merk1_99
Salting away
Hi all,
I need help with bringing down the nitrates in my tank. My stats are pH 8.2 Ammonia, and Nitrite 0, and that pesky Nitrate running anywhere from 15ppm-25ppm. I have a 55 gal. tank, with 80lbs of live rock, and 40lbs of live sand. I am running an AquaC Remora with a RIO 1200 pump with skimmer box, to SEIO 630 gph flow powerheads, and a Filstar canister filter 350gph(model I can't remember). I religiously do a 10% water change a week with distilled water. I have taken out all biological media from the tank including every last bio cube. I have come to the not so bright conclusion that my problem is the canister filter. The remora is barely pulling in any skimmate but it does if I clean the rocks, and or the sand bed. So it is obvious that the canister filter has become a huge nutrient sink. I realize my nitrates are not out of control and would be quite acceptable in a FO tank, but I would like to slowly enter the world of coral, and clams. But before I can do that I want to make sure the water chemistry is on point. So my question is what would be the best method of of reducing or eliminating the nitrates. I have read all the fancy talk about sumps and refugiums and I am not really in a position to go buy this equipment yet. Is there a simple and cheap alternative DIY project I could do to accomplish this? I have looked and everything looks a little intimidating. Also I have an old glass aquarium that was never drilled so it might make it hard to get an overflow box in. Do you think I would be okay to remove the canister filter and just go with the skimming, LR, and LS?
Also anyone know any LFS shops that sell Narcissus snails? I need something to turn the sandbed religiously. I can't find anywhere in the local Lowell area that sells them. Wet Media strongly suggests them instead of a sand siftingg goby because they are under the impression the goby will deplete the sand of all its goodness. I hate to just order 10 snails from Liveaquaria.com to turn my bed that seems a little costly.
Also a little warning about purchasing "Narcissus" snails from EBAY. Use extreme caution when purchasing said snails esp* if they come from the North Carolina area. The person or persons is selling actually Narcissus obsoleta snails which are not the cute little sand turners you would take them to be. They are predatorial, I lost a cleaner shrimp, and a sleeping clownfish to these snails. I actually witnessed them take down the cleaner shrimp. One snail was grazing and bumped the shrimp and next thing you know in under 5mins a swarm of 25 snails was upon the poor guy. Need I say more. If you have fallen victim to these mass murderering snails there is no need to panic about how you will remove them. As they seem to be predatorial and canivorous just take a simple table shrimp cut it in half and place one pc. on each end of the tank. Walk away and come back 15mins later with a net and a bag and scoop them out. Do not put them in your local water supply or beachwater. They are quite hardy buggers and short of freezing them they can survive on little water indefinitely.
Anyways I have rambled on enough...Next problem to tackle is calcium. Sometimes I wonder why after a 2 yr break from the FO hobby I have decided to return....I'd be better off going to the local CT casino and handing them $400 at a whack without playing....At least them I'd earn some Wampum points....
Thanks for all your help,
Rick
I need help with bringing down the nitrates in my tank. My stats are pH 8.2 Ammonia, and Nitrite 0, and that pesky Nitrate running anywhere from 15ppm-25ppm. I have a 55 gal. tank, with 80lbs of live rock, and 40lbs of live sand. I am running an AquaC Remora with a RIO 1200 pump with skimmer box, to SEIO 630 gph flow powerheads, and a Filstar canister filter 350gph(model I can't remember). I religiously do a 10% water change a week with distilled water. I have taken out all biological media from the tank including every last bio cube. I have come to the not so bright conclusion that my problem is the canister filter. The remora is barely pulling in any skimmate but it does if I clean the rocks, and or the sand bed. So it is obvious that the canister filter has become a huge nutrient sink. I realize my nitrates are not out of control and would be quite acceptable in a FO tank, but I would like to slowly enter the world of coral, and clams. But before I can do that I want to make sure the water chemistry is on point. So my question is what would be the best method of of reducing or eliminating the nitrates. I have read all the fancy talk about sumps and refugiums and I am not really in a position to go buy this equipment yet. Is there a simple and cheap alternative DIY project I could do to accomplish this? I have looked and everything looks a little intimidating. Also I have an old glass aquarium that was never drilled so it might make it hard to get an overflow box in. Do you think I would be okay to remove the canister filter and just go with the skimming, LR, and LS?
Also anyone know any LFS shops that sell Narcissus snails? I need something to turn the sandbed religiously. I can't find anywhere in the local Lowell area that sells them. Wet Media strongly suggests them instead of a sand siftingg goby because they are under the impression the goby will deplete the sand of all its goodness. I hate to just order 10 snails from Liveaquaria.com to turn my bed that seems a little costly.
Also a little warning about purchasing "Narcissus" snails from EBAY. Use extreme caution when purchasing said snails esp* if they come from the North Carolina area. The person or persons is selling actually Narcissus obsoleta snails which are not the cute little sand turners you would take them to be. They are predatorial, I lost a cleaner shrimp, and a sleeping clownfish to these snails. I actually witnessed them take down the cleaner shrimp. One snail was grazing and bumped the shrimp and next thing you know in under 5mins a swarm of 25 snails was upon the poor guy. Need I say more. If you have fallen victim to these mass murderering snails there is no need to panic about how you will remove them. As they seem to be predatorial and canivorous just take a simple table shrimp cut it in half and place one pc. on each end of the tank. Walk away and come back 15mins later with a net and a bag and scoop them out. Do not put them in your local water supply or beachwater. They are quite hardy buggers and short of freezing them they can survive on little water indefinitely.
Anyways I have rambled on enough...Next problem to tackle is calcium. Sometimes I wonder why after a 2 yr break from the FO hobby I have decided to return....I'd be better off going to the local CT casino and handing them $400 at a whack without playing....At least them I'd earn some Wampum points....
Thanks for all your help,
Rick
Or just take out any floss media, and run only carbon media in it. Many reefers do this, but you definitely don't need to be running the floss media in your cannister with a tank full of live rock. That's probably where your nitrates are coming from. 
