High Nitrate Levels

[USMC81]

I have had a problem gettting my nitrates down.

Tank specs as follow:
38 gal. with 15 gal sump.
Red Sea Classic Skimmer running 24/7
65 lbs. live rock
2 1/2" live sand
(2) 55 watt compact flourescents on 12hr per day

Residents:
(1) Scopus tang. Bought as a juvenile. For a larger tank and had to scale down. He is still small.
(3) Chromis Damsels
(1) Peppermint Shrimp

Corals:
Lg. galexia
Xenia
tons of mushrooms
Cup coral
various leathers
various button polyps
sponges

Additives:
C-balance

Tank Readings:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Calcium 550
ph 8.25
alk 2.2
Nitrate 25

I have checked my makeup water and all the readings are 0.

Water changes are 2 gals every other week.

Does anyone have any suggestions

 

[ShipMate]

Your sand bed is not deep enough (4" is commonly recommended)
Make sure that you get some nice live sand from someone else, detritivore 'kits' also are recommended.

Having a refugium with caulerpa or chaetomorpha that you would harvest periodically would help a lot

Clams (like Derasas) help a little.

Cut down on feeds a little

Must remove any bioballs, filters floss, foam filters, filter socks if you have any. Or at least clean them thoroughly every other day.

there are other ways too but those are the main things, especially the sand bed depth

 

[Anonymous]

The sand bed depth is indeed an issue (4" is a minimum depth), however, once/until it's going the other filter media shouldn't be messed with. Also, if you do go with a refugium, my recommendation is to avoid skimming, definitely once it's up and going don't skim.

My advice is to first test your makeup water, especially if you're using tap. Or, better yet, get test results from your local water municipality--nitrates as high as 40ppm are perfectly acceptable for potable water in many districts. There's no way you'll bring the nitrate readings down if you find yourself in such a situation.

 

[USMC81]

Thanks for your reply ShipMate. I had caulerpa in a tank a good while back. It went asecual and turnd the water so geen that you could not see into the tank. Since then i've shyed away from it. Feeding are only every other day. And that is with seaweed strip attached to the glass. I've removed my prefilter pad from the sump overflow. No bio balls. Caulerpa is hard to come by at the local shops. What are the lighting requirements for Derasas clams?