high nitrates

[creativereasons]

i was wondering if my leather could be producing nitrates at high level cause i checked everything yesterday morning and lastnight i checked it and it was at 80 in the nitrates i did a 50 percent water change cleaned everything out and still this morning it is still at 80 and the only other possible explantion for it is the leather coral.

[Fly Guy]

I highly doubt it is the leather coral causing nitrate issues. Tell us more about your system...like EVERYTHING. Equipment, water parameters, how you are testing, fishload, feeding habits, size and how much live rock you have.

Water changes to deal with nitrate issues are a very short term fix.....like a couple of days if the root of the problem isnt isolated and improved.

[creativereasons]

i have a 55g with a fluval 404 canister seaclone protein skimmer 50lbs of live rock and i also have a empoir 400 hang on filter i have 1 blue lined trigger 1 picasso trigger 1 valitnie puffer 1 green chubby plate coral 1 finger leather coral 1 cabbage coral as far as livestack go. i feed them brine shimp cubes 2 times a day i usally feed them 1 block in the morning and 2 at night.I have just regular flouresent light with 50/50thats about it. my water chemisrty is ph=8.3 nitrate=80 ammonia=0 nitrites=0 alkalinty=0 i have no clue why it would be like this yesterday moring i woke up check everything and was fine then lastnight i checked it again and i end up with this. i also added extra prime to the tank to yesterday.and i also added extra seachem denitrate.

[Fly Guy]

My intentions arent to be mean but i have to say that neither of those triggers belong in a reef system OR in a tank as small as yours. How big are they now??? Im not positive on the picasso but that blueline should have a tank of 200 gallons or more.

That seaclone skimmer is a very low quality skimmer that cant export the wastes of what you import.

Im not familiar with a emporer filter....how does it work and what media do you run in the fluval and how often do you clean the pads??

Im guessing that your nitrates are a result of underskimming and overfeeding as well as possibly those filters themselves being nitrate factories.

How are you testing your water??? Alkalinity of zero cant be right.

[Wiskey]

fluval 404 canister seaclone protein skimmer 50lbs of live rock and i also have a empoir 400 hang on filter

I agree with Fly, these are the source of your trouble, and the fact that the skimmmer is not very good. IMHO ditch the mechanical filters (sell them) and get a quality skimmer, if you have to have HOB then Coralife super skimmer will probably be your best bet, if you have a sump then look into the ASM line.

Always over rate your skimmer IMHO, get one rated for around 200G especially with your fish (messy heavy eaters). There are allot of junk skimmers out there, far more bad ones than good, so run your choice by people here to make sure you get a good one this go around.

HTH,
Whiskey

[partobe]

I had a ehiem canister, a wet dray with bio balls and a aquiaclear hang on and my nitrates were also very high. I removed all the bio balls very slowly and I also removed all the media bought a new skimmer and a new ro unit. It's been a few months now but my nitrates are between 10-20. I also cut back on feedings from once a day to every other day.
good luck!

[icebear]

i think the emperor is a hob filter.

[icebear]

Originally Posted by partobe

I also cut back on feedings from once a day to every other day.
good luck!

and you can't do that with triggers, they need food 2-3 times a day, 3 is most recomended, a 55 is a small tank for fish that need 3 high protein feedings a day

[Geoff]

in order to keep feeding 2-3 times a day, you will need to get a very large powerfull skimmer. i would recommend looking at the MRC line of skimmers.

G~

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by Geoff

in order to keep feeding 2-3 times a day, you will need to get a very large powerfull skimmer. i would recommend looking at the MRC line of skimmers.

G~

Originally Posted by whiskey

I agree with Fly, these are the source of your trouble, and the fact that the skimmmer is not very good. IMHO ditch the mechanical filters (sell them) and get a quality skimmer...

Ditto both comments, good advice. If you really want to keep the triggers AND a reef, then consider two seprate systems. Keeping such heavy messy eaters in aclosed system will definitley expose the system to a long term parade of nutrients that will stimulate nuisance algal growth and push the population densities of the symbiotes in the corals up (resulting in primarily brown coral specimens rather than exotically colored ones as the zooxanthellae respond to the presence of the nutrients just as would any other algae). In the open Ocean, there is enough dilution effect with the population densities of these fishes in the wild to prevent this from being a problem on the open reef, however, out tanks to not have the advantage of an abyssal nutrient sink to whisk away these excessive nutrients resulting from heavy carnivore predation.


A strong skimmer would be a good recommendtion for the FO system as well, but a high efficiency skimmer is indicated for systems with fish populations and/or octocorals in the presence of stony corals to remove organics as they are produced.


HTH