Nitrates, live rock, and bio-pellets

I still can't seem to get my Nitrates down below 10-20ppm. I'm starting to think that maybe there isn't enough live rock in the system. I don't want to load the sump with LR and have it become a detritus farm, and there really isn't any room in my display unless I load up the back wall behind my little island.

What do you think?

I'm ordering a BRS bio pellet reactor in the upcoming group buy, should I just wait and see how that works? I'd love to be able to not need the bio-pellets forever, and not have to rely on anything for good water quality. Although I guess that is what everyone wants.

I have a 40g with 20g sump. There is maybe 20lbs of mature live rock and about 25lbs of 8 month old base rock. I'm thinking maybe the problem is that I just flat out don't have enough live rock?

Thanks as always.

 

No one that I know of has gotten rid of Nitrates with live rock alone. Maybe in some rare instances where you carefully measured your feeding and there were no fish in the system, but most typical reef setups are going to produce more nitrates than live rock can handle... While live rock is believed to have anoxic/ hypoxic zones, in many cases, it is not sufficient enough to fully rid of the nitrates that are produced in our enclosed systems, therefore we need a means of nutrient export such as macroalgae, skimmer, biopellets, or a combination of all three. Biopellets will surely help reduce nitrates, as long as you have a skimmer sufficient enough to remove (export) the bacterial blooms associated with adding them.

I was never able to get my detectable nitrates to zero until I added biopellets, now my nitrates have been measuring zero for nearly a year!

 

Let me ask you this. I'm trying to get a pair of Banggai Cardinals but I was thinking I should wait until I sort out the nitrate situation. On the other hand maybe the fish wouldn't care at all about 20ppm.

 

How many fish are in your setup? The reason I am asking because my nitrates fluctuate around the 10-20 ppm range but I know its like that because I am a little kinda sorta probably maybe almost over stocked.

 

5 total, at about 8 inches of fish overall.

o Clown pair (still small)
Clown Goby (tiny)
Flasher Wrasse
Pink Spotted Watchman

I know the Cardinal pair would be pushing my limit. That's another reason why I'm hesitant.

 

Do you run any macroalgae? This has worked wonders for my nitrates. But I've never been overstocked, or even normally stocked lol. So maybe once I get my 65 stocked up I may have nitrates just like you.

 

There is some chaeto in the sump, it stays dark green but doesn't seem to grow much. It doesn't seem like it is doing much. :-/

 

It could be the lighting? How often do you do water changes if any? Have you tried Chemipure elite?

 

What kind of lighting do you have on it? I use a 6500K CFL from walmart and it grows it like crazy.

 

Great minds think alike.;D