How long before Nitrate levels go down?

I converted the 2nd chamber in my BioCube 29 to a refugium on Saturday. Live rock rubble base with a couple of wads of chaeto.

How long should it take before I start seeing my nitrate levels drop?

Thanks,
-AJ

 

Don't really know what caused my nitrates to go down; adding chaeto, adding DSB or adding more lighting. After adding Chaeto it took about 2 months for the nitrate to drop from 20 ppm to 0.

Paul's Reef: How to Reduce Nitrates in Reef Tanks by Increasing Illumination



A few weeks ago I removed the spiral bulbs I discussed in my blog post and replaced my PC fixture with a 6x T5 fixture. Nitrates have inched up just slightly from undetectable to 0.5 ppm.

 

It really depends on way too many things. Like: What is your stock? How much sand? How much rock? Feeding routine? Water change routine? What kind of skimmer do you have? etc etc etc

 

It took my cube about a week to reach 0 after adding chaeto and the 2nd chamber mod. I also dose a few things to keep nitrate's at zero but that's something I would not suggest to new reefers.

g00d luck!
-fritts

 

What kind of light do you have over the fuge? Should I light it from the top? Or would it be better to get a light coming in from the back?

 

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