no3 high

[loster]

sound good once your water is stable, sps liao

[gunzo]

wah define overstock!

I 2' tank with 4 fishes and 2 shrimps still see buildup of no3 about 25mg per week!!

feed them only 2-3 days a week.. got small skimmer got those chemical denitrators still boh lasa..

of course i have corals oso but do they contribute to buildup?

[zephyros]

wat i'm suggestting below is related to nitrate but its long term solution ..

some ppl advocate skimming, denitrator reductor etc etc for maintaining

the NO3 level ... but i prefer to add more biological approach by keeping

cleaning crews. its a balance lar, skimming cannot remove everything

i had 1 4footer with 16 small fishes (including 6 anthias) and 1 feed twice a day.

i change water very alternate week (3 pails), change the normal filter every

week, change carbon and rowaphos every month. so far, i am maitaining

NO3 between 5-10. diatom bloom once a while but no serious outbreak.

juz ask urself, when the pellet (or even suspension food) drops to the tank bottom,

how can they be skim away??? they will decompose at the bottom of ur tank lar.

hence, that's where the cleaning crews come in, they eat on the left over foods,

but of coz they pooh too ... but the contents of their pooh has less impact on the

system as compare to letting the food decompose in the tank. btw, the ppoh will

be further breakdown by bacteria lah

keep a range of cleaning crew for different purpose, also they adds diversity

to the system and ur find that they are every interesting to watch nonetheless

eg my cleaning crew list

1) cucumber (if u perfer a more hardworking 1 - go for the black cuke)

i am having a tiger tail (more nice to look at)

2) snails - get different types to target eat different things.

3) cleaner shrimp <<< must have ... its helps to clean up the fish as well as

eat those leftover food that the fish miss

4) hermit carbs <<< eat a lot ... so dun buy too many else after sometime

will starve ... also, they'll roam the LR and push down small rocks that's

not properly anchored

5) crabs <<<< various type like sally lightfoot is very good cleaner, but

buy at ur own risk as big spieces might jump on small fish

6) starfish << i prefer brittle stars

7) blenny ... cleanup the alage

do not over buy a certain type ... balance is the key word

buy enough crews to clean up the tanks, do not overstock as they

will starve to death.

also, like all LS, there r the so call "good" and "bad" species ...

like brittle star, the green brittle star WILL capture small fish.

make sure that they are compatible with other LS that u r keeping

cheers

[gunzo]

well .. found one side of the equation to the problem!!!!

I use tap water to change water .. and the NO3 never drop below 25ppm ..

NOW I KNOW WHY !!!!! Geez ... the tap water comes with >12.5PPM NO3 !!!

Where to get RO ???

[loster]

ya... our tap water uaually around 10-12ppm of n03 for the desired reef aquarium, if you can keep your n03 within <5ppm but not more than 20ppm will be good enough.

u can get the DI unit either at sealife (DIY) or Marinelife. that's all i know