HELP... Nitrates!

[Shadow's World]

I have a 70gal tank with a 30gal Refguim ! about 70lbs of LR Live sand lots of Alge 1clown 1tang 4gobies snails 6 crabs(that I wish would only live as long as they say!) 4 guppies and 4 damsils and I have such a problem with my Nitrates! I have one Canister filter for the refguim, one hange on the back filter for the 70 gal. one protien skimmer. My live rock came with about 8 clams 2 oysters they are doing ok(I think),and lots of small coralsThat came on the live rock and are hatching out). My live sand hacthes out lots of different things right now it is hatching star fish and I have about 150 baby star fish and Nasirris( sp.. of yea all the way through) snails about 10 of those. my lighting on tp is a 4strip coral life on bottom a 2 strip. My Alge grows wonderfully and I have to trim lots what am I doing wronge? My fish started to look skinny I ws feeding so little to try and lower the nitrates. ihope I gave enough info I am new at this posting stuff. Oh yea my tank is about 2 years old .... I really worry about all the little stuff hatching out of the live rock and sand and would love to own a tank that did not wake my up in the middle of the night with baby corals screaming that I am burning them up with the nitrates!!!

[items4sell2001]

We need to know what is the result of your nitrate. If the reading is to high. Clean your canister pads, add nitrate and carbon. Change your water more often and add a bigger skimmer. Don't add any chemical.

Hope that help.

Tom

[Shadow's World]

Well monthly they are going up to 50! I do a Water change bi-monthly and I am sure you did not mean to say add more Nitrates!

[middlemark]

Yup, I would clean all your cannister/other filters [skimmer too] ... and consider whether they're collecting too much stuff [for how often they're cleaned].

I tend to shy away from mechanical filtration because of that endless cleaning needed to keep them from causing nutrient/nitrate/phosphate issues.

I'd clean them, water change ... test, and then post what #'s we are talking about. I'm sure you can get things better - though it will be a slow process to discover where they're coming from.

[middlemark]

What kind of water flow do you have?

How much skimmate do you get every week? What color?

[Shadow's World]

I Clean the Canister on the refuguim every other month (in salt water and there are lots o bugs in it) and there is never very much waste in it.. some but never as much as I think there is going to be. On the hang on I clean it (or should I say rinse it) monthly. the Skimmer i empty 2x weekly half full of very dark green water that smells very green not at all bad smelling.

I have to have the uglest tank know to man kind because of all the hang ons!!! Lets see on the left wall I have a powerhead next to it is the return from the refug next to it is a power head next to that is the Skimmer next to that is the hang on then on the right side in front is another power head.
Ok in my defense ..... my Lfs at first thought it was not enough water flow then I needed more rock then i needed a Skimmer then I needed a refugium....I can still hear the corals screaming in my dreams..........but somthing has to right with all this stuff hatching out .. but I do have a responsoblity to those little guys. My LFS thinks the star fish may now be the cause but I had it before they hacthed out. Thank-you for your input and help.