How much is to much

Hey Everyone,

I have an in wall 120 and my Nitrates are nearing 20. I did about a 15 gallon water change last night and they have not come down at all. How much water can I change out without causing issues for myself.

All other parameters are in check..

 

Check this thread out for one. Has some interesting information about dropping nitrate.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/refugium/nitrates-zero-20-here-what-i-did-55911.html

Also I think a third (40 Gal -15 so another 25), but we will have to wait to see what the Gurus say. It will be a learning experience for the both of us

 

You can do a 50% if everything in the new water is the same as the existing water. Temp, Salinity, PH

 

I don't think I would do more then 50%

 

Hi, I can't understand everyone supporting a water change and especially at the volume everyone is mentioning! A 50% should only be done in an emergency. 20 ppm Nitrates does not warrant this. Overfeeding, lack of sufficient clean up crew and unmaintained filters and sponges along with many other things are usually the culprits for high Nitrates, which I might add, you do not have. We don't know what filtration system Remickj is using. We really know only one thing, it's a 120 gal. tank. Large water changes can throw the tanks chemistry completely out of balance and as stated earlier should be done in an emergency. And, the thing to be considered is, water changes to try and lower nitrates is like filling up a barrel that has a leak in it, you will have to keep doing it until you fix the leak. Let's give better advice and encourage members to discover the cause of the Nitrates and address that. My 55 gal. ran with 20 ppm Nitrates for months. I finally made a decision to add Halemeda to the display (I don't have a refugium) and in 2 weeks (after the plants got established) Nitrates fell to 0 ppm. Now, are there no Nitrates in my tank? No, the tank will always produce Nitrate, as it should but the Halemeda is using them to grow, much like a Mangrove plant.
Remickj, I will suggest that when you post and are asking for help or for ideas, please include all basic information. Basic information should include; all water parameters(Calcium,Magnes ium,Alkalinity,Ph and Nitrate and Phosphate levels) along with Temp. of your tank and Sg (specific gravity).Size of tank and complete set up meaning, filter type (sump, canister etc.), if you use a skimmer,lighting (what type and total output)plus what type of lighting are you using and what is your lighting schedule (how long a period are your actinic and daylights on) and if you have fish only with live rock and if you keep
corals. Also how long the tank has been up. I know some of this is in your bio but many bios don't contain this info. How many times has someone posted and then there is this list of postings addressing the above. If you give the most info you can to give us a good profile, it will cut down on response time and mis-diagnosis or answers that don't
fit and we will all benefit.

 

I couldnt agree more, well written. I just dont know in what tone this was written, hopefully it was in a pleasent way.

I had 20ppm(No3) for yrs with no ill effects in my tank. You need to find the source of the No3 first before you start throwing band aids at it. In my case, I cant pin-point what was causing my No3 b/c I did so many changes to my system, that I just cant say it was "this". I want to say it was removing almost 90% of the bio balls that I had in my W/D, but I cant. I would look into your filtration system first, as UncleJed mentioned.
What kind of filtration do you have?

Luna

 

As always, only written with the success of the inquiring member in mind!

 

Good post Jed.

 

Sorry- I thought I was covering other parameters by saying they are in check and did not think to include everythng else since my post was only asking how much water you could change safely. I thought tank size was sufficent. I would not think to do a 50% water change and agree that I need to find the cause but in the short term I want to have as happy an environment as I can and want to avoid algae outbreaks that often come along with Nitrates.

Amonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Calcuim - 480
Nitrates - 20
Salinity - 1.024
dkh - 12

Other information:

Phosphates- between 0 and 1
Current Temp and PH can be seen in signature
Water changes done every two weeks / fliter socks cleaned weekly like clockwork
Feed once a day switching out between pellets and Formula B soaked in garlic, and Zoe.
Add Kent Marine C to the tank daily.

Born 10/02/2008 Hardware: 120 All Glass in wall aguarium with overflow box, 15 gallon Proclear sump with Refigum, 1200 Mag Drive Pump, Korilla 4, Sunpod 2x150 MH, Current 2x54 Actinic, Aqua Controller III, 120lbs live rock, 80lbs of sand, Bermuda BPS-C3 Skimmer. CoralLife RO/DI Unit. Livestock: 2-6 line wrasse, bicolor pseudochromis, 2-ocellaris clown fish. 1-Hippo Tang, 1-Naso Tang, 1-Orange Spot Goby, 2-Neon Gobys, 1 cleaner wrasse, 4-cleaner shrimp, 50+ hermits, 25+ snails, 1-bubble tip Anemone, 1-clam, Button Polyps, colt coral, xenia, frog spawn, gonipora, green finger leather, umbrella leather, finger leather, star polyps.

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

Bioballs in the wetdry? Would be a likely cause to me. I would suggest starting a refugium if you have room. They are great at maintaining proper levels.