Nitrate Advise

[Marinesavy]

Hi, can anybody tell me is nitrate 20ppm normal ? I was having my tank for almost 4 months, i kept LPS, Polys and total of 5 small fishes, I own a 24g nano cube from JBJ. A month ago, when i test the nitrate level, it was 10ppm, last night i did a test again, it goes to 20ppm. Can anybody enlighten me what is happening

I do a 5% - 10% water change every week, feed my fish once every two days. I also got Seachem product to remove chorline and choramine and deoxify nitrate on tap water

My IOS media contain sponge, bioball, ceramic ring and carbon.

[mUAr_cHEe]

If nothing is dieing, then good. No need to panic over some numbers.

For all you know, maybe your test kit not accurate or perhaps expired? This are some wild thoughts out of my head.

You want my advice? I say get rid of the ceramic rings, bio balls and sponge.

Just use those wool for filtering, and i do hope you change your carbon regularly.

[Marinesavy]

Thanks,

Advise from some reefer to change the carbon once every 6 months. Will this be advisable ? Any particular things i should watch out for when getting carbon ?

How about replacing the ceramic rings with biohome ? Pls advise.

[iantoh]

hi there bro marinesavy,

i agree with bro MC that the ceramic rings and bioballs contribute to your nitrate levels. If you run a Deep Sand Bed, or a denitrator, then the bioballs might help, as theyll convert nitrites to nitrates faster, and allow the denitrator to process that nitrates back to nitrogen and oxygen, but if you dont have either a DSB or denitrator, then nitrates is likely to build up. If youre not getting any ill indications from your corals or fish, and if you have shrimps that are doing well in your tank, then your nitrate levels are fine. shrimps are good indicators of nitrate levels as once they get too high (before it affects your fish), the shrimps will start to stand out on the sandbed looking dazed and wont move much even when you kachow them, and you need to change water before they go further down the road of no return. but at 20ppm, not too much to worry about ya.

if you can, try reading up on RC about remote deep sand beds, and see if incoporating one into your system might help?

cheers,

ian

[dumdum]

hi there bro marinesavy,

i agree with bro MC that the ceramic rings and bioballs contribute to your nitrate levels. If you run a Deep Sand Bed, or a denitrator, then the bioballs might help, as theyll convert nitrites to nitrates faster, and allow the denitrator to process that nitrates back to nitrogen and oxygen, but if you dont have either a DSB or denitrator, then nitrates is likely to build up. If youre not getting any ill indications from your corals or fish, and if you have shrimps that are doing well in your tank, then your nitrate levels are fine. shrimps are good indicators of nitrate levels as once they get too high (before it affects your fish), the shrimps will start to stand out on the sandbed looking dazed and wont move much even when you kachow them, and you need to change water before they go further down the road of no return. but at 20ppm, not too much to worry about ya.

if you can, try reading up on RC about remote deep sand beds, and see if incoporating one into your system might help?

cheers,

ian

bro ian, i also want a remote deep sand bed.. can incoporate one for me anot ??

[elimmel]

dump all the stock stuff except the sponges.

add in rowaphos, purigen & liverock rubble (or biohome) in your backchambers.

can convert chamber 2 into a minifuge and put chaeto in (check in nanoreef webby for examples)

also, remember to vacuum the backchambers during your waterchanges.

20ppm of nitrate should go down once the bioballs, cc and carbon is removed coupled with your weekly WC even without having a fuge or DSB

[iantoh]

bro dumdum, if you have the equipment and sand, ill come by your place and help you fix it up ya. all in exchange for two bags of sand to set one up for myself too!!!! hahahahhah just kidding. just call me or what ya.

cheers,

ian

[Marinesavy]

Hi Melvin, sound complicated to me.... i was thinking of changing the carbon and replacing the ceramic rings with biohome, dump away the bioballs and do a < 10% water change every week. Will that be ok to maintain the nitrate level ?

[Marinesavy]

Melvin, call petmart and enquire about biohome, its selling $38 per kg, a small bag cost $13, will it be sufficient for the 24g cube ? the blue biohome is for new tank, white for mature tank, i should get the white one ?

Any preference for what kind of carbon to get ?

Can advise

[Qxnviolet]

Hrmz, whats biohome? Can anyone enlighten me please? Maybe post up a pic or a link? Thanks!~

[elimmel]

i'm using a mix of white and red biohome... about 1.2kg in total.

seachem purigen works much better than carbon....

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Purigen.html

[elimmel]

Hrmz, whats biohome? Can anyone enlighten me please? Maybe post up a pic or a link? Thanks!~

see here

[Qxnviolet]

see here

Thanks for the link!~

[hondaker]

de-nitrifying bacteria lives in bio homes?

from the looks, it seems like bio homes does not differ much from the conventional bioballs, glass rings.

anyone with exp on biohomes can explain further how the de-nitrifying works?

from my understanding, bacteria is a low oxygen level area(in DSB) are the de-nitrifying bacterias

[elimmel]

that's what the makers claim...

anyway, my biohome were leftovers from my FW setup so might as well use them

it works for me but guess it's regular maintenance that keeps things in check