Nitrates

So LR acutally eats NItrates? I though it kept the bactiera for Amm and Nitrites? I thought only way to get rid of Nitrates is either Ref. or water changes.

And the Ref only works because of the Micro Algae.


Or am I total wrong? If I am clue me in please !@!@!@!

 

I don't actually know and won't pretend otherwise.

I can tell you this, I do not have a refugium and I rarely do water changes. I've done like 3 waterchanges since last October. Since my cycle completed (amm/nitrites 0) it took another couple months for my nitrates to drop to 0... they've been there ever since... going on months now.

So as far as I can tell, my nitrates are either being broken down by LR, my skimmer, or magic. I hope my tank is magical.

 

Only reason I ask is, I have tested without feeding my fish for a week and the Nitrates did go down.


So if this is the case I will go buy another 25-30 pounds of real nice cured rock today if it will help that much.

 

IMO, it will help. Maybe not instantly, but it will.


I would feel better if some other folks would chime in and either agree or disagree with me... but it's my advise for sure.


I think the rubble in my high flow skimmer helps a lot too.

 

Is the Octopus Noisy? I have been reading it is pretty much the best skimmer for noise.

 

I found I had to use the silencer and I had to put the silencer in the T on the return pipe.




Look on the left side and you will see the clear tube... that's what I'm talking about.

Once I did that it got pretty quiet... I can still hear it but it's not really noticeable unless I'm listening for it...

 

Cool,

My next thing to figure out is why my Canister filter blows out micro bubbles every like 45 secs just a bit then stops. There does not seem to be an air leak or I would hear it. I think thier might be some air gettin stuck in the piping somewhere.

 

I pretty sure that his problem is his bio-load. Tangs consume alot of food and you know what they say, "what goes in, must come out". I think if he would place some LR in his sump(if he has one), that would help. But that just might just lower his No3 to 20ppm due to his bio-load. My suggestion is(if you want to keep all your tangs);

1. Incorporate a refugium if possible. If not,
2. Incorporate a sump and put some more LR in there.
3. Get a skimmer that is over rated for your system.
4. Incorporate a Coil Denitrator.
5. Feed less if possible.



Luna

 

Bingo!!! Your canister is getting air somewhere and some how. Usually its the in-take that is the culprit. Luna

 

In my experience with a canister filter, the occasional micro-bubbles blast comes dirty media. Usually from the likes of mechanical media like filter floss, polishing pads, etc. Especially with polishing pads. These things just get dirty too quickly inside a canister and with a heavy bio-load and feeding this can get annoying. My nitrates are undetectable, but I have a lot lower bio-load than you.

What I did to get it this ways as to; did a 25% water change, add Seachem Denitrate in one of the filter trays andreduced my feedings from daily to 2-3 times per week. Now the Denitrate product has been exhausted in my canister for quite a while, but I left it in to see what would happen. The package advertise that it does not leech toxins back into the tank once exhausted. It says it just becomes biological media like those ceramic rings once it's out of juice. It's been months and I'm still coming up no nitrates. *fingers crossed*