curious

by **blueshoes2208** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:50 pm

nitrates have always been bout 15, now their between 20-25, if anything im not feeding my fish enough so that cant be the problem so two questions, 1) what is causing my nitrates to go up and 2) why havent they gone down with water changes ( 5 gal per week)

by **fihsboy** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:35 pm

It could be your test kit.....or you may want to add some more sand. How deep is your sand bed?

by **TheCoralReef** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:48 pm

do you use any sort of fake biological filtration, (bio-balls, bio-wheels, ect.) i so thats could be your problem, live rock is your biological filtratrion, using that bio junk with liverock with return nitrates to your water among othe things, also make sure filter pads and media is replaced regularly

by **blueshoes2208** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:13 pm

no i dont use and other biological filtration other than the sand and rock. Sand bed is prolly 4 in at the front an 3 in in the back. By the way my sand sifting star is now climbing the walls of the glass , prolly because of a lack of food. He eats detritus so should i start feeding my fish a whole lot more or would it b okay to put cubes of say brine shrimp or krill into the sand to help him out?? Cant take him back, my lfs wont do it.

by **gumbii** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:33 pm

sometimes the clean up crew eats all the algae in the tank and it makes your nitrate level shoot up... you should get some plants like caulerpa or other plants in your tank...

by **blueshoes2208** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:20 am

plants huh? like maybe maidens hair? i dont want something that can go out of control since i dont have a refugia.

by **fihsboy** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:08 am

the nitrates and phosphates gotta go somewhere. so if your clean up crew is too good....then thats probably your problem. thats why I incorporated my refuge....it makes the world of difference in levels.

by **gumbii** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:14 am

i wanted caulerpa in my tank... i think it looks pretty... but the damn coral beauty ate it all... fail... maiden's hair is nice... just don't get a tang... they'll tear it up...

make a DIY HOB refugium...

by **fihsboy** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:39 pm

Get yourself the largest aquaclear you can find....throw in some algae and BAM refuge.

by **Snowboss4492** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:42 pm

aquaclear 110 - 50 bucks, you can put the propeller pump froma 70 in it to slow the flow rate way down bout 15 bucks and like fishboy said...........BAM instant fuge

Boss

curious

24 posts • Page 1 of 3

curious

curious

24 posts • Page 1 of 3