Is 30 PPM, to high for Nitrates

Mizterfreeze,
To help remove the nitrates, remove the algae that is feeding on the nitrates. I did that last winter during a bloom of slime algae and it helped a lot. Having said that, I still can't seem to get my nitrates below 20ppm after one year. My RO bottled water has an inherent nitrate level of ~5ppm.

 

I started off the same way with tap water and had multiple problems. A quality ro/di unit will make your tank so much more healthy, especially the inverts (anemone). My municipalities water changes according to the season. In the summer it has can smell dirty and have a heavy chlorine taste. Its better in the winter, but is very hard. All of these changes played havic on my tank and my nerves. I got an RO/DI unit and my water is pristine. Less algea, slolwer nitrate build up, etc, etc. My best investment so far.

 

mizterfreeze
What all do you have in the tank now and what are you feeding the tank in the way of food. Are you using a sump system or all HOB filtration ? If more people used a strong air pump and a few stones in the sump then they would be amazed how fast ammonias an nitrites and nitrates not to mention Phosphates are forced out of solution with O'2 replacing them..

 

I am having the same poblem as far as the brown algae goes. I have had my 12 gallon nano cube tank for about 3 months now and the nitrate cycling thing seems to never end. I am hoping to advance to a larger tank eventually so it will be easier to maintain. My pair of clowns are now hosting my bubble tip anenome which is awesome. They have become very protective of it. Actually the larger clown which Im assuming is my female is like the owner of it while the other clown I have will hoover next to it. Anyway what I plan to do is get a clean up crew, some more live rock and stop using my tap water because cutting down on feedings and lighting alone is not doin it.

 

I've had good experiences with the Tropic Marin calcium test kit. Can not comment on the others as I have not tried them.

Clinton

 

Sounds like diatom growth. Fine brown covering on substrate and live rock?

Growth is fuelled by silicates which come from using tap-water. So rather invest in a good quality RO unit. Short term fix is to run a product like ROWAphos or Phosban which will also remove silicates.

Lucky for us in South Africa we have the Waterboy (http://www.thewaterboy.co.za/).

Admin Staff - If this post/link is against forum rules please let me know.

Did not think it a problem being based in South Africa and therefore not affecting your sponsors negatively.

Clinton

 

r.o unit wats that?

 

RO = Reverse Osmosis

 

It's a water filter. RO is reverse osmosis, a way of purifying water by passing it through a filter membrane under pressure. RO/DI is reverse osmosis/de-ionization. Same thing, except the water goes through an additional filter to remove additional disolved solids.
You measure how pure the water is by looking at Total Disolved Solids = TDS.
My tapwater has a TDS of 152 parts per million (ppm). My new RO/DI filter reduces that to between 0 and 1 ppm.