How often/how much do I feed...Causing high nitrates...pls help

[Mcvivor]

Hey everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR. My question is this. I have a 220 gallon reef tank. (currently with no fish) I had to move them all to QT due to ich outbreak. I have done several water changes. The tank has been up for about 8 months or so. I have corals and some crabs-shrimp-basic CUC.

My questions are:

Why are my nitrates still high, they are in the 20-40 range. I did water changes. (what will help keep them under control. I have a sump and a protien skimmer).

Also, how much am I supposed to be feeding my fish and how often, I get differnt opinions, it seems my fish are ALWAYS hungry, but I know it is bad to over feed, I am so confused!

 

[wm23oh]

IMO your first thing to do is check your water source before adding it to your tank. Also if you make 20% W/C until they get down that should help.

As far as feeding do you have any fish that need fed by themselves (Gobies) etc that will starve without any food? The old rule is to feed as much as you think would fill their eyes and only once per day. A slightly hungry fish is a fish that will let you see if it is sick or if something is wrong if it doesn't come out to eat.

Best wishes,

 

[Mcvivor]

Thanks James for your reply. I believe my water source is good, because I have an RO maker... Maybe they were left over nitrates from when the fish were in the tank?

 

[wm23oh]

Sorry forgot to ask do you blow off your live rock? Crap and such lands on it and will build up and cause nitrAtes to soar if left unchecked.

I always try and stir small parts of my sand bed before I siphon. I also make sure to blow off my rocks every day to try and keep stuff suspended in the water so it gets taken out.

This has worked for me in my MUCH smaller tank.

Best wishes,

 

[wm23oh]

Thanks James for your reply. I believe my water source is good, because I have an RO maker... Maybe they were left over nitrates from when the fish were in the tank?

Is it possible that something could be wrong with the unit? Do as you wish but unless you are positive your water is pure you may pay for guessing. Its your choice but I highly recommend doing the basics.

Something is wrong somewhere and I'm positive their are others more knowledgeable than I but I highly recommend going back to basics and verify everything you think you know. I tend to find this my problem when I can't figure out why something is going wrong. That sounded harsh but it honestly wasn't meant the way it sounds. Basically all I'm saying is just double check everything and post it here so others can give you more in-depth help.

Best wishes,

 

[Mcvivor]

James, I know my RO unit is fine. I have tested it as well. I also have the device to check to make sure the water is still coming out perfect. It may be your suggestion to clean off the LR. I always intend to clean it when I do changes and when I clean my glass, but always forget to do it. I will try blowing off the LR next time I take my canopy off.

Thanks for the advice and Happy New Year!

 

[yvr]

You may be able to get away feeding your fish every second day or less if you have an established tank with an adequate population of amphipods etc.Also some commercial dry foods which may contain undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc and if you use frozen foods you may want to rinse them off with RO/DI Water before feeding to remove excess nutirents . Using a high quality salt with no NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin or similar good quality salt should really help reduce your nitrates too.

 

[BigAl07]

Why are my nitrates still high, they are in the 20-40 range. I did water changes. (what will help keep them under control. I have a sump and a protien skimmer).

First you need to get them DOWN so you can establish how quickly they are climbing. This is done with HEAVY water changes. Keep in mind that your percentage of water change will roughly equal the amount of NO3 reduction. Let's say you do a 20% water change and your NO3 is 40. 20% reduction of 40 is 32. If your tank has some "issue" causing a build up of NO3 then it's entirely possible you can get them to 32 today and next week back to 40. This is why I like to get them DOWN with some heavy water changes and then see how quickly they climb back up. Until they are DOWN you don't really know if you have a problem or not.

Also, how much am I supposed to be feeding my fish and how often, I get differnt opinions, it seems my fish are ALWAYS hungry, but I know it is bad to over feed, I am so confused!

Fish are wild animals and in the wild they never know when their next meal is coming so they will eat every time food is offered to them. In our closed system we "Teach" them that food always comes from us so every time we approach the tank in a certain manner they go into "Feed" mode and act starved to death. That's precisely the case here in my office tank I open the lid and drop a frozen food puck in. I always turn my return pump off just before this action. Now anytime the return pump goes OFF they think it's feeding time and come out like crazy. Even if I don't open the lid they are acting like they haven't seen food in weeks when in reality it may have only been 15 minutes since I fed.

How much depends on what fish you have. Some fish will require several feedings per day while some only eat 1-2 a week. You need to research every fish and determine what feeding schedule your tank needs.