I am having trouble keeping my nitrates under 10 ppm in my shark aquarium i have two banded bamboo pups around 12 inches each, i have a ratio of 1lb of live rock to 1 gallon of water and i run a large skimmer, i feed every other day and i hand feed and remove all uneaten food, it has a wet dry with a fair live rock rubble in it also has some cheato in the sump and i have been trying to run a algae scrubber but have been unsuccessful so far. I have been doing about 25% water changes every 3 days to keep nitrates below 10. the question I have is the ruble causing nutrient build up and hurting me? if so should i just remove it and stick to larger live rock pieces? thanks in advance
nitrates in shark tank
- Thread starter cohl120
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I wouldn't worry too much about such low levels of nitrate in a shark tank. It's not as bad as say nitrite or ammonia. Those will kill quickly. I've seen shark tanks well into the hundreds for nitrate readings with no issues at all.
You might want to add a refugium with the cheato & live mud to help reduce the nitrates. Also a good sand filter would help as well.
The constant nitrate read of 10ppm - suggest that de-nitrificating Bacteria in your system isn't completely able to remove all of the nitrogen. So you need to remove more of the waste, and find a way to remove the excess nitrogen from your system.
Another thing - just wondering what size is the tank & what's the flow rate of your filtration system. Because that could affect your tank's bio-load, and also impact why your having problems with the nitrate levels.
The constant nitrate read of 10ppm - suggest that de-nitrificating Bacteria in your system isn't completely able to remove all of the nitrogen. So you need to remove more of the waste, and find a way to remove the excess nitrogen from your system.
Another thing - just wondering what size is the tank & what's the flow rate of your filtration system. Because that could affect your tank's bio-load, and also impact why your having problems with the nitrate levels.
the tank is a 180 gallon prob around 210 - 220 total water, flow rate to sump and back is around 2200 gph and i also have a 2200 gph powerhead in the main display, and in the sump some smaller powerheads moving the chaeto around the live rock rubble, would more live rock help the problem or make it worse? i have never used a sand filter before so i am not real familiar with using one for aquarium use, but i will look into one could you possibly recomend one for me to look at for a starting reference.
Without a huge refugium with strong lighting or a coil denitrator or vodka dosing, you will always have nitrate. It's the natural by product of sea life in a closed environment. The Columbus elasmobranch husbandry manual says to shoot for less than 70 ppm as a goal. Meaning higher levels aren't bad but shoot for 70. I commend the amount of work and money you're spending but the sharks will not die from nitrate unless it's extremely extremely high for extended periods. This is not to say you should stop doing waterchanges just make a scheduled change perhaps once a week, not every three days
More live rock couldn't hurt. Sand filters come in all sizes and are most often used with ponds or Swimming pools. But they can also do wonders for a shark tank.
While larger systems(such public Aquariums) may be to handle nitrates in the 100 -250 PPM range without harmful side effects to sharks. In a home aquarium (like a 180) even small levels of nitrates can be a concern - because of the reduced size of the system, means everything is concentrated.
While larger systems(such public Aquariums) may be to handle nitrates in the 100 -250 PPM range without harmful side effects to sharks. In a home aquarium (like a 180) even small levels of nitrates can be a concern - because of the reduced size of the system, means everything is concentrated.
the main reason i am realy concerned is because i have amuch larger system being built and I dont think i could afford the money or time to do large water changes every three days, but i am dedicated to doing what is best for them so if needed i would lol
And just remember a large frequent water change is also probably causing temperature swings in the tank and if you are using hot water there's the possibility of introducing copper and other metals from your hot water heater as well. Just something to think about.