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Post by gotareef on Dec 28, 2012 16:29:28 GMT -5
I am guessing yours is the 4 stage ro
unless you have 65-85 psi going to the ro you are only supposed to get about 1gph. if the filter is running all the time something isn't hooked up right. it should only run when you have it on, unless you have it hooked to a pressure tank then it will shut off when the tank is full
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Post by Jordan Emery on Dec 28, 2012 20:21:38 GMT -5
Hahaha get this... I went to DSC today and used his TDS and got the following results... Regular Tap Water - 110 RODI Wastewater - 108 RODI Product water - 101-102 Needless to say the filters are on the way  |
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Post by ryansweatt2004 on Dec 28, 2012 20:47:40 GMT -5
Wow
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Post by Jordan Emery on Dec 28, 2012 20:57:18 GMT -5
Yeah! Thats what i said!!!! LOL.... despite all this the tank is looking great... The nitrates are down to 25 from 50 now! There is progress!!! I am sure this is why its so hard to get them down!
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Post by gotareef on Dec 29, 2012 8:20:19 GMT -5
that sux the filters are that dirty!
I hope this is the reason for the nitrates. it all depends on what is in the water to make 100+ tds
I would still dose amquel to get rid of any chlorine/chloramines heavy metals added to the tank since the ro isnt taking it out.
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Post by lindsey1984 on Jan 3, 2013 9:54:48 GMT -5
I have high nitrates as well at the moment.(i have a 55 gal w/11 fish an anemone, 2 emerald crabs, a cleaner shrimp and a cc starfish)I've had my tank set up for about 2 months but it was acclimated for 2 years prior to me getting it. Anyways, My nitrates up to 40 ppl. I dont have any corals and my fish are still doing well but I'm cutting down feeding to once or twice a week. I WAS doing 4 pinches twice a day then was told it was WAYY to much! oops! I dont vaccume my sand because the once the sand has started filtering it should take care of the nitrates. (my buddy has never vaccumed, he feeds his fish like crazy and the sand filters the nitrates into nitogen bubbles and his nitrates are always at zero) Ive been told to do water changes more frequently but then was told that if you do it too much you're taking out too much of the good bacteria when taking out the bad. I did get some stuff to help with the bactera ans PH balancer for the water chages.It's hard to know who or what to listen to when it comes to all this stuff. I havent tried sugar or vodka as i wont have a skimmer till tomorrow. Any other suggestions?
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Post by gotareef on Jan 3, 2013 12:17:47 GMT -5
with fish only having nitrates isnt bad, what you need to worry about is nitrite and ammonia.
11 fish in a 55g is way to much without major filtration. unless these are very small fish I would think of upgrading to a bigger tank! but pick up a bottle of amquel+
dsb's need help especially on an overstocked tank. if you dont periodically clean spots here and there they will get saturated. if a saturated sandbed gets stirred up at all it will release gasses that will kill everything!
I "clean" spots of my sand but never go deeper than about 1/2"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2013 12:58:37 GMT -5
I have high nitrates as well at the moment.(i have a 55 gal w/11 fish an anemone, 2 emerald crabs, a cleaner shrimp and a cc starfish)I've had my tank set up for about 2 months but it was acclimated for 2 years prior to me getting it. Anyways, My nitrates up to 40 ppl. I dont have any corals and my fish are still doing well but I'm cutting down feeding to once or twice a week. I WAS doing 4 pinches twice a day then was told it was WAYY to much! oops! I dont vaccume my sand because the once the sand has started filtering it should take care of the nitrates. (my buddy has never vaccumed, he feeds his fish like crazy and the sand filters the nitrates into nitogen bubbles and his nitrates are always at zero) Ive been told to do water changes more frequently but then was told that if you do it too much you're taking out too much of the good bacteria when taking out the bad. I did get some stuff to help with the bactera ans PH balancer for the water chages.It's hard to know who or what to listen to when it comes to all this stuff. I havent tried sugar or vodka as i wont have a skimmer till tomorrow. Any other suggestions? my tank struggled with high nitrates for well over a year. like gotareef said, fish aren't particularly bothered by high nitrates, at least not the ones that i've kept. my soft corals didn't even seem to mind the dirty water. what ultimately worked for lowering my nitrates was the core basics: weekly 10-15% water changes (with ro/di water), less feeding (once per day, only what can be consumed in a few minutes), and sufficient flow (i added more powerful powerheads and repositioned them to hit the dead spots). I was previously doing monthly water changes, feeding way too much, and my powerheads were pretty crappy/not enough for the odd shape of my tank. Adding a quality skimmer can also help clean up your water... it's pretty crazy to see what a good skimmer can pull from your tank's water. My new Reef Octopus SRO1000 skimmer pulls about 10x as much skimmate as my old budget skimmer. i think most will agree that if you do all of the above, and your nitrate levels are still high after a few months, than you're probably doing something drastically wrong... using tap water, highly overstocking, etc. not sure how big those 11 fish you have are, but I have 6 fish in my 75g including 3 tangs which is considered a very heavy bioload. my 2 cents.. |
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Post by lindsey1984 on Jan 3, 2013 15:11:46 GMT -5
I've def been doing my water changes, 10 GAL every few days. The fish I do have are all babies as I've gotten them all from the pet store in the last 2 months. The guy I talked to told me to feed them oncea week...I hear its safe and the fish will live on it so I figured ifi cut back to once or twice a week it would cut down my load. I also added bio balls in my filter which I heard is great and once I get my sump I believe this will help also. As for the fans position, ill have to Terry that! Thank you for your input :-) it def helps
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Post by lindsey1984 on Jan 3, 2013 15:13:10 GMT -5
I'm also wondering if I need new filters for my ro system
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Post by lindsey1984 on Jan 3, 2013 15:15:15 GMT -5
Is there a way to figure that out?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2013 18:21:05 GMT -5
feeding only once a week seems like a risky move, but i'll let someone who has more experience than me chime in on that one. i've heard of people feeding every other day, but never only once a week. anyone??
