Nitrate level still

[youtoo54]

K so my nitrates are in the 40 to 50 range and I just did about 50 gallons water change in my 180 and there still at the same levels. Any ideas?

 

[little_fish]

how many fish do you have? what are you feeding and how often? do you crushed coral for a sand bed? Are you using a skimmer, if so what brand? Do you have fuge? are you using tap water?

 

[youtoo54]

Skimmer is a Red sea, sand for the sand bed but I do have crushed corral in my fuge. I have 6 fish and I was feeding them to much. Again 1 LFS said it was fine to feed them everyday other guy says 1 or 2 times a week is better. So i was feeding them once daily a cube of either mysis or brine shrimp. Also have a sock filter over the overflow return that I rinse out every day.

 

[Waddi]

A cube? I would make 1/4 of a cube every day really or every other day. Just me though!! ;)

 

[little_fish]

I would cut down to half a cube daily, and i would remove the crushed coral from your fuge. You dont need any substrate in there anyways.

I also think that is one of the crappier skimmers out there, but im not 100% sure on that.

Also, brine has zero nutritional value so i would fine some other stuff to feed them with the mysid. I would rotate through shrimp, scallops, squid, etc. Or there are some really nice mixed up stuff, like rod's food. Petco/petsmart are good places to get food.

Also, do you have any tangs or angels? They should be getting dried seaweed as well.

 

[wontonflip]

1 50g water change won't make much of a dent in your nitrates. Do that change everyday until your levels go down. But +1 lilfish, ditch the crushed coral. 1 cube a day is definitely too much. I feed a cube to my 9 fish now, and 3 of them are bigger fish.

 

[youtoo54]

Yeah I think the skimmer is a POS from what I have been reading on reviews. I put out a sheet of algea everyday for them to munch on, and I only feed the brine shrimp every once in a while for kinda a treat.

 

[sen5241b]

1+ others

1 cube a day is a lot for a 55G.. Feed them only what they can eat in about 2 or 3 minutes!

 

[little_fish]

I feed my three fish maybe an 1/8 of a cube of stuff a day, granted my fish are all pretty small.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have about 15 fish in my 90 (including a few larger sized ones), and I feed them 3 cubes every other day.