nitrates are always up????

Telgar · Oct 10, 2009

mocarski said: ↑

And at four months your tank could very well still be cycling. It took my 75 gallon close more than 3 months to finally get through it's cycle. Mine actually went through multiple cycles. Things looked good then I'd spike ammonia and go through another mini-cycle. Don't know why, but it definitely happened.
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Mine is doing that now, just when I thought it was finally over my tests this morning showed the ammonia spiked back to 0.25 again! I began the cycle on 08/01/09 with a piece of raw Gulf Shrimp, started out with all dry base rock and sand.

The only occupants at the moment are a blue legged hermit crab and 3 dozen assorted snails (about 1/3rd of my final cuc recommended by Reefcleaners in my custom quote) and a few different types of macro algae in the fuge plus 6 red mangroves that have all started to sprout roots.

Wow, didn't mean to get into all that, the point I wanted to make was simply that a little patients in the beginning will set you up for far greater success a year down the road because you built a solid base for it to grow from.

Gexx · Oct 11, 2009

mocarski said: ↑

In my opinion the problem in your tank is that it is new and you are not removing nearly as much nutrients as you are putting in. You can get by without a protein skimmer, although you should reallly have one. But you should be doing water changes like twice a week and not once a month given what you've described about your system. At least initially do big water changes, then cut back to where you find a balance in your system. Get current test kits and do water changes and testing at least weekly.

Daily feeding is adding to the issue. You can do daily feeding if you think you must, but then you need to do something to get the nutrients that are being added out. I feed my fish and corals twice a week. after 9 months all fish are still fat and happy.

Whatever you are putting in the tank must come out or it will build up and cause you issues. Especially with nitrates.

You should never have any ammonia or nitrites at all in your system or there is something seriously wrong.

Increase your maintenance and testing and decrease the amount of food that you are adding and you should see big improvements in your system.

And at four months your tank could very well still be cycling. It took my 75 gallon close more than 3 months to finally get through it's cycle. Mine actually went through multiple cycles. Things looked good then I'd spike ammonia and go through another mini-cycle. Don't know why, but it definitely happened.

Spend less on new stuff to go into your tank and more on test kits, salt, and on taking care of the stuff already in your tank. You've got a lot of stuff in your tank and have things that I wouldn't recommend till your tank is older.

If you want to drop your nitrates to 0, also consider installing a DSB. They're not quite in favor like they used to be, but they definitely will take care of nitrates.
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ok thanks!! i've got more base rock does anyone know when it will start to help my tank get rid of nitrates. i got 6 lbs.

mocarski · Oct 12, 2009

Depends. If it was out of another system that was fully cycled then right away. If it's dry then it will take a while for the bacteria to populate. If it was in another system and pulled out and let sit it could actually add more nutrients than take out.

I don't disagree that you should have more live rock but I can't say that my personal experience is that it is the best at removing nitrates either it definitely helps but even with over 100 lbs in my previous setup I still had skyhigh nitrates until I learned how to balance nutrients going in and nutrients coming out of my system.

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nitrates are always up????

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