multiple water changes for nitrates

[YLChik]

ok folks i need a hand
my nitrates are on the rise and I would like some advice
tank paramaters
55 gal remora pro skimmer I pull a full box of medium tea colored skinmate a day
mj 900 and mj 1200
sg 1.026 - hydrometer
temp 78
amm 0
nitrite0
nitrate 30-40 ish

using aquarium pharmasutical tests
no calcium, phos, or alk tests - it's on the to do list

I have been feeding too much so I am cutting back on feedings to every 2 days again and I have been changing water 20% every 2 weeks
I know i need more flow to keep the crap suspended.

SO the quesstion is how to I lower the nitrate through water changes safely so that they don't keep rising.

My brain is on overload and could use a hand.

My 72 yr old mom had a compound break to her ankle on sun while visiting us from out of town and is in the hospital for an unknown period of time.

So if someone can just tell me what to do with water changes to get down to 10 or zero that would be great. I know it will start to build again until I get to the problem, but I would rather build from 0 up than 30 up
I lost my sally lightfoot last night...

thanks guys

[jenajet]

I do weekly 20% changes on my 90. You could start by do a 50% change and then 20% each week after that. Depending on bio load and feedings you can cut back to everyother week after the levels get back to zero. Are you sure its overfeeding? Do you have any bio media in it or strait skimmer. I am a huge fan of purigen bags. I'll find a link
http://www.seachem.com/products/prod...s/Purigen.html
I keep this in my sump and my filter compartment of the 24 gallon pod.

[Sambo]

I found a page on the about.com series of articles that looked quite promising. Try these links:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/alg...a/aa071103.htm

and

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/nit...l/aa091901.htm

To cut a long story short, it seems you take out 80% of the water in your tank, add new water to double the remaining volume, take half of that out, repeat once more, then refill the tank. You will need to make up a lot of water ahead of time (a little more than a whole tank's volume) if you do it this way, and rig up some arrangement with pumps unless you want to do a LOT of bucket-lifting. But if you can manage it, it reduces your nitrates to 5% of their current levels in one go.

sam

[lachrimae]

I made an Excel sheet for personal use that would help you see how best to reduce nitrates.

If you have Microsoft Excel, download this: (Right-Click & Save As) http://eliverock.com/calc/WaterChangeNitrateCalc.xls

Enter your current nitrate level at the top & put in your tank and water change volumes at the bottom left. The first column will show the expected Nitrate reduction with each water change. The other columns show nitrate reduction based upon other water change percentages.

This doesn't take into account the natural rise of nitrates through feeding etc...

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Doug1]

Major water changes, on the order of 50% or more, combined with flushing the built up detritous nd stuff on the liverock and elsewhere. Watch how much you feed, and look at your water source for top off and salt mix, if its not a functioning RO/DI you could be adding nitrates with the water change

[Geoff]

what size tank is this? i have no quals about doing major water changes anymore. if you have the containers and the time do a 50%+ water change like Doug suggested whenever the nitrates get above 30. the bigger the water change the longer the time between them.

when doing water changes as long as the temp and the salinity are dead on, than you can pretty much do as big a water change as you want.

i have done several 100% in my time without much problem. the more you disturb the substrate and LR structure the more risk of a problem occuring. as long as you are just removing water and any detritus that has accumulated than you should be fine.

G~

[Casey]

Amy since you have low flow and have been feeding alot that is alot of the problem like you said cut back on feeding and do bigger and weekly water changes with good ro/di water and siphon crap off of the bottom edge of the rock and wherever you see dirt at all hopefully you can figure a way to get more flow in the tank to keep the stuff suspended and clean the skimmer often.

[Wiskey]

I also have no problems with doing major water changes to get the levels down, just make sure the incoming water is at the right salinity and temp.

I have done 75% water changes in my SPS tank before without any bad effects.

Whiskey

[YLChik]

thanks guys here are some answers to questions that were asked above
I am using ro water
55 gal is the size of my tank
i run carbon for 4-5 days after a water change
I will look into the seachem product
my bio load is....
coral beauty
yellow tang
perc clown
2 blue green chromis
1 eyelash/ seaweed blenny
6 crabs - mexian red legged
6 astrea
10 narrassiurisuuusssssss yeah you know
1 skunk cleaner
1 peppermint
3 feather dusters
1 xenia frag
1 mushroom rock
I will check out the chart when I can I am SURE it will help
thank you again everybody!

[YLChik]

salt mix is red sea

[YLChik]

would I be best to set up 2 10 gallons with water from the tank
clean out the 55
put new asw in and reacclimate the critters?

[Sambo]

That sounds like a good plan. For what it's worth, I have been having a problem with cyanobacteria despite weekly water changes (approx 5gal changes - also with a 55gal tank), and my nitrates hadn't dropped below 10. I checked my phosphate for the first time last week to discover it sitting at 0.5 mg/l (or whatever the unit is). So I went to the LFS and bought a sock and filled it with carbon and a clump of chaeto. I (still!) haven't finished the sump so I dumped the chaeto behind some of the LR and the carbon into the HOT filter I have (empty - I keep it for waterflow). The phosphate halved, and a week later I am still waiting for the cyanobacteria to regrow. You may consider adding carbon/macroalgae after your big water change, if there's a way you can arrange it....(as a result of my vast experience in the field!)

Let us know your numbers after the change

sam

[partobe]

Amy sounds like your getting some really good advise but I just wanted to say I hope your mom is feeling better. I know how stressful that alone can be. Good Luck!
Patrick

[Doug1]

Originally Posted by Sambo

That sounds like a good plan. For what it's worth, I have been having a problem with cyanobacteria despite weekly water changes (approx 5gal changes - also with a 55gal tank), and my nitrates hadn't dropped below 10. I checked my phosphate for the first time last week to discover it sitting at 0.5 mg/l (or whatever the unit is). So I went to the LFS and bought a sock and filled it with carbon and a clump of chaeto. I (still!) haven't finished the sump so I dumped the chaeto behind some of the LR and the carbon into the HOT filter I have (empty - I keep it for waterflow). The phosphate halved, and a week later I am still waiting for the cyanobacteria to regrow. You may consider adding carbon/macroalgae after your big water change, if there's a way you can arrange it....(as a result of my vast experience in the field!)

Let us know your numbers after the change

sam

5% water changes on a 55g tank will result in <10% reduction in nitrate readings, in a typical reef, chances are you have enough detritous on liverock or in the sandbed that its breaking down and adding to the nitrate levels faster than a weekly 10% waterchange is going to reduce them.

[pledosophy]

I like large WC's as well.

If you have a sump you can use a nitrate filter. I made mine out of a waterbottle, rio 90 and a bottle of Seachem's denitrate. Brought the nitrates in my 65g down 50 points.

Also there are other ways to export nitrates like macroalgae.

How much rock do you have? Was it dry on arrival?

It is possible there is no anerobic bacteria to convert the nitrates to gas. JME