High nitrates

[thrasher089]

Hey I'm new to the forum and I have a problem. My nitrates are insanely high. I have a 29 gallon tank with a six line wrasse, a coral beauty angel, and a clown fish. It has been up and running for about 5 months now and this is the first time I have had any problems. My ammonia and nirtites are 0 ppm. My nitrates are 80 ppm. I just wanted to know if there was anyway to get the nitrates back down. Any help is appreciated.

[MiracleFish]

More frequent Water Changes

[mikem101]

are you using a HOB filter? any any inverts in the tank that could have died?

[mbcolangelo]

How often are you doing water changes and what type of filtering? I'd your levels are remaining high despite water changes I'd look at your filtering. Maybe try cleaning it out a bit if you've got bioballs or similar. Running a bit of carbon could also aid in solving the problem.

You use any stuff specifically for nitrates like a Denitrate?

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk HD

[SushiGirl]

Need lots more info. Do you have a filter? A skimmer? How much & what do you feed? Do you have bioballs? A refugium? Do you do water changes? How often?

Large water changes will bring it down, but you'll have to address the issue of why they're getting high.

[thrasher089]

I have a HOB filter with carbon and bioballs. I don't have a skimmer or a refugium. I feed my fish either mysis shrimp or flakes. I don't think I'm overfeeding them because they always seem to eat all of the food I put in there. I do a 10% water change every week. I have 2 peppermint shrimp and about 10 hermit crabs that seem to be doing fine. If I was to do a water change, how much would I need to take out?

[Rognin]

Biopellet reactor or carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar, sugar) can help, but it won't happen fast (and shouldn't either). And to dose carbon you need a skimmer, it's a must.

But I'd check the filtration, those HOB can be nitrate factories.

[E Rosewater]

Try turning off filters while feeding. That way the food won't get stuck in the filter and decay.

[thrasher089]

Thanks everyone hopefully I can get these nitrates down!

[SABOB]

What test kit are you using?Have a reputable LFS double check your reading


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SushiGirl]

You can do 50% water changes a couple times & see how much it knocks it down.

[kmdrysdale]

If you have a sponge in your filter that could be the cause. I had a smaller nitrate problem where after a 10% water change it was 5 or 10ppm but by the morning it was already 20ppm. Changed the filter sponge and it has never been more than 5 once the weekly water changes brought it down.

[MrTuskfish]

If your profile is current and this tank is a FOWLR tank; nitrates at 80ppm are no big deal. Nitrates are a concern for corals and other inverts, but not fish. You don't want them any higher, its an indication of overall housekeeping problems. Until I went to a single system for all of my tanks, I never even tested nitrate in my FOWLRs.

[jimmy frag]

nitrates can and will become a problem when algea takes over the tank. for your set up seeing as you have no means of exporting nitrates other than water changes, you want to remove it quicker than its building. (more water changes) also check your new water for nitrates.

[thrasher089]

Thanks everyone I didn't expect this much help!

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by jimmy frag

nitrates can and will become a problem when algea takes over the tank. for your set up seeing as you have no means of exporting nitrates other than water changes, you want to remove it quicker than its building. (more water changes) also check your new water for nitrates.

Sure, nitrate will contribute to algae growth. But 80ppm isn't going to make that much of a difference. In FOWLR tanks, algae can be helped a great deal by cutting down on light. When I kept separate systems ; I just used room lighting at times when nobody was home. Not too dark to hurt a fish's sleep pattern and fish thrived and algae did not.

I may be ; but some folks just panic when nitrates at (pick a number) are mentioned for a FOWLR. A surprising number of us don't know that nitrates don't bother fish at all. (Some anecdotal accounts involving certain fish may be true, CMA) I'm not going to say what I feel the upper limit for nitrate in a FOWLER is; because I don't want folks to think that number is OK----it may encourage WCs and there are reasons, other than nitrate to do WCs. I don't always agree with Fenner, but he is considered a true expert and I think his book, "The Conscience Marine Aquarist" (1st edition) is a great read, especially for beginners. His opinion of nitrate, and water conditions in general is very revealing. Going on a rant here; but a large number of folks get into our hobby with nothing but a lot of money,LFS advice (usually terrible) and forums like ours (extremely valuable). There are still areas where I think books are invaluable, our hobby is one of them.

[Coop3721]

Hi new to saltwater. I have a 20gal tank with a 20gal HOB filter with a bio wheel, no skimmer, 1 inch of sand, 10 lbs of rock. I have 10 different corals. 3 diffrent zoos, 2 diff mushrooms, 2 diff ricordia, a pyros envy, and an acan, orange plate(dead, everything I read says leave it be it might have grown baby's as a last ditch effort) and a blastos that I'm babysitting. I have 6 small fish, 1 being a diamond goby for sand sifting 5 nasari snails and 5 turbos(large) and 5 hermits. I do 5 gal water changes every Saturday and test with API saltwater master kit, pH 8.2, Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, NITRATE 160+. I have read that HOB filters a the worst, but my tank is not drilled. I used to feed frozen mysis 1/4 cube once a day, now I'm feeding pellets once every other day and a 1/4 cube of cyclopeeze once a week. I have no idea what to do, please help. I'm thinking about just starting over or even giving up.

[MikeTR]

6 fish is about 2 too many for a 20gal tank.. but I'd get a second reading on your nitrates using a brand other than API which are notorius for being completely wrong.

[SushiGirl]

What are the other 5 fish?