kitch40

Did you ever set up an algae scrubber?

Phil

no i dont have enough room under the tank because I set up the auto top up in there.
Our aquarium is the feature in our living room and it takes up a lot of space. Did you get up and running again Phil? do you have shots of your setup? Thanks Marc

do you have an RO-DI system or do you use tap water in your water changes? you need to test your water before you add salt and after you add salt so you can know for sure that you are not adding nitrates into the water with changes. How often and what volume of water changes do you typically do? People will also run bio-pellets to try and reduce nitrates as well as phosphates but it is just a band-aid treatment and will never replace the importance of regular water changes. Try and determine the underlying reason for why you have high nitrates in the first place (overfeeding, lack of water changes, nitrates in source water or salt, tank is overstocked) once you figure out why then you can fix the problem.

Every water change will bring it down. A 50% water change will take it down by 50% each time.

Biopellets, vodka, vinegar, sugar, Seachem Matrixx - all products to reduce nitrate.

I don't have a tank at the moment, and I'm currently debating wheather or not to have one right now. But I'm convinced to have a successful reef you need some method of continuous nitrate and phosphate export. The algae scrubber worked well for me, the guy I gave that setup to reports that it's still working well for him. But as Marc said, there are lots of other techniques that work too.

Phil

Thanks to all. My tank is a 125 with25-30 gallon fuge.
rodi water change 20 gallons every two weeks
I might hav been over feeding so I am going to try to
cut back a little . There are about12 fish total
Two 4" tangs and 10 1 1/2" varied.
I have been feeding two times per day
what they eat in about2-3 minutes
Its about 5 frozen cubes and they seem to eat it all up
should I feed them half that twice per day
or that much once??? Thanks again. Marc!

So 10 cubes per day? Yes, that would be polluting your water. Big water changes weekly would help, and back to back ones every other day for a week or so would get them down to very low levels. The balance is to feed enough to keep your animals happy and not overload the system (food or their waste).

Thanks melev everything I have read says to feed what the fish will eat in 2-5 minutes and they gobble this up easily in 2. Should I go twice a day or only once? They are always happy!!!

Just feed less twice a day

Originally Posted by melev

Every water change will bring it down. A 50% water change will take it down by 50% each time.

Biopellets, vodka, vinegar, sugar, Seachem Matrixx - all products to reduce nitrate.

Sugar? What is the process for dosing sugar?

There are various carbon dosing methods to reduce nitrate in the water. The vodka dosing article touches on sugar or vinegar dosing as other types used, and even how some people combine all three into a single mixed dose. Be sure to read up on this topic before trying anything new like carbon dosing.