# Nitrate Control??



## johnnynuke (Aug 23, 2007)

I'm a newbie to the hobby, and this is my first post, so let me say Hi.

I have an Oceanic Biocube, 29 gallon, with about 35 lbs of live rock. It's been operating for about 5 weeks and has completely cycled. Ammonia & nitrites are 0, and nitrates are 10. I'm trying to establish a reef community, and have some soft corals, a clownfish, a wrasse, and a fromia star, and of course a cleaning crew. I've read that nitrates in reefs should be maintained less than 5ppm. By doing moderate (10 - 20%) water changes, I don't see how I'll keep nitrates < 5ppm. 
I spoke to my LFS (the same people who told me I didn't need a protein skimmer) and he suggested I remove the bioballs in the middle filter section, and replace with crushed, live rock. I'm a little leary about changing the design of a "complete" system after only 5 weeks of operation.

Any thoughts on effective nitrate control? Is 5 ppm a hard limit for reef tanks?

John


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## Robnjo (Apr 17, 2007)

no sure I would pull them just yet but if I did I'd replace them with Active Reef Plugs, this is only what I would do, maybe waite for the Guru's to set you straight


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

It sounds to me like your system is working correctly. You should always show some nitrate, it's the last stage of the nitrogen cycle. 10 is nothing to freak out about, 30 or more is borderline freak out.


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