Help

[cav~firez22]

Ok, First off,
Happy Holidays every one.

My setup is a 65 Gallon tank
roughly 120 Lbs of Live rock.
50 Lbs of live sand
70 Hermit crabs
10 ish snail
2 sand sifter starfish
1 brittle star
1 Caribean Lobster

Filtration is a Fluval 404.
1st canister (bottom) - Carbon bags
2nd canister, Seachem's DeNitrate in bags
3rd canister, Fluval Biomax
4th caniste, more biomax

Also, a HOB Red sea Prism Protein Skimmer

powerheads are,
1 aqua clear 30,
1 aqua clear 70

Live stock

1 5.5" Blond Naso
1 6" yellow tang
1 Coral Beauty
1 Scooter blenny
2 Perc's w/ annenomie ( 8 - 10" round)
3 small damsels.

if i forgot any important keys, let me know

The problem is, even after useing de-nitrate, my nitrates are still at 80ppm. These levels kinda scare me. Does anyone know a surefire way to eliminate these nitrates? Im to the point, that the solution is a logical one, cost will be no object. Im open to any DIY ideas. ANYTHING. all the fish in the tank LOOK healthy and happy. Both the tangs will feed from my hands. they dont look stressed, or sufficated. however, i dont want to wait until they are, i want the problem fixed.

Are there better filters? i was considering a Eheim Wet.dry, or the new fluval FX5.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated guys & gals.

Thanx Much

[TRIX]

When was the last time you rinsed everything in your canister. Do you have any sponge on anything power heads etc. Any chance of something rotting away in a dead spot under all that rock. Just a thought is it okay to run the carbon and the denitrate at the same time. I'm by no means an expert just throwing some ideas out there for you.

[TRIX]

OH ya, How long has your tank been running. And what are the rest of your water Parameters.

[Ruth]

Well I have to say that the first thing that struck me is your fish load - IMO you have too many fish in that size tank. Naso tangs get very big and need at least a 6' tank.
You may have some success with a series of large water changes (at least 50% say 2 times a week) until the nitrates come down. be sure to use a turkey baster to give your live rock a good blast before water changes. A skimmer upgrade may help as well.
As has been stated if you have any sponges in your canister filter be sure to rinse them often. With that many fish you should probably rinse every other day with RO water.

[cav~firez22]

I assume that if something is dead, the Lobster would be feasting on it. The other parameters of the tank are

PH. 8.3
nitrite 0
ammonia .25 / .5 (never seen it lower)

Sponges in filter are cleaned weekly, as well as the media bags for the denitrate and carbon.

There is also a UV steraliser (coralife 3x Twist)

I know, I know Nasos get big. Believe me, i cant wait for it to get bigger. however, I am also currently looking for a 180Gallon Reefready tank to upgrade to within the next few months.

This tank has been established for 9 months now. I will try another water change in a couple days.

I read that Nitrates are not toxic to fish... is that true? sounds like bs to me.

There is no sponge on the powerheads. only in the fluval.

Are there better filters? or should I stick it out for a few more months until i gett a reef ready setup?

Thanx for the input...

[Ruth]

I would check your ammonia test kit. You should not be getting any reading for ammonia.
I would ditch the foam in the Fluval filter and just run carbon.
Nitrates can be tolerated by fish a lot easier that they will be by corals but at 80ppm you are getting close to a danger zone. I know in my FOWLR (and some softies and anemones) my nitrates always seem to run around 20-25ppm. I have large fish in this tank and they are all big eaters. I also skim the heck out of this tank (190g with sump/fuge) This is the tank that houses my Blonde Naso (13-14"), Moorish Idol, Maroon clown, Conspic. Angel, Goldflake angel and lonely Helfrichi fire fish.
I am sure that there are probably some better canister type filters but if you are upgrading in the near future (which you are going to have to) I wouldn't go and spend $300 on a new canister filter that chances are you are not going to use in the future and can probably only sell second hand for a fraction of what it will cost you.

[cav~firez22]

Thanks for the advice.

Got a pic of your blonde Naso? I love those fish.
I Do also have some xenia ( very shrivvled right now)
and a hammer coral, (looks fine to me. Big & Bubbly)

Do you happen to know of the best or better DIY Protein skimmer? I have serached, but i cant determine what one would be better.

In the meantime, tongiht i will pull the foam blocks and just run carbon, De-nitrate and bioballs.

Would more powerheads Help? im gonna need them for the 180, so if they will help now i will put some more in.

heres a couple of my nassy
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y175/d3vil_Z22/DSC07090.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y175/d3vil_Z22/DSC07091.jpg

[cav~firez22]

Ps
I really appreciate the Help and info.

Thanx alot guys

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I echo the others and say, ditch the foam filter pads. Also, it's not that you don't have enough filtration, it's that you don't have enough export. You want to get as much organic material out of the water BEFORE it gets locked into the nitrogen cycle.

Waste->ammonia->nitrite->nitrate->nitrogen.

Remove waste via skimming, and you reduce the amount of material going into the rest of the cycle. Get the organics out of the water early--with good skimming and water changes--and your nitrates will stay lower.

[cav~firez22]

Back to my previous question then,

What would be the most efficient DIY Skimmer?

I want to build it myself.

[Diana]

you have plenty of LR for biological filtration, so only use the canister for mechanical and chemical purposes. IMO, the BioMax is your problem.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

ReefCentral's DIY page: http://www.reefcentral.com/diy/

[Ruth]

I take crappy pictures but here is a pic of my Naso "Tank"
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e384/RuthCh/Naso.jpg

[Farrmanchu]

More flow would help to keep detrius suspended, and skimmed out. Ditch the biomax, and run the canister with the bags only. Cut feeding down, and WC more.

[Dale]

Hi CF,
here is a link to my DIY skimmer. It's big, it's ugly and it works (Three check marks in the plus column). http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28197

If you buy a cannister I might recommend not going for the FX-5. As suggested, the key in SW is to clean your filters regularly to export the detritus. The FX-5 is a great filter but it is also heavy and can be awkward to clean if you have a small sink. Look at a Fluval 405 perhaps. Still a good choice and much easier to work with.

[andresont]

More flow would help to keep detrius suspended, and skimmed out. Ditch the biomax, and run the canister with the bags only. Cut feeding down, and WC more.

I second that,(turkey baster does very little or nothing) flow is Very important and nothing does it better then "Tunze" kind of pumps even moded maxijets with props are great! You need this slow water front moving BEFORE you can skimm out dissolved cr*p.
Also you may want to take a look in to Sulphur Denitrator.
get rid of everything that collecting detritus in the canisters, leave only carbon and phosfate media, ie. no sponges.
Good luck with your tank.

[danny zubot]

Dale, that's one crazy skimmer! I'll bet it could skim 300 gallons easily!

I think increased flow in your 65 gallon would help your situation. I might also check you nitrate test kit against a friends or something. I have a 65 as well and ditched my sandbed 1 week ago. So far the tank is much cleaner.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Also don't forget to varify your test kit results. Test kit reagents don't always react properly when they start to get old, and the better kits like Salifert apparently are much better than others. Get a fellow reefer or a LFS to test your water for you. Lots of good DIY skimmers in the DIY section, plastic places can cut the acrylic for you if you don't have access to a table saw.

Doug