Nitrates

Also, all nice names! I like the mythical ones best ;D

Sadly, my CD is still on the workbench....had to start over....got the stuff...but am short on time right now. I still have zero nitrates with the DSB in the fuge...small as it is

 

Hey, nice light!!! $100 is a great price, I paid like $160 for mine (same light)! An inexpensive way to run a refugium is to convert a power filter into a fuge. Take out the media and add caulerpa (first check if your LFS has caulerpa). Run a small clip-on light to it, lighting should either be running on a reverse photoperiod from the tank, or 24/7. I just set mine up right now, hope it works well.

 

About the Nitrates:

Are you useing a Deep Sand Bed or aragonite gravel? I have the gravel in my 30 gallon and my trates were high until I started blowing the fish dung and other crap out from behind the rocks. I use a powerhead once a week to stir all the stuff up into the water column. This is so my canister filter has a chance to trap the stuff in its filter media. When I first started this practice there was huge clouds of stuff in the water but after a few weeks I got most of the junk out. I also blow off my liverock real good twice a week. Sometimes I wait two weeks to use the powerhead. I always do it just before I change the filter, sometimes I will do it 3 times in 1 day then change the filter that night. The detretus crap that gets in between and behind the rock also will trap phosphates and as long as you dont remove this stuff it will always be there no matter how many water changes you do. I also lightly vacume the gravel every other time I do a water change. As long as we have liverock in our tanks we are not worried about the beneficial bacteria in the gravel so vacuming wont hurt.

Pretty long winded and I am not even sure you have aragonite gravel bottom but someone else might enjoy my thoughts on this. All this has helped be keep the Nitrates and phosphates out of my 30 gallon and I also dont have a fuge.

Whew...hope I helped you.

Jay

 

Oh I just read your signature and see you have a dsb............sorry to wast your time .

Jay

 

It's alright...I appreciate all the help everyone!  My nitrates are at about 20-30ppm and my Shrimp is doing great...whoever said they dont do well in higher nitrates may have been mistaken, cause Condi is doing fine (she sheds her "skin" every few weeks and is noticably bigger and very active).

Jay, as I was reading your post, all I could think about was what a mess blowing all of my sand and rocks with a powerhead would make!  Sand would be everywhere and the tank would just get ridiculously cloudy...and the sand is sooooo fine that a vacuum off of the detritus would suck up the sand! My DSB seems to be doing fine and it really isnt too dirty...just has snail and hermit shells all over it because a lot have died!

How much would you suggest feeding?  Once a day?  I feed them a very small amount of food (they usually eat it all before too much hits the bottom).

I may think about doing the "refugium" made from a power filter...will check with my LFS about the caulerpa and try putting it in a power filter...should be fun!

As far as lighting for the power filter "fuge", will my old 20W flourescent work?

Thanks all,
Mike

 

Anybody have any responses to my plethora of questions?

Thanks,
Mike