That darn Nitrate

[juju]

Yeah hi, I have a question concerning the nitrate level. Ok I have a 20 gallon high tank which contains one Fiji Blue Devil, true percula, a coral banded shrimp, and a lawn mower blennie. My tank is over 6 weeks old as of 5-20-09 all critters are doing fine.All my levels have been ph 8.2, amon. 0, nitrite 0 but I started seeing a rise oh I forgot my brown starfish,anyway
the level has grown up to pass 40 I have done 10, 20, 50 percent water changes I have what they call a 3 stage bio-filter, protein skimmer, one of those air blowers and I had this one stale area in my tank so I added an air stone to help move the water . I was feeding my fish 2 times a day but I had also read that you needed to feed more so the bottom dwellers where able to get enough to eat so well yeah I did which increased my nitrate. My coral banded shrimp this is so weird molted everytime I changed water and ideals why she does this. will her skeleton cause a rise.
My blennie loves the wafers I feed my devil and percular frozen brine shrimp. So I started to cut back on there food intake still seeing rise. I was wondering I have alot of areas in my tank where I can't get my sucking thing in-between my live rock I clean my live sand the best I can change my filter and clean out my protein skimmer. I gotta tell you this after I put in the air stone my coral banded got on top of the rock where the air bubbles where and took her little paws reached in and got the bubbles and ate them she done it for a while it was so cute.
can I take out my live rock so I can get to the whole area of my sand in my tank and give it a good cleaning, keep the rock in the tank water I take out and maybe rinse it off too then put it back in.

I have also fed them
sheet algae they hate this stuff
formula one flakes, pellets
freeze dried shrimp
spurlina flakes
frozen shrimp I fed this to the coral banded by hand, I take a small piece and she would come up and take it out of my hand.
but not all at the same time.
I hope I've given enough information, and one more question what is the best food for my star fish I don't want to put alot of food in their that she won't get eat.

[leebca]

Some observations:

1. The tank is over populated. With the number and kinds of pollution makers you have, the nitrates will usually be very high. For that particular grouping of fish, the tank would need to be at least a 29 gallon.

2. The dimensions of the tank are not favorable for marine fish husbandry. It is better to have a larger foot print -- low, wide, and deep v. a high tank.

3. Cutting back on food is slow starvation for your marine life. Don't do that to control water quality.

4. Cleaning the tank isn't the issue. The removal of the rock and the thorough cleaning is something to do about once or twice a year, providing other maintenance is done routinely. Waste build up does produce more nitrates, but. . . (see 5.)

5. The tank is young. It hasn't matured yet and yet there is a high bio-load on the tank. Waste build up isn't the concern, the system hasn't caught up to the bio-load.

6. Starfish should be returned to the place you obtained it. Starfish in general should be in an aquarium of no less 75 gallons -- and there are only a couple of starfish suitable for keeping in a marine aquarium. Provide us with the scientific name of this starfish and we will tell you more about it, including what it eats.

7. It seems that you have been misinformed about keeping a marine aquarium. I suggest you read this post to see how it is done: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

8. Flakes and pellets are the bottom of the kinds of foods to feed. In fact, read the label. Do the pellets contain wheat or land products? Our marine fish can't digest wheat and most land products. These go through the fish and pollute the tank creating more nitrates. You'll need better advice on feeding which is contained here: Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition

9. Nitrates don't adversely affect fish nor most invertebrates.

You may wish to look through the forums here and read topics relating to marine life form husbandry. As mentioned, you seem mis-informed, which isn't too unusual. People who sell these systems primarily want to sell. This is a fair list of some of the topics covered in posts and articles: Table/Contents - Link List