Nitrate levels

[bhotep]

Hello,
I would like to receive some ideas on the levels of nitrate in a saltwater aquariums. My level had been at 0 when I first added livestock 5 months ago, now I have been unable to bring the levels below 5-7 pmm but I have read that this might be acceptable. What are the levels in your tanks and if they are close to or at 0 how do you accomplish that? I don't beleive I am over stocked (12 smallish fish) and have about 140lbs of live rock in a 120g tank. Thanks 

[beertech]

I would first get someone else to test with their kit just to verify the accuracy of yours.
I don't think those levels are too much to worry about.Have you had any livestock losses recently that could result in slightly higher nitrates?Or maybe you have been more generous with feeding.Or maybe your skimmer is due for a cleaning, or if you use a filter for floss or carbon, try cleaning that too.If your really worried about it, try reducing the feeding schedule to just a tiny amount once a day, and doing small water changes once a week until things are good.You would be surprised how well your fish will adapt and start to pick at rocks and algae to make up for the smaller feedings.
Or have you done some major aquascaping that could have released built up waste into the water and disturbed the substrate?

[Tynan Rasmus]

5-7 is nothing, just try to keep it under 20 if you are looking for a target. The lower the better ... obviously.

[bhotep]

I feed the fish about 3-4 times a day as I have a few grammas that have ich and want to keep them eating and full (I can't catch them to put them in QT). I suppose that may be part of the higher readings I have been getting. 

[Tynan Rasmus]

Yeah overfeeding will definately drive it up....but your nitrates at 5 - 7 are not high IMO. When I had my 30 gallon my nitrates were always between 10 and 20.

[beertech]

I agree, don't worry about the current levels, but I think feeding 3-4 times a day is too much, and can lead to future problems.

[Achilles]

First off the nitrate level is fine, don't worry about it. And as for feeding 3-4 times a day there is nothing wrong with this. This is accually better for the fish that one big feeding as long as 3-4 feedings are small. Fish have a horrible disgestive system so the fish poo is a lot of uneaten food, also please keep in mind two things, one a fish in the wild eat all day long and two that the fish the size of a damsel or percula eat the about equivilent to 1 frozen cube a day in the wild. Also if you look on the back of any food products or web sites for fish, it states that its better to feed serval small meals throughout the day.

[bhotep]

Glad that the opinion is the level is ok (if acurate). I have taken out the filter floss a few days ago which I have used at the beginning of the system before the water goes in the sump before the bioballs. Not sure floss is good or not, I had found it helpfull in filtering out some debris. I had heard that it may be a nitate trap and that it would filter out some usefull pods.  I have taken out most of the bioballs but kept a few in to difuse the noise of the water spashing. Just attached a pic of the sump

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[porcupinepuffer]

I have that same sump. I modified the hell out of it. got rid of all the bioballs, and put in a refugium, and installed a skimmer where the bioballs used to be... I drilled several large holes directly into the chamber where the water collects.... basically eliminating the waterfall effect... The water splashing is noisy and will make quite a mess of salt spray over time.