Lee
Member
Ever since I got into this hobby, I've always had a problem with runaway nitrAte levels. When my tank was FOWLER, I'd do weekly 10-15% water changes, and it seemed like I my nitrate levels were always hovering above 40ppm. I initially attributed this to me skipping a water change or too and allowing levels to get too high, and because I didn't do huge water changes, I was never able to get them down. (40ppm - 15% water changes keeping me in a cycle of going from 40ppm down to 35ppm, then back up to 40ppm, and down to 35ppm again... and so on)
So when I moved to a larger tank, I was certain to do weekly water changes, and now I remove about 20 gallons each week. (from a 90g) Over 20% water changes per week. Yet I still am unable to get lower than 20ppm.
I've read tons and tons of posts on here discussing nitrate reduction, and I've heard most of the suggestions, so I won't make you guys repeat stuff you've said a million times. But I'm almost ready to get a sump tank plumbed in, and I'm looking for suggestions on the best possible sump/fuge contents for the sole purpose of reducing nitrAtes. I know virtually nothing about Refugium contents
Details on my setup:
-90 gallon
-120 lbs of established LR
-2 1200gph powerheads
-2" sandbed
-Remora Pro skimmer
-Fluval 100g canister filter (to be removed when sump is built)
-20 small snails (their name escapes me)
-zero treacherous evil crabs
Contents:
-Medium Yellow Tang
-small Flame Angel
-2 medium False Clowns
-Large African Yellow Belly Hippo Tang
-5 small Chromis
-1 small Banggai Cardinal
-possibly 2 shrimp (they may be dead, I haven't seen them in months)
Corals:
-Large Torch LPS
-Large green Galaxae LPS
-Small red Modern Cynarina LPS
I'm sure many of you are thinking canister filter might be an issue, as its not completing the cycle of making Nitrates into Nitrogen gas. I've taken that advice and decided to ditch the canister filter when the sump goes in.
Another piece of RS advice I've taken is to test my tap water. Get this: 20ppm of Nitrates in my tap water. :smck: Yeah. Crazy. I realize that I should be using RO water, and an RO/DI unit is on my "to do" list. I'm in an apartment, so its not so easy to set one up. Still working out the details on that....
So given that I'm stuck using crappy tap water for the moment and I have a rather large bio load, what kinds of recommendations do you have for my sump/refugium contents? I have the pump and plumbing all ready but I haven't constructed the actual sump tank yet, so any suggestions are welcome!
So when I moved to a larger tank, I was certain to do weekly water changes, and now I remove about 20 gallons each week. (from a 90g) Over 20% water changes per week. Yet I still am unable to get lower than 20ppm.
I've read tons and tons of posts on here discussing nitrate reduction, and I've heard most of the suggestions, so I won't make you guys repeat stuff you've said a million times. But I'm almost ready to get a sump tank plumbed in, and I'm looking for suggestions on the best possible sump/fuge contents for the sole purpose of reducing nitrAtes. I know virtually nothing about Refugium contents
Details on my setup:
-90 gallon
-120 lbs of established LR
-2 1200gph powerheads
-2" sandbed
-Remora Pro skimmer
-Fluval 100g canister filter (to be removed when sump is built)
-20 small snails (their name escapes me)
-zero treacherous evil crabs
Contents:
-Medium Yellow Tang
-small Flame Angel
-2 medium False Clowns
-Large African Yellow Belly Hippo Tang
-5 small Chromis
-1 small Banggai Cardinal
-possibly 2 shrimp (they may be dead, I haven't seen them in months)
Corals:
-Large Torch LPS
-Large green Galaxae LPS
-Small red Modern Cynarina LPS
I'm sure many of you are thinking canister filter might be an issue, as its not completing the cycle of making Nitrates into Nitrogen gas. I've taken that advice and decided to ditch the canister filter when the sump goes in.
Another piece of RS advice I've taken is to test my tap water. Get this: 20ppm of Nitrates in my tap water. :smck: Yeah. Crazy. I realize that I should be using RO water, and an RO/DI unit is on my "to do" list. I'm in an apartment, so its not so easy to set one up. Still working out the details on that....
So given that I'm stuck using crappy tap water for the moment and I have a rather large bio load, what kinds of recommendations do you have for my sump/refugium contents? I have the pump and plumbing all ready but I haven't constructed the actual sump tank yet, so any suggestions are welcome!