Help while in lock-down

[thabo]

So, we are on quite severe lock-down and I can't get any supplies.
My new 10gal tank looks great with 2 (I assume) Darwin clownfish in it but my nitrates are climbing.

I have a bubble magnus qq skimmer running
my ammonia is less than 0.15, nitrite is close to zero but nitrate is climbing steadily.

With the lock-down in effect I am running out of salt to enable me to do water changes and I can't get more supplies

What can I do to keep my nitrates down?

Should I start vodka dosing as an emergency solution?

 

[SPR1968]

It might be worth significantly reducing the amount you feed to start out with and see if that helps.

You could go down the vodka route but if your unsure what your doing you could create more issues.

 

[Magellan]

It might be worth significantly reducing the amount you feed to start out with and see if that helps.

You could go down the vodka route but if your unsure what your doing you could create more issues.

+1, fish can go days at a time with no problems.

 

[thabo]

Thanks.
We've been hand feeding and keeping it to the amount that is being consumed only.

Maybe will try not feeding for a bit.

How long can I go for without feeding?

 

[Magellan]

Thanks.
We've been hand feeding and keeping it to the amount that is being consumed only.

Maybe will try not feeding for a bit.

How long can I go for without feeding?

Good first step! How often are you currently feeding?

 

[thabo]

As far as I know - only a couple pellets twice a day, but I think I'm gong to have to lock the food away from the kid as well to make sure he's not popping in more

 

[lilgrounchuck]

What are the nitrates currently at? Do you have anything else in there or is it just the fish? If it’s just FOWLR you don’t have to worry about maintaining super low nutrients, the fish won’t care unless they get crazy high. However, you could wind up algae problems. If you’re stuck for much longer that might not be a bad thing (except aesthetically) because it’ll present you a nutrient export option without water changes: algae consumes nitrate, phosphate, and ammonia to grow and you pull the algae, this removing everything it absorbed with it. Same concept as running a fuge or algae reactor/scrubber.

 

[Magellan]

Oh 100% you can cut down to 1 feeding per day, less than that should be fine as well. I will regularly go out of town for 2-3 days and have no issues.

as stated above, letting algae grow is essentially allowing your display to become a refugium. Not pretty but it will work!

 

[thabo]

What are the nitrates currently at? Do you have anything else in there or is it just the fish? If it’s just FOWLR you don’t have to worry about maintaining super low nutrients, the fish won’t care unless they get crazy high. However, you could wind up algae problems. If you’re stuck for much longer that might not be a bad thing (except aesthetically) because it’ll present you a nutrient export option without water changes: algae consumes nitrate, phosphate, and ammonia to grow and you pull the algae, this removing everything it absorbed with it. Same concept as running a fuge or algae reactor/scrubber.

Nitrates are over 50 so starting to worry me.
It's FOWLR system currently.
I don't see any algae now - have the lights off, but I like the idea .

I used to have aquaponics system in the back yard with hybrid striped bass - as long as the nitrates were low I had lovely cucumbers but no tomatoes.
Once the nitrates climbed I got plump tomatoes and my cucumbers withered

 

[Ewok1]

So, we are on quite severe lock-down and I can't get any supplies.
My new 10gal tank looks great with 2 (I assume) Darwin clownfish in it but my nitrates are climbing.

I have a bubble magnus qq skimmer running
my ammonia is less than 0.15, nitrite is close to zero but nitrate is climbing steadily.

With the lock-down in effect I am running out of salt to enable me to do water changes and I can't get more supplies

What can I do to keep my nitrates down?

Should I start vodka dosing as an emergency solution?

Order some salt online and stop feeding so much. Try frozen food because they don’t melt away and the cleanup crew can eat them at the bottom

 

[homer1475]

FOWLR....

50 nitrates aren't an issue.

 

[Billdogg]

I would be way more concerned about the ammonia than 50ppm nitrate. If you have some Prime or similar I would suggest using that to bind the ammonia.

Just how new is new? That there is ammonia present indicates that the tank isn't cycled yet. Could you give us a little better description of your system? Things like amount of live rock, filtration, etc will help a lot.

And, FWIW - your 10g tank is already overstocked with the 2 clowns.

 

[The cats wrasse]

So, we are on quite severe lock-down and I can't get any supplies.
My new 10gal tank looks great with 2 (I assume) Darwin clownfish in it but my nitrates are climbing.

I have a bubble magnus qq skimmer running
my ammonia is less than 0.15, nitrite is close to zero but nitrate is climbing steadily.

With the lock-down in effect I am running out of salt to enable me to do water changes and I can't get more supplies

What can I do to keep my nitrates down?

Should I start vodka dosing as an emergency solution?

"running out of salt" how much salt do you have? just do 1 water change and boom you done its a 10 gallon ...whats your bioload? you should be good for a month without a water change even 2 months if need be its a 10 gallon dont stress it

 

[thabo]

This is my tank.

Build Thread - In head first

new to the hobby - haven't even had goldfish in the house, but I have had a successful aquaponics setup in the backyard for a couple years with some rather delicious hybrid striped bass (that tastes like tomatoes, and tomatoes that tastes like bass) so not a complete newby to the science. I...

www.reef2reef.com

Clowns are still tiny.