's the charm!

 

And you are getting a new skimmer, why? LOL you're already showing the patience and motivation to do well in the hobby

 

OFK,

I feel I now have a large bioload, but still have undetectable nitrates on API.

There are many ways to do it.

For me, I feel it's mostly my LR, to a lesser extent my skimmer, and to a great extent is my huge amount of chaeto in my sump.
MY chaeto doesn't 'tumble' either.
I turn it over, usually daily
FWIW