how do I get rid of nitrate and keep it down.

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

I had a sump but because of the water crashing down noise and my return line cuming loose from the pump so many time I threw it away and bought a canister becuase the guys at pet land told me it would be great for my tank .. The noise was way to loud couldn't watch tv with out puting my tv on max valume still have the over flow kit and pump threw out the sump... Should just asked to help solve my noise problem


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[ryangrieder]

there should be no noise....something was wrong. all my tanks have external overflows and they are all silent. if you decide to go that route again let me know and ill make sure its silent.

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

The water flowing into sump made noise crazy noise.. Guess I'm switching to a sump.. Sure it be great if u could do that for me thanks. But what could I do for my canister then?


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[Killerdrgn]

Yeah the other problem in your thread is that you took advice from petland.

 

[motortrendz]

ok, well when was the last time you changed yhou canister media? how often do yu change your canister media?... canisters have a tendancy to cause high nitrates.. but i agree with jimmy..100 seems a lil too high.. but if it is correct, ouch.. spend a few bucks, buy yourseld a new test kit(just to be sure) buy a HOB skimmer.. u can still use your canister but you should use it like a reactor.. remove all the bio media, use carbon and gfo(granular ferric oxide,also known as phosban), and you can use a seachem Purigen filtration pad in the canister for help with the absorbtion of amonia, nitrites and nitrates by removing organic waste(and its reuseable, 1 pad is good for upto 100g)..

i dont know if you do or not but do not disturb the sand bed when doing water changes it should be left alone..

also if you plan on getting corals, you need a good lighting system, not sure if you said what you have, and also RO/DI is not a sugjestion its a nesesity for coral health and growth(never use any copper treatments)

so with that said.. try that before you go crazy building/buying a sump.

so 1. get a skimmer
2. get the bio media out of the canister
3. use good carbon, gfo and purigen in your canister
4. use hydor korralias for water flow should be atleast 10times your total gallonage
5. NEVER LISTEN TO PETLAND!!!!
good luck

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

Well as for the filter media I rinse the cotton out every two weeks and rinse the carbon cuz I was told I don't have to change the media for 6 months just rinse it out.. My lights are upgrades to t5 today they come in!! 256 ho wats. Tomorow I'll perform another water change and take out the cotton.. As for a skimmer have to wait a bit to get a good one


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[Killerdrgn]

Don't you mean 216 Watts? its a 4 bulb 48" fixture right? If it's a T-5 thats 4x 54W.
And i'm guessing it's Petland that told you that you can rinse out the carbon. What do you rinse it out in btw? I hope you don't say tap.

 

[tjake68]

go on melviles reef.com and there is article on how to do waterchanges to lower your nitrates by doing waterchanges a diffrent way then just taking out water and putting it back

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

Yea they Petland told me that lol and they sed soak the bio floss in bleach for 24 hr and then soak in water till the bleach is out.. Guess that's a lie to? But the I did read that bleach if used bleach u can renew the bio floss on sum page don't remember.. Yea and i used tap lol.. O and my mistake it's 216watts.. Ok I'll read the page now for the water changes


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[Killerdrgn]

Yeah instead of bleach, or tap water you should just be rinsing it out in old tank water, so you don't kill the bacteria already living in the filter floss. And I would assume soaking it in bleach for that long at a time will deteriorate it faster, not slower.

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

Ok here's my new problem want to do that large water change that u refers me to but can not afford 55 gal of ro water rite now.. Would it be safe to use tap? Be4 doing the water change take my fish put them in a buket And then just fill my canister with carbon? For like an hour let it run and then put my fish back into the tank?


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[seldin]

Not sure if you did this. Did you ever test the RO water that you were getting before adding anything to it. I would test this, to make sure Nitrates were 0. Remember garbage in / garbage out.

As far as not affording RO water. Truly, you should if you can, bite the bullet and buy an RO/DI unit. You can also buy them from MR on the for sale forum and also from Reef Central.