removing an emporer 400-high nitrates

[Anonymous]

tank- 55 gal.
livestock- 3 fduster
3 damsels
1 leather
asst. mushrooms
15 hermit crabs
equipment- emporer 400
24" hob skimmer w/rio 2500
3 vho's- 2 50-50's and 1 actinic
set up- 3" small grain aragonite w/plenum
50 lbs. live rock
tanks is 4 months old.

had a fo tank and have converted it to a reef wanna-be. left the emporer on even when i added the LR to help with the nitrogen cycle.

now my nitrates are high +25ppm. i want to remove the biowheels in the emp. but leave the carbon.

i haven't added any live sand. kept about 2" of the old aragonite from the fo tank and then added 1' or so of the finer aragonite. i also do not have any sand stirrers. my lfs says the sand is live because the fo tank was 3 yrs old.

so do i need to add the LS and stirrers before removing the emporer?

i'm in no hurry here. i want to do this right.

appreciate all advice and info.


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[Anonymous]

forgot to add i have 2 mj powerheads. duh.

 

[Anonymous]

I dont really believe the emporor or its bio wheels are the cause of your high nitrates.. only because I have a similr setup and have not experienced these water conditions so far... my tank is about 5 months old wich is really very young for any reef tank but...in this 55 gal of mine I have 2 magnum 350 cannisterr filters one with carbon, the other with biological media to use as a fluidized bed filter I also have 4 lg bio wheels that are also 5 months old.. in this tank are 2 lg colnies of mushroom coral soft finger coral open brain regular brai 3 featherdusters, 2 cucumbers 4 damsels, a x lg green star polyps colony, a med meat coral, red chile finger coral various button polyps, 6-7 anenomes, one of wich is host to 2 perc. clownsa goby, and a zillion worms and such that rode in on about 80lbs of LR.. heres the neat part....ammonia...0 , nitrite.....0, nitrate.... barely detectable, alk 3.5(not DKH), cal approx 300-325, ph 8.4 temp 76, also have a very nice green hammer coral and a frogspawn coral that is splitting... all are healthy and have co0existed with 4 bio wheels from day one.... look for another reason for high nitrates BEFORE removing any filter media... after its biological value is lost it takes some time to recover it, also if these wheels are part of your current filtration you might load the system and create an ammonia spike of something just short of that... anyone else jump in and help me or correct me if I have misspoke.. there is so much to know and learn about this hobby any new knowlede is valuable.... hth

 

[Anonymous]

Unless nitates are being introduced from very poor quality tap water, the only source of nitrates at this level is from nitrafication from bio-filtration. I would not bet my life on this but the odds are very high as to the bio-wheel being the culprit. I ran bio-balls for years on my system and out of fear, refused to "progress" to modern thinking about LR filtration. I took the plunge and nitrates have not climbed any higher after I removed bio-balls. I would not do this unless I had some high quality LR established in the tank. Shroommeister, ever tank is different. You have good luck(or skill) at niteates levels this low. You also may have a anaerobic de-nitrafiction going on somewhere that may explain low NO3

[This message has been edited by Bodine (edited 12 January 2000).]

 

[Anonymous]

Vanessa:

Sand beds sometimes are effective at eliminating nitrates, and sometimes not. They also often take a long time to work (many months). Much of the variability likely depends upon the nature of the organisms in it, and the load of nitrate that it is expected to eliminate.

You need not do anything before removing the emperor. The rock and sand will handle the load just fine.

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Randy Holmes-Farley