Help with Nitrates?

[guppy]

Hiya Grenaria, welcome to MFK. Yeah, everything I have read says don't skimp on the skimmer.

 

[Zoodiver]

I'll let you guys in a little trade secret.......nitrates aren't as bad as many think. Especially in an all fish tank. Where I used to work, we had an all fish exhibit that ran into the hundreds sometimes....and it was stocked well and had a huge over kill of a filter. Sea World (San Antonio) has several that run over the 10,000 ppm range.

In a reef, I've seen coral thrive at 15-20 ppm.

 

[romanmann]

add some caulerpa algae and lots of live rock, approx 1 pound per gallon

 

[guppy]

Does anyone use the monaco method, it is supposed to reduce nitrates.