Nitrates gone crazy

[kerrylynne]

hoping someone can point me in a good direction as to discovering why, out of the blue, nitrates would skyrocket when nothing has changed in the tank. everything else is non-existent or normal range - just nitrates out of control...

[kerrylynne]

p.s. it is a 29gallon biocube

[thegrun]

Test kit gone bad would be one cause. Sand bed issues would be another.

[Dustyboots]

What's your nitrate level exactly?

[kerrylynne]

According to test kit...80
Lost a healthy clownfish out if the blue so did a water check.
Still don't know what happened to him...

[Roger30]

Did something go missing in your tank? Maybe something died and is polluting your water

[julie180]

Nitrate is probably not the cause of your fish death. Check ammonia.

[kerrylynne]

ammonia was 0
I did lose the fish... and can't find any remnants of him

[Cymonous]

Well.....fish death = ammonia = nitrites = nitrates.

[risin]

This would be my first assumption as well. Unless the fish jumped out of the tank, this would happen.

[jerseygurl]

As stated, something is producing ammonia, septic sand or LR, dead fish, bio-balls, sponge, something, and you need to figure out what it is and fix it. In the meantime, frequent water changes will reduce it.

Good luck.

[kerrylynne]

thanks for all of the thoughts - will just keep doing the water changes ...
I understand the whole ammonia > nitrite > nitrate but just strange that everything else is at 0 when the nitrates are out of control...
it is definitely making my 4 gallon look nicer since the corals are slowly getting pulled

[Cymonous]

Everything else is 0 because the ammonia and nitrites got processed by the bacteria in your tank. The only thing left is the nitrates, which need to be exported in some way.

[MrTuskfish]

Nitrate at 80 ppm will not hurt fish at all; one of the biggest myths in the hobby. Nitrate is an enemy of corals and other inverts and can be a sign of poor maintenance; but FOWLR tanks are commonly kept with nitrate at 60-80ppm. I certainly don't endorse nitrate for any tank of over, say 60ppm, but you'd be amazed at the nitrate level in some fish only tanks.As others have suggested, the ammonia may have spiked first.

[jerseygurl]

Originally Posted by MrTuskfish

Nitrate at 80 ppm will not hurt fish at all; one of the biggest myths in the hobby. Nitrate is an enemy of corals and other inverts and can be a sign of poor maintenance; but FOWLR tanks are commonly kept with nitrate at 60-80ppm. I certainly don't endorse nitrate for any tank of over, say 60ppm, but you'd be amazed at the nitrate level in some fish only tanks.As others have suggested, the ammonia may have spiked first.

While true, running with nitrates at that level is a sure sign of poor maintenance, which, eventually will cause big problems. Every time I start doing maintenance on a new tank I think...okay what's it going to be....60, 80, 100+....and it always is. I think people go into the hobby enthusiastically but are just overwhelmed by the time and cost of it and eventually just kinda throw in the towel.

This is why I always try to push people toward simple, low maintenance setups.

Slightly off topic I know, sorry.

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by jerseygurl

While true, running with nitrates at that level is a sure sign of poor maintenance, which, eventually will cause big problems. Every time I start doing maintenance on a new tank I think...okay what's it going to be....60, 80, 100+....and it always is. I think people go into the hobby enthusiastically but are just overwhelmed by the time and cost of it and eventually just kinda throw in the towel.

This is why I always try to push people toward simple, low maintenance setups.

Slightly off topic I know, sorry.

I agree; just don't want folks to get sidetracked thinking nitrate killed a clownfish.