[mike3843]

I have a 30 gallon tank with 30 lbs of live rock a emperor 400 2 poweheads a skilterfilter 2.5" live sand bed. Problem is i had a undergravel filter for about a year it was starting to get plugged up so i removed the tube and powerhead and covered the outlet. I have been keeping an eye on the tank since i removed the ug filter and now my nitrates are about 60. prior to this nitrates were usally 0. I am concerned about my anenome and corals.I just changed 10 gallons of water and still have a considerable nitrate reading. Amonia and nitrite are zero.
What do i do now. Why are they still high.

[reefhead]

Hello, you have no way to export nutients; therefore, they are all building up on you. you need to find a way to export nutrients .



Do you have any live rock?
Micro Algea?

Try doing a search here using the following keywords:

"nutrient export"
"refugium"
"skilter"
"euroreef"


Your current filtration is no where near adequet to sustain the enviorment you are trying to maintain. I would strongly suggest you relocate your inhabitants to a friends tank until you are more informed about your system.

[mike3843]

I have 30 pounds of live rock everything was at zero untill i removed the ug tube. Today i woke up and dicscovered my anenome dead. When i posted this my anenome was closed up as if he was egesting but i guess he was dying so i think that is why my nitrates are so high. how soon after a water change can you safely do another water change.







Do you have any live rock?
Micro Algea?

Try doing a search here using the following keywords:

"nutrient export"
"refugium"
"skilter"
"euroreef"


Your current filtration is no where near adequet to sustain the enviorment you are trying to maintain. I would strongly suggest you relocate your inhabitants to a friends tank until you are more informed about your system.[/quote]

[RayPollett]

Originally Posted by mike3843

I have 30 pounds of live rock everything was at zero untill i removed the ug tube. Today i woke up and dicscovered my anenome dead. When i posted this my anenome was closed up as if he was egesting but i guess he was dying so i think that is why my nitrates are so high. how soon after a water change can you safely do another water change.---You can do two a day. I do 50 to 85% water changes on some systems from time to time.



Your current filtration is no where near adequet to sustain the enviorment you are trying to maintain. I would strongly suggest you relocate your inhabitants to a friends tank until you are more informed about your system.

[/quote]I totally disagree - The system is not the problem. Nor are the nitrate levels he talked about. I've seen tanks twice that size with less fitration.

Ray

[RayPollett]

Personally I would not have pulled the UGF tubes out, but that is hindsite now. I do not know why you lost your BTA, but nitrates of 60 are not the cause from my experience. I've keep them for over 2 years with nitrates over 200 as part of an experiment. No I do not reccomend it, keep nitrates as low as possible, but short term rises to 60 are not a problem IMO.

Ray

[reefhead]

check for phosphate and ammonia.