Nitrate Problem

[jkalogris]

Hey,
I set up a refugium about two months ago and I am wondering when (if) my nitrates will begin to drop. In that time I've been testing through my various LFS @ about 70PPM. I left the biowheel in place hoping to remove once the drop was evident though it is still there. The tank is 29gal and the sump is 10gal, total volume is probably 37gal. There is new coraline algae growth so I think things are headed in the right direction. I had a bunch of chaetomorpha die off then I went to a brighter light and restocked; now there is a power compact 10,000k over the fuge and all seems to be doing well. The pump pushes about 320gph. I am looking at protein skimmers at this time, beyond that I am stumped. Also, there are six fish in the tank and I feed a cube of frozen mysis shrimp and one half frozen cube of coral food once daily.

[kfisc]

70ppm seems awfully high relative to what you're describing; I'd really invest in a good test kit and check it yourself. I'd also get rid of the biowheel now and cut back on the feeding unless you see essentially all of it being eaten.

[MCCOOL]

I'd definately cut back on the feeding, I didn't see anything about water changes. You can also research dosing a carbon source just be careful with it.

[thegrun]

6 fish is a large load for a 29 gallon tank, but manageable assuming they are not large. The skimmer is going to be a necessity if you keep all six. How often are you doing water changes?

[Playa-1]

It sounds like a heavy load to me too. What kinda of fish do you have in there?

[Sisterlimonpot]

Yes please post what type of fish you have. Are the fish eating all the food or is most of it ending up on the bottom of the tank?

for such a heavy bioload I have to agree with getting a skimmer too.

[Korrine]

You didnt say anything about how much live rock you have in there?? Don't pull that filter if you don't have other filtration...

[jkalogris]

Sorry for the lack of detail:
I have six fish, all mostly small compared to the size tank I have.
One of each: yellow tang, coral beauty, percula clown, royal gramma, green chromis, and a fire fish (goby). There is about 40lbs of live rock and about 30 snails/crabs. My sand bed is roughly two inches. I also have two serpent stars and one sand sifter. As far as water changes, I recently have managed about one ten gallon change per month.

[Sisterlimonpot]

Instead of doing 1 big water change a month do smaller ones more frequently.

Just to warn you up front, you’re going to get a lot of slack for having that yellow tang in the tank.

[jkalogris]

I've been lazy; used to change H2O weekly @ 5gal.
Slack?
I just acquired a 54gal that everything I have is going in. I'm not planning on adding any fish to it, do you think the 54 will still be too small for the tang?

[drillsar]

Tang should not be in a tank smaller then 75 gallons they love to swim.

If Nitrates are that high you will need to a big water change like 50% at first and 10% weekly.

Are you using a skimmer? if you are is there alot of junk?

Feed less

[drillsar]

How much water movement you have on top? You should adjust pumps so you get alot of water movement on top

A good skimmer will help for sure. Water changes are the only thing to bring nitrates down and cant be skipped.

[spw4949]

IMO, too many/too big fish for that tank, you will always be battling nitrates with that bioload.....you should definately lose the tang, find him a home where he'll be happy, definately not happy in a 29 gallon tank, or in a 54 honestly. I would suggest cutting back the amount of food as well, 1/2-3/4 of a cube at most.....if you keep macro in your fuge I would swap out the 10000K for a 6700K bulb, you'll get better growth & that may help with your nitrates(the growth of your macro). I have found that when you are battling high nitrates it is best to do a series(4-5) large water changes 4 days apart....so with your tank I would do 15 gallons every 4 days until you see a reduction in your nitrate levels, once they are down with your current bioload I would do 10 gallons weekly, HTH & keep us posted....

[Sisterlimonpot]

agreed, that tang contributes to a lot of waste (more than a 29 can handle) even though it might be small now it will outgrow that, the 54g and even later a 75. understand that it's not a permanent home for the little guy and that you will eventually have to upgrade or give him away to a bigger tank.

What Steve said is a good plan at getting your nitrates down and keeping them down.

[SAZAMA]

throw that bio wheel out. get rid of that tang and one other. water change 25-35% every week untill you get a skimmer. cheato likes 6500k daylight... GOOD LUCK..