reaching out

[woogy]

I need advice. Nitrate is 50ppm or above. Tank is 5+years old.

Tank size: 29gallon with 2" sandbed

Livestock includes black urchin, yellow watchman, cleaner shrimp, royal gramma, pistol shrimp, nass snails and different colored hermits.

Filtration: 2 aquaclear30 filters(one filled with chemipure elite and one with foam and carbon) taam rio nano skimmer and mj 600 for flow.

Water changes: At least 5gallons once a month. I know this may not be enough but I have tried at much as 2X/week and made no difference. I use the r/o water from walmart

Lighting: I have dual strip fo. Will eventually upgrade.

I have algae which is green mostly red in spots and starting to get hair algae (I thiink)

Eventually I want to add an anemone and corals but need to lower nitrate.

Add more sand for a dsb???
Change filtration???
Will better lighting help???
Different water???

Also I always wondered if I have good flow for my tank. I have the mj600 pointing up at the water. It's about halfways down the tank on the left side. I was told this would keep the waste suspended until the filter picks it up.

All info is greatly appreciated.

[woogy]

bump...

[coope81]

I would do weekly water changes of 20% and strip your filters out and just fill with live rock, run a small amount of activated carbon and change that weekly.

[swamprat]

Maybe increase water flow.

[coope81]

Would proberly use rowaphos in one of your filters aswell.
Just keep doing the water changes till it drops down to 0 then do 10% every 2 weeks.
Thats what i do and mine never go above 5ppm

[Salamander]

I think changing filtration would be great. The Aquaclear can produce nitrates as detritus builds up in the media and sponge. Check for some DIY threads on turning them into a fuge.

A better skimmer would also be a huge improvement.

I think 5 gallon water changes once a month is way to little, 5 g a week is better I guess you have no corals so maybe 5g every two weeks or 2-3g every week. Beware of the Walfart water. Who knows how often they change their filters. And its likely just RO not RO/DI. Take some to your LFS and ask them to test it, at least for TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).

I'd also highly recommend more flow in your tank. Koralia's are cheap and give a nice wide dispersed flow.

A refugium (fuge) with macro algae (chaeto or calurpa etc) will help with the nutrient export. Very effective addition.

And depending on how old your shallow sandbed is, it could be full of gunk and in need of replacement.

Depending on your feeding schedule and lighting schedule you may need to cut back on both for a while.


HTH

[woogy]

bump...

[woogy]

Originally posted by coope81
I would do weekly water changes of 20% and strip your filters out and just fill with live rock, run a small amount of activated carbon and change that weekly.

do u mean live rock rubble only in the filter?

get rid of the chemipure and sponge?

the carbon says it is good for a month why would i change it every week?

[woogy]

Originally posted by Salamander
I think changing filtration would be great. The Aquaclear can produce nitrates as detritus builds up in the media and sponge. Check for some DIY threads on turning them into a fuge.

anyone have a link to this?

A better skimmer would also be a huge improvement.

what would u recommend?

I'd also highly recommend more flow in your tank. Koralia's are cheap and give a nice wide dispersed flow.

How much flow and how should i position them?

A refugium (fuge) with macro algae (chaeto or calurpa etc) will help with the nutrient export. Very effective addition.

And depending on how old your shallow sandbed is, it could be full of gunk and in need of replacement.

Does everyone eventually replace their sand?


HTH

[FBNitro]

I think the AC 30's are too small for it, but here's the link for the DIY Aquaclear Fuge:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=601201