High Nitrate

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TWINYTWIN

New Member
I dont know why my Nitrates are high. I have a 12g dx nano cube for well over 2 months. I do the occasional water change every week 20%. Currently in the filtartion I have the sponges, carbon bag, ceramic rings, bio balls, two media bags: one ( with chemi-pure) the other (mix of phosguard and nitra-zorb). I just finished my water change and testing tonight and everything was fine except nitrate. What can I do to lower the nitrates.

THANKS
 
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dragon79

New Member
Your ceramic rings and bio balls is probably the cause of your high nitrates as it'll be the one area where all the nitrate gets trapped. Also, you haven't mentioned what you have in your tank. If you have a lot of fish, that's another cause. The other thing that got me is that you said "occasional" water change? With the cube, you can't fall behind, you need to do the water changes each week religiously. On your next water change, remove 40% of the water and see if that helps out.

To replace the ceramic rings and bio balls, you'll need to fill up that middle chamber with LR rubble. Once things stabalize, your tank will go back to normal.
 
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TWINYTWIN

New Member
I do my water change every week. I have gone 3 days over once. Live stock in the tank are the following: Yellow watchman goby, Green clown goby, Yellow clown goby, 2 electric blue legs, 2 dwarf zebra, 2 fighting conchs, 2 ashtrea snails, 2 margarita snails, dwarf blue leg, dwarf red tip, and cleaner skunk shrimp. Ill try the LR rubble in a day or two and take out the bio balls, and ceramic rings.

Thanks Dragon79
 
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TWINYTWIN

New Member
Do I completely fill up the middle chamber with LR rubble or just fill it up so that the carbon bag fits in as well.
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
hi, twinytwin well i did my chambers like mike and is really working really good ...

my 12 g nano cube dx

1st chamber: sponge then chemi-pure and then sponge.(i just use 2 sponges)
2nd chamber: LR and at top some macro
3rd chamber: mini jet mn 606 , heater and some LR and macro.

and well they say that if you have chemi-pure you dont need carbon cause is almost the same thing or maybe better and the macro helps you with nitrate and phosphate.

i hope this helps you..

eddy

p.s: dont forget to rinse your sponges cause they really hold alot of undesired things.... :)
 
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TWINYTWIN

New Member
Great info thanks EDGRAY. I make sure to clean the sponges every water change or if they really have collected alot stuff. How many lbs of LR rubble did you put in your chambers.
 
EDGRAY

EDGRAY

New Member
all i could fit but leaving space for my macro and 2 cm before the top of the chambers.... (i dont have a clue of how many lb i have i just know that in total in the tank including rubble i have 12lb)
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
I noticed in your livestock list that you have a couple of fighting conchs, they are not really suitable for reeftanks because they each need a couple of square feet of sandbed in oreder to get enough to eat. The rest of the list looks okay but you should consider moving the conchs into a larger tank or trading them in. Skip
 
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TWINYTWIN

New Member
Ok I added some LR rubble to the middle chamber. I didnt add much because I was wondering if I should leave the ceramic rings in place so the LR rubble can aCclimate. Can I completely take it out or should I leave the ceramic rings in there for a week or two.
 
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TWINYTWIN

New Member
What were to happen if the ceramic rings were left in there. I would think that it would help out lower the nitrate.
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Ceramic rings can trap debris within the holes, the live rubble is the way to go, much higher in porous surface and they don't trab debris like the rings.

Trapped debris can lead to high levels of undesired nitrate....

MG
 
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