a few questions 1. waterchange two part ?? 2.sump/refuge

[jnewman]

1. I do 40gal water changes a week to get my NO3 down cant go below 5-10ppm I have acros and when i got tham my NO3 was 0 (I use salifert and API) I skim wet, I just took out the overflow sock to see if I can get the Macro and other critters in the sump to help with this problem but just tested and readding was 10ppm. should i get a no3 sponge more macro???
2. The water i took out i want to use for a QT good or bad??

fish
1 naso 5-6" (looks great)
2 clowns
2 chromis
1 wrasse
1 lawn mower blenny
1 purple tang

25 snails turbo, nas, bumble bee

coral
5 acros (not sure of names)
monti purple
assort others
all look good and have some new growth.
many many pods

[demonsp]

Whats the water source?
Whats used for water flow?
How old is the tank?

[Zoophile]

A nitrate sponge is just going to treat the symptom, but not the cause of the nitrates. Without any more info than you've given, how often do you change the filter sock? They do more harm than good if you don't change them very often. Is there any more that you can tell us, such as how much live rock you've got, any external filter systems, etc.? What are you using for water flow? It may be that you've got a detritus build-up that's settling rather than being kept for export in the water column.

Why are you concerned? Are your corals looking bad? Many systems do fine with a small amount of nitrates. If everything looks healthy, it's fine to use that water in the QT tank.

[Tswifty]

overfeeding might be the problem... filter socks and other types of filter only add to the problem if not changed regularly

[jnewman]

Flow: #2 Korilia #4 Korilia, 1 Tunze 1600gph, 1 maxijet 600gph w/eco adapter for more flow & return pump farly weak 1500gph?
water source: salt from LFS (says import from Channel Island), fresh RODI.
I would like to at some point keep more exotics and would like to see why I had 0 NO3 and now 5-10ppm.
ph 8.2
no2-0
phos 0
ca 450
kh/alk 8.2
ammonia 0
tank is 6 months old.
175lbs of LR
125lbs LS

Also I wanted to take some of the LR out for SPS to grow and put some of the smaller pieces in sump. I have a lot of tonga branch that i would like to put in the QT until i need to add an animal. Would this cause stress to my eco system that is set up and how can i remove LR with out causing a crash or drastick change?

[jnewman]

anything

[Aquarist007]

[i]

Also I wanted to take some of the LR out for SPS to grow and put some of the smaller pieces in sump. I have a lot of tonga branch that i would like to put in the QT until i need to add an animal. Would this cause stress to my eco system that is set up and how can i remove LR with out causing a crash or drastick change? [/B]

the live rock is still part of the total system whether it is the sump main tank or refugium.
If you move it to the sump I would make sure you can slow down the water over it (by using baffles etc) so the bacteria has longer to work on it.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by jnewman
1. I do 40gal water changes a week to get my NO3 down cant go below 5-10ppm I have acros and when i got tham my NO3 was 0 (I use salifert and API) I skim wet, I just took out the overflow sock to see if I can get the Macro and other critters in the sump to help with this problem but just tested and readding was 10ppm. should i get a no3 sponge more macro???
2. The water i took out i want to use for a QT good or bad??

fish
1 naso 5-6" (looks great)
2 clowns
2 chromis
1 wrasse
1 lawn mower blenny
1 purple tang

25 snails turbo, nas, bumble bee

coral
5 acros (not sure of names)
monti purple
assort others
all look good and have some new growth.
many many pods

1.that is a little excessive(and expensive) for that level of nitrates.

eventually you could add a refugium with cheato if you want to bring them down any further

2. that water would be ok for the qt tank--esp with changing it so often

[jnewman]

bump