Nitrate Help!!

The tigger hasn't eaten any coral everyone tells me he will he's been in the tank for also a year and has touch any live coral. But I might be taking him out soon due to all the other factors.

 

He's some type of blue trigger? Don't know what he's call, really cool those lol

 

A few things to point out.

The "stick testers" are trash and worthless. Regardless of what your LFS says, if he is using these, he is effectively guessing.

So step 1. get your water tested somewhere else that uses a liquid test kit. Your nitrates may not be as high as you think.

Step 2. Get your own test kit. You'll need it anyway. API makes a nice one.


Also, IMO, you are near if not over stocked. That's a lot of fish in that tank.

Your filters aren't doing you any good and may very well be adding nitrates.

You need a skimmer. Period.

You are over feeding. I feed my fish 2-3x a week max. None of your fish need daily or even every other day feedings. This is a primary source of your nitrates.

Are you using tap water? Another source of nitrates. RO or better yet RO/DI is preferred.


Water changes are a band-aid, they will not correct the problem.


Have you disturbed the sand bed? Did you move the tank? Did you use fresh sand? Disturbing old sand beds can release copious amounts of nitrates.

 

while we are at it, we also need your ammonia and nitrite test results. "fine" doesn't cut it. Need exact numbers.

 

I use distilled water to raise water levels, I will invest in liquid test kit, and the tank was moved about 2 weeks ago

 

overstocked tank + lack of protein skimmer + overfeeding + two mechanical filtration systems and no test kit = not pleasant for you

 

What kind of skimmer should I get?

 

AFAIK distilled water is more expensive to produce than RO/DI water but it does carry less bacteria and oxygen. I suppose that'd still be perfect though I have never personally used distilled water.

Thats not a source of your nitrate problem. Gotta be the canisters and lack of organic removal.

 

You dont have a sump right? If no sump then you're stuck to using HOB style systems. There was recently a great writeup on OCTO's new skimmer in use on a 55gal system. http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein-skimmers/reef-octo-lx1000s-hob-arrival-its-big-81547.html

Quick 3reef search on HOB filter will yield alot of results of reviews, pros, cons, and of course testimonials.

 

Wazz, I agree that you are seriously overfeeding and I think you have too many fish for 55 gal reef tank. The trigger/clown thing will probably become a problem eventually as well - when the trigger starts eating them! A good sump w/overflow if you can swing it would probably go a long way (you can build one if you feel adventurous). The problem with canisters is they hold a lot of waste with very little bio and thus need to be cleaned very often. They are better suited to fresh water tanks.