Nitrate problem

R

Ryan1221

Reefing newb
I have fluval Osaka 260L. Fluval 406 canister filter, 2 t5 HO light fixture, 70lbs of live rock, and 80lbsof live sand. I run the lights for 8 hours a day.

Livestock includes:
2 true perculas
1 lawnmower blenny
4 electric blue hermit crabs
4 turbos snails
4 Cerith snails
6 scarlet reef hermit crabs

I feed once a day with New Life Spectrum Thera A sinking pellets.

My parameters are:
8.2 PH
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
40 Nitrate

How do you I get my nitrates down? I replaced the carbon that the filter came with Chemi Pure Elite.

Need suggestions on what to do as I am new to the hobby.

Help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Canisters are known to cause high nitrates in saltwater. If you don't clean them regularly, they will trap food and poop which break down into nitrates. People who've used them successfully clean them regularly. But frankly, they're useless in saltwater because the rock and sand are all the biological filter you need.

I say ditch it. You would have to do it gradually -- removing small portions of the media at a time otherwise you risk a mini-cycle.

Also, add frozen mysis to the food mix. the Pellets are fine. My fish love those. But they'd do better with frozen foods. I give pellets as a treat ;)
 
like wonton said canisters are not very good for anything other than running carbon or something like chempure. but they need to be cleaned offten. if you are sticking with fish only than 40 is not a bad level. but could be lower the best way to lower it is regular water changes.
 
Ryan1221 said:
I use frozen mysis shrimp every other day. Would a skimmer help?
Click to expand...

Skimmer won't lower your nitrates. But what it does do is take out the food and poop from the water column before they have a chance to break down into nitrates.

Oh yeah, +1 james....keep the canister around for running carbon :)
 
I do a 5 gallon water change once a week. I also clean the filter once a week. I just changed out the carbon that came with the filter to the chemi pure elite.

Any ideas on skimmers? i dont want a HOB one. The other problem is that I don't have a sump and the place that I could put one is only 10X17 and I can't find any premade ones that will fit in that area. Do you know of any sumps that would fit in that space?
 
without a nice size sump you are almost limited to a hob skimmer. octo skimmers are great skimmers. the other thing you can use is a 10 gallon tank and make a sump with that but you will also need to get a overflow kit
 
Could I get a small sump just house the skimmer and a return pump? Unfortunately a standard 10 gallon tank is to long.
 
wontonflip said:
Skimmer won't lower your nitrates. But what it does do is take out the food and poop from the water column before they have a chance to break down into nitrates.

Oh yeah, +1 james....keep the canister around for running carbon :)
Click to expand...

Can I run the canister with 3 out of the 4 compartments with carbon?
 
most good skimmers have a footprint to big for even a ten gallon tank. i used a octo800s hob on my 75 for a long time till i decided to change
 
70 gallons ok. if i was you i would be changing 10 to 15 gallons a week not 5. hob skimmers are not all that bad u just need to invest in a good one. personally i dont run carbon or chempure. maybe a week every couple months i will run GFO but thats it. you dont want to run a whole crap load of carbon or chempure at one time. but yea just using the canister for carbon or any media is a good idea just take out all the bio filter media
 
daugherty said:
70 gallons ok. if i was you i would be changing 10 to 15 gallons a week not 5. hob skimmers are not all that bad u just need to invest in a good one. personally i dont run carbon or chempure. maybe a week every couple months i will run GFO but thats it. you dont want to run a whole crap load of carbon or chempure at one time. but yea just using the canister for carbon or any media is a good idea just take out all the bio filter media
Click to expand...

Would bio media just be the bio max that the filter came with?
 
if you get a skimmer dont get a cheap one trust me on that. i have had a few cheap ones and have seen others try the cheap ones. i know we all have budgets and bills that we need to follow and pay. but if it ment for me to wait a couple months to get a good skimmer than i would wait. why are you against a hob skimmer?
 
daugherty said:
if you get a skimmer dont get a cheap one trust me on that. i have had a few cheap ones and have seen others try the cheap ones. i know we all have budgets and bills that we need to follow and pay. but if it ment for me to wait a couple months to get a good skimmer than i would wait. why are you against a hob skimmer?
Click to expand...

Now that I look at it none of the reef octopus ones would fit on the back? I only have 3 3/4" from the wall to the tank.

That is why I haven't gotten a skimmer yet. I don't want a cheap one. What about a Tunze?
 
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