[squiggz98]

About 3 weeks ago my 65gal tank finished cycling and i have just been waiting for the nitrate to drop so i could get the clean up crew and fish. But nitrate hasn't moved, it is still above 80. Should i do something or just keep waiting. about a week ago i did a 20% water change and that didn't help either. I have a protein skimmer and a canister filter without carbon.

john

[Meric]

Originally Posted by squiggz98

About 3 weeks ago my 65gal tank finished cycling and i have just been waiting for the nitrate to drop so i could get the clean up crew and fish. But nitrate hasn't moved, it is still above 80. Should i do something or just keep waiting. about a week ago i did a 20% water change and that didn't help either. I have a protein skimmer and a canister filter without carbon.

john

Your Nitrite should be at 0. Nitrate can be higher. Nitrates can be reduced with Water changes or with adding Macro Algaes to the tank to absorb Nitrates.

However Nitrates are much less toxic than Nitrites. You should be able to add fish and a clean up crew without much trouble with Nitrates below 100. Corals and some sensitive invertebrates will probally not be able to handle the higher nitrates.

[saltjunkie]

i would bet the canister filter is the source of nitrates......
but that is just my opinion..

[Poseidon]

I'm guessing the same, get rid of the canister filter!

[spbaden]

The only way to get rid of nitrate is either to got micro algeas, with will only control it it will not get rid of it, the other is water changes.nitrate is the
bi-product of the nitrite getting cycled, it is the same thing as when ammona cycles into nitrite. Like i said before microalgeas will help but the only way to keep it down is regular water changes, because you just cycled there is a lot of nitrate keep up your water changes and it will go down. Nothing can cycle nitrate so it will not go down on its own it will only get worse and you cycle more and more nitrite. There is nothing wrong with your filter.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by spbaden

Nothing can cycle nitrate so it will not go down on its own it will only get worse and you cycle more and more nitrite. There is nothing wrong with your filter.

That is not always the case. If you utilize live rock or deep sand bed the NO3 will be converted into a Nitrogen gas and simply bubble out. Although water changes will help a little getting rid of that canister filter(providing that live rock is being used) would be a step in the right direction.
Growing macro algaes in a refugium would help in reducing nutrients by harvesting it and throwing some away,yes. However, his tank is just finished cycling and if it was properly set up the Nitrates should go down after water changes. I think what we need is more information about the set up before we can utter any meaningful advise.

[saltjunkie]

canister filters and asll bio style filters are good to a fault.. they process the nitrite so well... that the nitrate produced has no where to go ..except up... you have to have a way to remove it... by .. removing the filter all together.. or using the above mentioned stuff..
LR, DSB, fuge with macros and LR, DSB..
but on a salt reef.. i wouldnt use anything besides a skimmer and natural stuff...
on a fish only with heavy eaters, or a bigger bioload.. you will, would , have to have a nice filter to help keep the water quality up.. and then you deal with some nitrates and do your water changes and water quality checks......

[AANNDDYY]

i set up a (fish only) saltwater aquarium with 7 pounds of live rock in a 44 gal tank. do i need more live rock and how much? and does live rock take nitrate away?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by AANNDDYY

i set up a (fish only) saltwater aquarium with 7 pounds of live rock in a 44 gal tank. do i need more live rock and how much?

A reasonable total amount of live rock for that size fish-only aquarium would be 30-60 pounds.

and does live rock take nitrate away?

Yes.

[AANNDDYY]

i had 4 damself for about a month and then adden 2 clowns and 1 fish that is half purple and half yellow the clowns are fine but the other purple-yellow fish got nipped alot and is not hiding under a rock. its been 2 days and whenever the fish comes out of the rock the damsels bite its fins. Whould it be fine?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by AANNDDYY

i had 4 damself for about a month and then adden 2 clowns and 1 fish that is half purple and half yellow the clowns are fine but the other purple-yellow fish got nipped alot and is not hiding under a rock. its been 2 days and whenever the fish comes out of the rock the damsels bite its fins. Whould it be fine?

The "fish that is half purple and half yellow" might be a Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto). It needs lots of live rock for hiding places. http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Spec...iesname=loreto

Damsels are aggressive. It is quite common for them to harass other fish to death. They may eventually accept it or they may not. It's hard to predict. Most people eventually realize that keeping damsels is more trouble than it is worth.

[squiggz98]

Well I did get rid of the canister filter and it seemed to help. My skimmer is filling up with foam about every 4hours. I would guess that is good. Also I did a 50% water change and that helped a lot. I think if I do one more water change it will be below 60. Thank you for all your suggestions.
john

[No_Floaters]

Sometimes a big water change does more harm than good. Others will tell you it won't. It's mostly based on personal experince.

This is a routine that has worked for me. I've used it before. No need to get in a hurry with it.

http://www.melevsreef.com/reducing_nitrates.html