OMG Nitrates

[xragex24]

I need some advice here. What else can i do to lower my nitrates from 40 ppm? I got a 55 gallon with 50lbs live rock, emp 400, Back pak with bio mesh, and a 20 gallon refugium that I built. I got only a few fish like small clown, yellow tang, wrasse and lion fish. I feed them once a day with the garlic pellets and I feed the lion fish twice a week with one silver sides. The LFS said I will never get them to 0. Im in the process of adding corals and i dont want to have the nitrates to be a problem. Thanks

[scubadude]

Hi xragex
Welcome to Reefland!

I personally would not add any corals to your tank until you have your nitrates down to less than 10 ppm (and even then I would only stick with softies, and maybe an LPS or two). The LFS is ignorant, there are many reefers on this board that keep there nitrates very low and yes even @ zero. This does not mean there are no nitrates in the system it just means they are getting processed as fast as they are produced, therefore they are not registered on a water test. Another problem with your nitrate levels is your bioload wich right now is your fish (also the corals and inverts that you may add in the future) You may think that you dont have alot of fish and you very well may not....I dont know how big your fish are but I do know that the tang and the lionfish can outgrow your tank quick. I would get rid of the bio mesh...that can be a nitrate factory. Also your food source can be another approach you want to look at. consider feeding less food but more times per day which would be better, also live foods are much better

[Ninong]

You have a "small clown" with a lionfish? That won't last long. I assume the lionfish is also quite small right now but as soon as it is large enough, it will eat the clownfish.

How long has the tank been set up? It can take a few months to get nitrates to come down to decent levels.

What species of wrasse do you have? What species of lionfish do you have?

[xragex24]

I have a paddle fin wrasse thats about 6 inches long and the lion fish is around 5 inches. I was hoping that the clown would grow with the lion fish but I think i was wrong lol. I just got one rock of polyps and a rock of mushrooms which seem to be doing well so far. I going to take the mesh out of the bak pak but is there something i can stick it there to keep the bubbles from flowing back into the tank.

[zhenya]

Not to add more fuel on the fire but I would recommend taking a closer look at your Emperor 400 filter as a possible Nitrate factory. If it contains any type of bio-media in it I would suggest removing it slowly and replacing it with either Nitrate absorbing media or carbon. Having biological filter media(your live rock) inside the tank and biological media in the outside power filter is counter productive in my humble opinion, and yes, it would help a lot if we knew how long your tank been set up.

[xragex24]

I have bought those little bags that suppose to absorb the nitrates and put them in the filter. I also have the phosphate pellets it the filter too. The tank has been set up for around 6 months.