How to lower Nitrates?

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by apex82

Bump for this question...

By not downsizing the chaeto ball you will have missed the whole point of growing it. The idea is to use macro algae as a nutrient export mechanism. By not removing any part of the ball you will not be exporting anything.

[apex82]

Thanks! Is there a certain color or part of the ball that I should dispose of? Ie, remove the top half?

[whatcaneyedo]

Just pull part of it off every once and a while and toss it, trade it, sell it, eat it... whatever. Unless part of it looks poor or is dying the mass should look pretty uniform. I sometimes find that I get other types of algae growing on my chaeto mass. So I'll pick that section to throw out.