Reducing nitrates

[AriMiko43]

I have a 65 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump with fuge in the center. I also have over 100 lbs of live rock and 100 lbs live sand. My tank is all cycled and running for over 2 months now. What is a safe nitrate range for a mixed reef? Also What are some things I can do besides water changes to cut down on nitrate build up?[Mangroves, Kent Nitrate Sponge, Feed less?] I have a fuge in my sump with some grape caulerpa that looks like it is starting to grow. Do I have to trim this caulerpa down and get rid of the excess? Any help and ideas is greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Start slow and add corals and livestock even slower as your tank is still immature. 0.03 is a good range to have it at. Also purchase a phosban reactor and use ferric oxide as the media. Rinse mysis in rodi water first then strain it using ur fish net and do not over feed. Feed portions. Make sure ur sea grapes is not the one that goes asexual. Eventually you will need to prune any macroalgae that grows. Run a good Protein skimmer. Mangrooves are good.. just make sure there leaves when they drop off are picked right away. They leach toxins in the water. Other than that as time passes you will eventually try an reach a range of 0.01 for nitrate. Just research and you will be good. Good Luck!!

 

[gasbatalla]

To reduce nitrates you can use mangrove and algae. If you get a chance try and get some chaeto. You do need to trim the caulerpa down.

 

[seldin]

Most obvious to help is to keep bio load low. That means less fish, less feeding etc. With my DSB and live rock, I have 0 nitrates and phosphates as detected by a Salifert test kit.

Please remember, once you get nitrates and phosphates that start to climb, it can be a battle. Better to keep bio load low and then, it's easy. You would be surprised, how easy everything grows, with a low bio load and good lighting.

You can add a clean up crew, such as crabs, shrimp, etc. For my bio load, they don't really add anything, as they help with the detris, etc.

 

[anthony27]

I have from personal exp the kent spong can leake them back into the tank, you def do not want that. I carbon dose and my trates are .03 and I have sero ppm phosphates finally after a month of water changes and testing like crazy. The skimmer plays a big role in the trates in teh tank breaking down organic wast hence by skimming the water. I would not advise you as of now to carbon dose at all. I pefer to say what the other member said above and take it slow do not over load the tank, and add coral bit by bit mjust make sure if you are going sps to have good levels with the alk and cal and mag. Other then that try to refrain from the spong. You are better off using phosband then the spong I know it does 2 totaly different things but you are better off reducing the phosphates and then bringing down the trates slowely.

 

[JessicaDay]

Nitrate it whats gets me the majority of the time, particularly in the summer. I think it's caused by the slightly warmer temperature in the water that I seem powerless to stop....