Stupid nitrates! - Complaints

S

Syndra

[Two huge water changes and it's still over 40ppm. :angry:
It was nearly off the chart last night so there is some improvement.

Swapped out all of the crushed coral substrate for sand on one side. The water is already extremely clear so that's something to be thankful for.

All the fish seem fine so far, I wouldn't be surprised if something doesn't survive. :( Sure did find a lot of empty hermit crab shells and two dead snails. :so sad:

Tomorrow I'll be taking some of these fish over to Fish Paradise to trade.]
 
[Swapping out the crushed coral will be a big help. I don't know what your nitrates were before the water changes, but 40 shouldn't be an immediate danger to anything but the most sensitive corals.

If you have dead snails and hermits, they could be a result of the water changes. If you didn't match temp and salinity very well, or didn't mix the water for 24 hours, then you could have easily shocked some of your mobile inverts- they respond very poorly to changes in water conditions, especially salinity.

Travis]
 
[But you brought them down from 160 to 40! Come on, that is great work. Hopefully your fish will enjoy inhaling cleaner water through their gills. ;)

Now that you've gotten them this far, your next water change (if it is a big one, ie: 25 gals), you'll have them down to 20ppm.

Travis is correct about matching temp and salinity. I always match salinity precisely, and temperature must match within one degree.

I have been able to whip up fresh saltwater in under 10 minutes with a paddle bit on my cordless drill. It aerates the heck out of the water, and it is thoroughly mixed. But usually I let a Rio2500 mix it for a good hour, or overnight.]
 
[Well then it's even more amazing that everything is alive! :p

I fill a bucket with tap water and put in stress coat and salt. Stir a few times and pour it into the tank. Sometimes the temperature seems close just by the feel of it on my wrist.

I took out 20gal, put fresh in, took out another 20gal and put more fresh water in. After scooping up the crushed coral you can imagine the orange cloud the water became, I didn't want to put that in with the fresh water to mix it like you suggested Marc.

My hubby used two short pieces of PVC on top of the tank with plastic zip ties to suspend the giant rock. It stayed out of our way when changing the substrate, and remained underwater for the goby inside of it. :)

Today is the great damsel chase! I hope I can get all four of them out today.]
 
[Oh I forgot to add that tempurature changes is pretty common too. My house is quite drafty and during the day the temp bounces around quite a bit. I've seen everything from a range of 76 to nearly 80 more than once in a day.]
 
[Hi Syndra:

A couple of thoughts for you.

If you're going to change 40 gallons anyway, you'll more quickly lower your nitrates by draining the 40 gallons and then putting in 40 gal of the new water. If you go stepwise, you dilute the concentration of the second 20 gallons you remove.

Also, I had severe problems with nitrates when using tap water. I'm sure you know, but replacing topoff water, water changes, etc. with tap water around here will result in the nitrate buildup.

FWIW, James]
 
[Syndra,
I recently reduced my nitrates from well over 100 to zero. I never did change much water, maybe 10 gallons a month (75 gallon tank). What really did the trick was adding a 20 gallon refugium. I have a few types of caulerpa growing and a fine sandbed that's about 1-1/2 to 2 inches deep. I hadn't checked any water parameters in a few weeks, but checked nitrates a few days ago, and was surprised to see none at all. I use distilled water for topoff that I get at the grocery store.
I'm sure your water changes will help, but unless you get something that uses the nitrates they will eventually go back up.]
 
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