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04-25-2008, 05:11 AM
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#1 (permalink)
| | Peppermint Shrimp
Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Weston, Florida Age: 28
Posts: 437
|  Nitrate & Alkalinity ?'s
About every 3 weeks I do a 30 gal water change(50%), but my water never changes. Everything's good even at the end of the 3 weeks except nitrates stay around 20. Why aren't they going down after water changes? It's not the water i'm getting cause I test it before i put it in and it's < 5, and it's not the test i'm using cause i have 2 different nitrate tests and they read the same. Is 20 terrible? if so how can i lower it?
My Alkalinity is 13. It's supposed to be between 8 & 12. Is that bad? how do i correct it? _________ 75gal hex, 2-40w T12 48", odyssea 48" 4x65w PC's w/ lunars, 50lbs LR, 80lbs LS, gold banded maroon clown, dog faced puffer, juvenile blue angel, 2 dominoes, 1-4 stripe damsel, yellow watchman gobie, lawnmower blenny, mano, purple chromis, mexican turbo, astrea and red foot snails, striped, red and blue legged hermit crabs, coral banded shrimp, white and purple bubble coral(very little), red and green mushrooms, orange gorgonian  Tanks, No Thanks. We Free Dive! | 
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04-25-2008, 05:16 AM
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#2 (permalink)
| | Corkscrew Tentacle Anemone
Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Manchester UK Age: 24
Posts: 747
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20 is not awful as a general rule, for nitrates to have an adverse effect on fish, they would have to be astronomically high! But i notice you have an anemone so hopefully someone else who knows more about anemones will chime in on that one.
Also im pretty sure you should do frequent small water changes as opposed to seldomn big ones. _________ You will never know whats in my tank as i can only type 15 words  | |
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04-25-2008, 05:24 AM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Ritteri Anemone
Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Garden Creek,VA
Posts: 634
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20ppm is sort of normal and it could be do to your salt mix, unless you are using real sea
water witch is full of it. also the size of your tank play a big role in it, the smaller the more frequent you need to change some of your water. But you need to be a little more specific!
how many fish, rock, filtration etc...etc!
_________
55g. 2" fiji pink LS, 45# fiji premium lr, OR 3500 900gph, 10g. wetdry, 82gph nano skimmer, #2 koralia, T-5ho 216w, pagoda, hammer, zoa.s, dartfish, neon, royal gramma, kenya & few shrooms >))))*>
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04-25-2008, 06:16 AM
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#4 (permalink)
| | Peppermint Shrimp
Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Weston, Florida Age: 28
Posts: 437
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Quote:
Originally Posted by R34dawn  20ppm is sort of normal and it could be do to your salt mix, unless you are using real sea
water witch is full of it. also the size of your tank play a big role in it, the smaller the more frequent you need to change some of your water. But you need to be a little more specific!
how many fish, rock, filtration etc...etc! | It's all in my signature. and i do use real sea water ( most fish stores down here have it) but i test it first and it's perfect. | |
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04-25-2008, 10:59 AM
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#5 (permalink)
| | 3reef Sponsor
Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Va/Ct
Posts: 3,510
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if its a reef tank then NO3's above 10 is not good and if its a reef for SPS and or LPS corals then NO3 that are even detectable then its to much.
Test the source water not many places around Fl. that I'd use the water from.. I know fl pretty well just not sure where Weston is ?
The Dkh could be like it is at the expense of the Calcium and Magnesium where are those levels running at ?
I'd myself would try to get the NO3 lower then 20. But like already mentioned 20 is not life or death But its about 20 higher then I'd like to have in my tanks.
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Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. | |
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04-25-2008, 05:02 PM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Peppermint Shrimp
Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Weston, Florida Age: 28
Posts: 437
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tangster if its a reef tank then NO3's above 10 is not good and if its a reef for SPS and or LPS corals then NO3 that are even detectable then its to much.
Test the source water not many places around Fl. that I'd use the water from.. I know fl pretty well just not sure where Weston is ?
The Dkh could be like it is at the expense of the Calcium and Magnesium where are those levels running at ?
I'd myself would try to get the NO3 lower then 20. But like already mentioned 20 is not life or death But its about 20 higher then I'd like to have in my tanks. | Weston is just west of Ft. Lauderdale. And the source water is good it's <5. Calcium stays around 420 and i don't know what the magnesiium is cause i only tested it once w/ a friend's test. | |
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04-25-2008, 06:56 PM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Giant Squid
Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Miami Age: 39
Posts: 3,669
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Quote:
Originally Posted by R34dawn unless you are using real sea
water witch is full of it. | I disagree, I also have tested the water and it has 0 No3. I also have 20ppm No3 for the longest and I dont see anything wrong with my corals. What could be causing it? A number of things; over feeding, too many fish, not enough LR, not cleaning out sponges and filter pads and/or not having an efficient biological filter system. Luna _________ 9YR OLD 90G 30G w/d Mag18 150G skimmer 692w MH,yel&kole tang,foxface,midas&convict blenny,B&G chromies,Blk/yel fin chromie blackcap,nemo,neon goby,6line; Blastomussa Merleti,Acan ,BUBBLE,Torch,LTA, Goniopora(2), Acropora(2),Brain, Moon, assort zoas, yel& G star polyps, R&G open brain, P&B ricordia, montiporas, cup&candy corals, enias,B/G mush,flower ane(2), cherry red mussa, dusters,cleaning crew  | 
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04-28-2008, 01:06 PM
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#8 (permalink)
| | Flamingo Tongue
Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Staten Island, NY Age: 29
Posts: 101
Karma: 21
 
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When you guys say real sea water, do you mean that you go down to the beach and scoop up water?
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72g Early-Stages Reef...
20g planted freshwater Guppy Tank | |
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04-28-2008, 06:00 PM
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#9 (permalink)
| | Giant Squid
Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Miami Age: 39
Posts: 3,669
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Airborneguy When you guys say real sea water, do you mean that you go down to the beach and scoop up water? | NO......NO Thats a no-no. My LFS gets it from a guy who goes out a couple miles out and a couple of feet down and sucks up a couple of gals. | |
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04-29-2008, 06:23 PM
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#10 (permalink)
| | Peppermint Shrimp
Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Weston, Florida Age: 28
Posts: 437
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No! My LFS says he gets it from from a 3rd party who supplies many LFS's around here and he supposedly goes about 20 miles out and 20' - 80' deep. Then, I was told, there's an additional cleaning process (don't know how or what) to eliminate any unwanted elements. Luna you're kinda near me. What LFS do you use? | |
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