nitrate problems

[mattheyn]

Hey guys, I hope ya'll can help me out. My nitrates in my 10 gallon nano are higher than I would like them to be. Do you have any recommendations on lowering it besides water changes? I think that if I can get a bit of sand from an already established tank, this will help me out. Can anyone help? :?

[Tim Marvin]

If your in Austin I can help you out I have plenty of sand and can give you a couple cups. You can help the problem by water changes, plants, or a deep sand bed. So I guess that leaves you with two choices since the first won't work for you. Hope this helps.

[mattheyn]

I may be making a trip to austin tomorrow. is the number that you have listed a good one to reach you at? While I'm up there, do you know of anyone that would be willing to sell me some polyps;star, button, yellow, etc? :lol:

[Nano_Steve]

that would definitely be tim you would want to talk to about polyps. (not to commercialize or anything but...) every polyp ive purchased from him look incredible and hes got the widest variety in town.

ps. i think i need to pick up some more orange ones from you tim when i see you next. the ones i got before i didnt attach too well and they have floated to the back of the tank. i know ill see 'em again someday but i think it'd be nice to see the orange in the front of my tank.

[mattheyn]

thanks for the advice. i may just have to make a trip to austin tomorrow. Tim, let me know if its ok if i swing by. I pm'd you with some more details but i don't know if it went through. send me a pm

[Tim Marvin]

You can call me on my cell (512)656-2928. I am at work right now, but I can drop by my house when you call for a little while. Just let me know when you are in town and I'll head home.

[matt]

FWIW, Ron Shimek has said on many occasions that the sand bed in a nano lacks the size to support a solid nitrate-reducing bacteria population; there's just not enough room to creat anaerobic conditions. In my nano, soon to be for sale, I use a separate sump/refugium to grow caulerpa. It's a 5 1/2 gallon refugium for a 10 gal tank. Over the year and a half of this system's life, I've never had detectable nitrate using the hagen or sea test kits.

I'd keep changing water, set up a caulerpa growth refugium, and keep the fish load teeny-tiny, like 1 small fish only.

I'm going to try to post a few pics of my nano. It's a pretty cool set up; supports acro/monti growth really well, and my BTA has split once and is about to again.

Matt

[Tim Marvin]

Ron Shimek says a lot of stuff. Not all of it is factual. We tend to believe every word if Doctor is behind a name, but caution should be taken with all advice, and some research and extra opinions should always be taken before applying to your own application. There are too many variables, and most of us are not performing scientific studies under controlled environments ie: labs. I do agree that the sand bed would be too small though, and caulerpa is probably the best choice in this situation, with some water changes. I think a ten gallon is too small for a DSB also, but these are my opinions and not based on facts.

[MikeP]

From experience I would not do a DSB in a small tank. I did get denitrification but it also accumulated a lot of crap that didn't break down fast enough and looked icky. I'd look into growing some macro algae in your display and pruining it off periodically. Caulerpa is probably the easiest to work with if you are doing it in the display but it can get out of hand. Also you could get a small hang on back refugium, CPRAquatics makes a nice one and there is a knock off on Ebay that is sold regularly - this owuld allow you to keep the algae out of the main tank and additionally give you some natural filtration and food.


If you want some live sand or some algae let me know next time your in Austin I'll hook you up.

-Mike