Help With Nitrates.....

[Pkunk35]

Not sure on the TDS from LFS. My unit I ran for the 1st time yesterday (IN) started out at 3, then went down to 2 after running 2-3 hours. Guessing that good right? (OUT) was 0 the entire time.



That would be good. Thinking about adding a Reactor to help with Nitrates or Carbon. Cant decide.




What are some good brands besides Tropic Marin. Ive always used Instant Ocean. If thats not a good one let me know and ill go to some better quality salt. I want whats best for my tank.




I have a litt bit of hair algae growing in the tank and want it gone, also fighting cyano at the moment. Test reading was 50 on Nitrates but who knows what it is. Never tested after a water change. Will do that today when I take out 15 gallons on this water change im about to do in a few mins. I dont siphon the entire sand bed bc when i do half of my 5 gallon bucket is filled with sand. Dont wanna run out of sand. My sand bed is about 3-4 inches down. Corals are all fine. Opened up big and as pretty as can be. Fish are fine. Coral growth just dont seem to be happening for me. Thats the only thing I can tell about my corals.

i understand about the siphoning now...try to plug up the exit end of the siphon (the side that goes into bucket) with your thumb every once in a while to let sand settle back down and then resume siphoning when it is only floating debris in the siphon hose. You def should not have to dump 1/2 bucket of sand each time you siphon! Work on your technique and you'll be able to siphon lotsa dirty water without too much sand being taken out. I do think siphoning only a part of the sand bed each time you WC is a good idea too.

I'm thinking your tank may also benefit from something like chemipure or activated carbon for disolved organics in the water column, that's just a suggestion but why not run it as it can only help.

I have seen many times a suggestion to use Dr. Tim's One and Only for cyano issues as many seem to think cyano is caused by a bacterial imbalance...which might make sense with your nitrate issues as well (perhaps a lack of anaerobic bacteria to consume the nitrate). I wish i knew more about this to comment more.

Let us know those numbers from your tests when you get some time.

 

[GoTakeANap]

so i need to plug the hole with my hand until the sand falls down and all the dust/dirty water is in my siphon then take my thumb off the end tube and let the dirty water come out. just curious but plugging the hole and unplugging wont stop the siphon?