bio balls are also something that generally seem to be frowned upon... basically, dated technology that can turn into a nitrate factory. i ran them for a while, and have seen nothing but positive results since removing them. i've also seen thriving reef tanks that run them so take that for what it's worth.
do some water tests on your RO filter water before it goes into your display tank... they recommend changing your filters every 6-12 months, but it mostly depends on how often you're using the system and of course the quality of your tap water. i make about 15-20 gallons per week (on a 100 gpd system) and replace my filters annually... by the end of the year, the water they're producing is nearly as bad as my tap water.
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Post by lindsey1984 on Jan 3, 2013 19:00:08 GMT -5
Wow! Well, I def need to change the filters then. I just got the system but i bought it from someone who had it two years. This may be a reason for my nitrates.
As far as the bio balls...that SUCKS cause i heard they were awesome. This is what sucks about conflicting opinions lol They guy i talked to said they were4 "amazing" but im so new to this, you could tell me to pour bleach in my water and id prob believe you! lol
And for the feeding, the same guy who said to do the bio balls said he only feeds his once a week. This made me feel HORRIBLE because i was feeding them 4 pinches twice a day and then down to once a week...i feel like im starving them! I still have been feeding twice a week but I planned to do this until my sand filtration starts working and my nitrates go down.
I REALLY want to start with corals soon, but I cant do this until I have no nitrates in my tank.
How do you feel about the vodka or sugar method? If either of them work well what would you recommend for dosage on a 55 gal tank and how often?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2013 21:37:50 GMT -5
trust me, i feel your pain. when i first got into this hobby a couple years back i was almost ready to quit because it was so frustrating with all of the conflicting info out there. i ended up learning a lot from trial and error, and thankfully killed very little in the process. i tend to do a ton of internet research, especially reading up on forums and seeing what the general consensus is... you certainly can't believe everything you read on the internet, but there's a lot of good info out there. there's some great members on this forum too... ryansweat2004 has helped me out a ton. if i was in your position (which i was several months back!) i would remove the bioballs, do small daily feedings, weekly 10-ish gallon water changes (bigger than 10% of your water volume in an attempt to more quickly gain ground on the nitrates) and make sure the powerheads were positioned to hit as much of the tank as possible... the less "dead spots", the less you'll have build up of fish crap in these areas. a good skimmer will certainly help too, and i know you said you have one on the way, so that's great. definitely make sure your water-change water isn't the source of the problem too (do a test of your water source and make sure the readings are 0!). finally, very important! make sure you have a quality test kit! in my experience, the API test kits can read inaccurately HIGH nitrates. i read a lot of good things about the seachem brand, so I bought that kit instead... it was crazy how far apart the readings were between the two brands: www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4382this is all from my personal experience... i am still relatively new in the hobby too, and am by no means an expert...but this is what worked for me. i didn't use any medication of any kind. hope this helps you out! |
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Post by spotfin on Jan 3, 2013 22:15:54 GMT -5
I would not feed just once a week. I feed all my fish daily (not excessive amounts) and skip one day a week.
I have always wondered about the debate involving bioballs and nitrate levels. The way I look at it is a closed system (tank) has a fairly constant bioload (fish and inverts). We generally feed them on a regular basis, so the amount of waste produced doesn't vary much. The "good" bacteria types that eventually break down the waste into nitrates populate just about everything in the tank-substrate, live rock, aquarium walls, and bioballs if you use them.
Does it make sense then that the numbers of bacteria will eventually reach a balancing point? They can only process a certain amount of waste. Too much waste from fish, etc. and the bacteria can't keep up until more are produced. Too little waste and some bacteria will die off until equilibrium is reached again. So if a tank is using bioballs and the bioload doesn't change, and the amount of waste stays the same, won't the same amount of nitrate be produced in the end? Just a couple of my thoughts...
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