Bacteria survival span

[K]

Hi,
One of my tanks has been fully set up and running for about 6 months now. Thing is aside from a couple of small shrimps and crabs there has been no fish/inverts in it. Ammonia and nitrite are 0 while nitrate is 60ppm.
I plan on doing a big water change to lower this but I am worried that there may not be enough bacteria in the tank to deal with the arrival of 2 seahorses on Monday. Should I hold off getting them??? :?

 

[Anonymous]

Bacteria is on the substrate, no in the water. Go ahead and change the water, but if you want to make sure the parameter is stable, you may want to wait to put the ponies in there.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

do you know what's causing the elevated nitrate level? Are you running a biowheel or bioballs? A 6 month old tank shouldn't be having nitrate levels that high. You need to find the underlying cause of the elevated level and treat it at it's source.

 

[Anonymous]

Nitrates will be lowered but not become 0.0 with water changes less than 100%.

the best, fastest, and most effective way to lower nitrates and improve water quality is to use thriving plant life. Nitrates in my 55g (and a couple smaller) tanks with a large bioload are unmeasurable. With an in tank refugium with macros, no water changes, and using tap water. I do have a very small external refug, but it proved to be ineffective at eliminating nitrates.

 

[Anonymous]

>...the best, fastest, and most effective way to lower nitrates and improve water quality is to use thriving plant life.

Huh? It is a seahorse tank, bob. He just want to lower his nitrate to a safe level for his ponies.

 

[Anonymous]

>...the best, fastest, and most effective way to lower nitrates and improve water quality is to use thriving plant life.

Huh? It is a seahorse tank, bob. He just want to lower his nitrate to a safe level for his ponies.

Then macros and/or sea grasses will also provide hitching posts as well.

 

[K]

I have been meaning to ask you beaslbob what kind of lighting you reckon is needed for these macro algae of yours as I am reluctant to invest in any serious lighting

 

[Anonymous]

I just use two 4" utility fixtures with 4100k 3300 lumen tubes. They are 6" from the in tank refug and the refug is 3" deep. Fixtures cost $8 each tubes are $5/two tubes. From home depot/lowes/wall mart/k mart/ dollar store/ etc etc etc

Caulperpa profilera thrive under low lighting. Chaeto seemed to do well. But chaeto took off under the higher lighting above. Grape and other caulpera did not expand until I added the above lighting.

edit picture of the lighting is on this thread. but you have to be logged in to see it. http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=57481

HTH

 

[Joew]

Once again Beaslbob must be kept in check from his ranting that plant life fixs all. Do some research before you start playing with macro-algaes. Ignore what Beaslbob says about using tap water and no water changes....HOG WASH!!!! Using macros can help take up nutirents. But be careful with what macros you choose and prune them when needed. Cheato is the best macro in my opinion. Dosen't go sexual and release nitrates into the system which defeats the purpose. Bottom line, macros are great, but not for total nitrate control. The big plus is your pod/micro critter population will explode. A well maintained skimmer/proper water changes are better than any macro algae. If not your tank will degrade. Stick to proven methods and NO TAP WATER........

JoeW

p.s.
Any NO output cheap light will grow macros just fine.
_________________
definition of recession

 

[danmhippo]

Ditto, I too would caution you on adding most leafy type of macro algae to your pony ranch.

Yes, macro do provide as hitching post. However, leafy macro algae has tendency to go sexual with normal lighting duration (10-12 hours a day). For most that avoided the problem, they switched to 24/7 lighting for their refugium, but you simply cannot do the same for seahorses.

As previously stated, go ahead and do a big water change. For your situation, I would just provide dead corals as hitching post for ease of maintenance. Or even nylon nets, if you don't mind the look.

Lighting for pony ranch is not critical. Actually, you would not want to use strong lighting anyway, as 1. Seahorses doesn't need it, and 2. you have no photosynthetic algae, and 3, Strong lighting only encourages undesirable micro algae for your tank.

Good luck with seahorses.