A friend of mine has a 125gal tank as well. He is also having a
Nitrate problem. The only thing we have found that works for his is 10% water changes every 7 days and before we/he changes the water we clean all the equipment. it seems to be bringing the
nitrates down some. Now with a tank that big in order to do it right without causing shock to the inhabitants it takes time to get them down. So i wish you the best of luck getting your down.
My Responses are my opinion and experience only.
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I'm very torn about the things I've read, such as only feeding rarely or every couple of days, etc.
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When i started this hobby i fed everyday, and to be honest i think i was over feeding. Now i feed every other day and it seems like my tank is a lot more stable then it was when i fed everyday. I have heard of a lot of people running into problems when feeding everyday such as hair algae and red slime. I have experienced both but i haven't had sign of them since i started feeding every other day.
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but I do feed a combo of mysis, emerald entree & brine shrimp once a day with a turkey baster. I feed them what they easily eat in 5 minutes.
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As for what to feed, Fish like a variety of foods. I mix mine up from squid, mysis and brine. I also threw some brine shrimp eggs in there every now and then. Basically whatever you decide to feed them they will like. But remember we like like variety and they do too.
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I use a test strip every other day as a quick test, and my water is always 'hard'.
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OK i thought the test strips would be a good idea as well so i purchased some. I didn't want to rely on them until i knew what kind of reading i got. So what i did was test the water 10 times with the strips and 2 with different liquid test kits. The results shown that the test strips were a different color each time and at no time was any of the 10 strips the same reading as the 2 liquid test kits. It takes a little longer with the liquid kits but i wouldn't rely on the test strips.
Also when you "hard" are you referring to GH General Hardness?
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I know this is a long post, but I knew you'd all be asking about what I had, etc., so I thought I'd put it all right here. I am just starting to collect frags - small and affordable. I have to get these nitrates down, but I just don't know how. I would appreciate any advice you can give.
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I really like how you posted all the info and I'm sure everyone on TR feels the same.
When you say your
Nitrates are high. How high are we talking?
Also i didn't see it in the post but are you running any mechanical filtration?
