trying to reduce my nitrates in my tank

[epic501]

hi

Ive spent the last couple hours reading through post trying to figure out what to do so i figured i would just ask.

I have a 55 salt with about three 5gal buckets of live rock in it,25lbs of sand 25 lbs of crushed coral,(the sand and crushed coral are all mixed up do to the engieneer goby)a thing of calerpa about the size of a basket ball.
I also have a skilter (the big one) which i have put that bio media stuff in,(it looks like little tubes about an inch long bye half inch wide). and a whisper 30-60 back filter.I also just orderd a remora c.

critters- 3 clowns about 2 inches long,2 1/2 inch watchman goby,3 inch lawnmower goby, 3 inch engineer goby,perrmint shrimp,4 hermit crabs about half inch long.I used to have alot more fish but they slowley died of for unknown reasons over the monthes.

anyways my nitrates will be 40 about every 2 weeks they will stay at about 40 but i always change the water at least at a month so never let it go farther than that.

i want to start adding some mushrooms,maybe a soft coral or 2

I dont want to add a sump or refugeium,I was thinking of using a undergravel filter?

live rock is 10.00 a pound so i dont want to add much more of that.

my tank was set up last dec.

as far as feeding i feed about a 2 pinches every morning of flake somtimes i will cut a cube of brine in half and feed them that instead.

any suggestions on what is causing my nitrates to be so hi or what i could do or change??? My local fish store seems to think this is acceptable and suggested weekly water changes to try and keep my nitrates down.

thanks for your help

[Flame]

I am new at this but I would start off with every other day feeding, snails, weekly water changes. IMO

[Casey]

Yes the load on the tank you feed to often and you need a sump with a refuge to help and increased water changes.The botom you have is trapping food and a undergravel filter will be a big mistake,if ya dont want a refuge then do more water changes with ro/di water and gravel wash to remove the gunk food left over cut back on feeding every day.

[Loverotties]

Casey hit it on the head!

[Brent Cone]

Do not use a { undergravel filter } what you need is a sump with a good protine skimmer, 7 LESS FEEDING,
Brent.

[craigGP]

good advice already. water changes, get rid of the skilter w/ biomedia, and the new skimmer will help too. it is a common belief that wet/dry filters can cause a buildup of nitrates, as they only break down ammonia and nitrite, leaving the nitrate untouched. remove this over time and rely on your live rock to break down the N in the tank. also, i'd periodically harvest the caulerpa. it is a way to export the nutrients in the tank. as the caulerpa grows, it binds nutrients in its tissues. removing this permanently gets rid of those nutrients and makes room for more growth of the macro, so you can harvest again. either trade macro, sell it, give it away, or flush it.

[epic501]

thanks to everyone for taking the time to read my post and to reply.

Im really confused here,everything ive read about using live rock was basically saying you shouldnt even have to change the water after awhile.years ago before skimmers and back filters when the best things was a undergravel i had a 55 set up with about 20 fish and had about the same results high nitrates and had to do a monthley water change,granted it was a fish only tank but thats the way everyone did it.

I will feed every other day,but no food goes unate in my tank its devoured in seconds
my fish act like there starving.

So what is the pupose of skimmers and live rock if to keep my nitrates down i have to do weekly water changes,insted of speading 600.00 dollars on live rock I could have just been using the back filter and doing weekly water changes??or for that matter i could have been using an undergravel and saved myself hundreds of more dollars Somthing is not adding up.

[Casey]

Skimmers remove nutrients just like a water change just not as well,if your fish eat all the food up then they poop it right back in which is causing the nitrate spikes the live rock filters the water and breaks down the ammonia and Nitrite

to get your tank down to Zero nitrates like mine you will have to have a refuge or do major water changes everytime you feed the tank your throwing in Nitrates and phosphates.

[epic501]

So whats the purpose of live rock as opposed to just using a back filter? is live rock cheap in the states?

[Casey]

Live rock is 10 times better than any backfilter you can buy and no its not cheap here.It has all of the natural bacteria you need.Speak up Tom

[epic501]

a refuge is the little fish tnak outside your fish tank correct?is that somthing you can buy or make?
And live rock does not break down nitrates?

[Casey]

Yes I have my refuge in my stand on one of my tanks made it myself or you can buy one,No you have to do water changes or have a refuge or something to export the Nitrates the rock wont do it.

[epic501]

casy do you only feed everyother day? Also how big a refufe would I need and how good does the water have to be if i just wanted to keep mushrooms?

[Casey]

I only feed once every 3 days,mushrooms dont care about the water very much so your ok there you could use a 10 gal tank would work great.

[epic501]

I didnt mean the only thing id have is mushrooms just mushrooms as oppsed to coral,where on here would i look to find out more about refuge,is there a certain kind you could suggest?