Yes, a DSB should not be disturbed, so maybe with the grouper, a remote DSB is warranted.
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic20039-13-1.aspx?
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic24535-13-1.aspx
High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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spoot
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
So basically you are running the tank now without a skimmer?beachbum wrote:1) Some issues arose and he left (along with a lion fish and a protein skimmer)
What I would do for sure.
First thing would be to do water changes. As per above instructions.
Then get a skimmer and plug it in.
Remove crushed coral and replace with sand. (or keep the tank bare bottom)
Additional measure:
Remote DSB (will take time to establish).
Refugium with macro-algae. (uptake of excess nutrients is very quick and no establishing time)
If nitrates are still un-manageable, install a sulfur denitrator.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
Sulfur denitrator? OK, you got me there.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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spoot
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C. travancoricus - Location: Vancouver
Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
It's also called a denitrifier, not sure why because it gets rid of nitrates.
" The DeNITRIFIER is a specially designed filter that works by creating anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions inside the unit. By creating this environment, natural bacteria within the unit will break down the nitrate as water is passed through the filter. As water is trickled through the filter, nitrate is removed from the water and the water is returned to your aquarium. This a completely safe and natural method of nitrate removal. "
Quoted from: http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/denitrifier.htm
They use large scale ones in some public aquariums.
" The DeNITRIFIER is a specially designed filter that works by creating anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions inside the unit. By creating this environment, natural bacteria within the unit will break down the nitrate as water is passed through the filter. As water is trickled through the filter, nitrate is removed from the water and the water is returned to your aquarium. This a completely safe and natural method of nitrate removal. "
Quoted from: http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/denitrifier.htm
They use large scale ones in some public aquariums.
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beachbum
- Dwarf Puffer
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
All very good ideas... Thanks a bunch!
The remote DSB seems pretty ground breaking after reading about it. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but that seems to have a huge impact (once ready). My only issue is applying this. Would be lovely to have sitting in the sump itself where the Protein skimmer used to be.... Again, not sure how to apply it.
Edit: And yes, the Protein Skimmer was taken out of the tank about a month(?) ago..
The remote DSB seems pretty ground breaking after reading about it. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but that seems to have a huge impact (once ready). My only issue is applying this. Would be lovely to have sitting in the sump itself where the Protein skimmer used to be.... Again, not sure how to apply it.
Edit: And yes, the Protein Skimmer was taken out of the tank about a month(?) ago..
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Puffalicious
- Dwarf Puffer
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
you can also make your own De-Nitrator... see here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... did=470701
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beachbum
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
spoot wrote:So basically you are running the tank now without a skimmer?beachbum wrote:1) Some issues arose and he left (along with a lion fish and a protein skimmer)
What I would do for sure.
First thing would be to do water changes. As per above instructions.
Then get a skimmer and plug it in.
Remove crushed coral and replace with sand. (or keep the tank bare bottom)
Additional measure:
Remote DSB (will take time to establish).
Refugium with macro-algae. (uptake of excess nutrients is very quick and no establishing time)
If nitrates are still un-manageable, install a sulfur denitrator.
Besides water changes, this (remove CC and add sand) will be the first thing I do to help the situation. (Planning of DIY Skimmer as well) However, is it any problem at all to do this (and adding sand) while keeping the fish in there? I will most likely move the Grouper to another tank and start the process of a DSB.
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Pufferpunk
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C valentini
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suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
Other than there being a lot of action & foggyness from the sand, it shouldn't hurt the fish to stay in there or to move them during the substrate change.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
Nick
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Re: High Level of Nitrates, Not going away, very confused
A note about the two part liquid nitrate test kits:
The second bottle has instructions to shake well for a while before using it, and this is a very important step to carry out each and every time you test. Just a little shake isn't enough, you need to actually keep it going for at least half a minute. The reason is because one of the compounds that reacts with the nitrates to show the color is insoluble. If you shake not at all, or shake poorly, the test kit will read very low nitrates early in the life of the bottle, read more or less accurately for a bit in the middle, then quickly start reading way way higher than the actual level. However, if you test the kit as has been done by using it on water with no nitrates or very very very close to none, it will still read zero, and seem to be good.
The second bottle has instructions to shake well for a while before using it, and this is a very important step to carry out each and every time you test. Just a little shake isn't enough, you need to actually keep it going for at least half a minute. The reason is because one of the compounds that reacts with the nitrates to show the color is insoluble. If you shake not at all, or shake poorly, the test kit will read very low nitrates early in the life of the bottle, read more or less accurately for a bit in the middle, then quickly start reading way way higher than the actual level. However, if you test the kit as has been done by using it on water with no nitrates or very very very close to none, it will still read zero, and seem to be good.
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