High nitrates, please help...

[jennm]

It's best to get it tested as soon as possible after you collect it, some readings may not be 100% if it's sitting. At the very least don't leave it in a hot car if you do have to tote it around for some hours.

If the nitrates are indeed high, they didn't get that way overnight, but with such a young tank it's highly unlikely that they're really that high.

And unless you disturbed something that was partly decayed, I doubt that ammonia reading is valid either - that test kit is notorious for false positives on ammonia.

Take a breath... relax. Take a look at your tank inhabitants, they'll "tell" you if something's amiss. Observation only is not a substitute for regular testing, but they'll let you know if something is wrong. If everything is behaving normally, sit tight til you get confirmation of the result.

IF there's ammonia and you think there really may be a problem, add some Prime to the water and that will detoxify it until you can address it.

Given that you have a light bio load and nobody has gone missing, it's most likely, in my opinion that the problem is with the kit.

And if for some reason the nitrates are indeed way high, again, they didn't get that way overnight and it will take several weeks of small frequent water changes to dilute them down.

But for now, I'd focus on verifying the results first.

Jenn

 

[jdavenp3]

Jenn, thanks a lot. I really appreciate the calming words and encouragement.

The "eye" test on the tank looks like everything is doing fine. Lots of polyp extension, fish swimming happily and eating well, no bleaching on SPS or anything...

So I will just get a test verified and go from there.

 

[the-bubonic-one]

jennm;773171 wrote: check the parameters first. No need to do anything drastic until you're sure there's a problem.

+1

 

[jennm]

You're welcome. Hopefully I don't eat my words later, but if things were that bad, your fish in particular would be indicating stress. A shot of Prime wouldn't hurt, "just in case" - it won't skew readings on a test but it will detoxify the "ammonia" and "nitrates".

Curious - did you test for nitrite? If so, what was the reading? (I didn't see it listed). If there was no nitrite, then either the "ammonia" present is recent, or it's not there. Waste goes from ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. So if you get a positive reading for nitrite, then the problem likely really exists (unless that kit is bad too).

Once a tank is established, provided it's not overstocked and/or overfed, if it's adequately maintained, you should never see ammonia or nitrite. Nitrate usually only builds up if enough water isn't being changed out to compensate... garbage out must be equal to or greater than, garbage in. Even with substandard filtration, adequate water changes to keep up with the amount of nitrogenous waste can keep a tank well for the long term.

The problems usually occur when not enough water is being changed over time, to keep up with the amount of nitrate. Good filtration/skimming help export it but no system is perfect, so crummy filtration requires more water changes to keep up. Ultimately, testing will tell you if you're keeping up or not.

High nitrates - really high, are often referred to as, "old tank syndrome". Honestly it's got less to do with the age of the tank. It should be "lazy aquarist syndrome." We have tanks we've maintained for 10 years now that have no detectable nitrate - because we keep it exported.

And conversely I've seen plenty of younger tanks with crazy high nitrate because somebody got complacent and didn't test or change enough water. It "looked" OK so they went on auto-pilot, then suddenly they have a problem, test and find that it's off the map. It didn't get that way in a day... it took a long time and it crept up slowly.

Since your tank is relatively young, unless you got old, tired, saturated rock that was already a nutrient sink (from previous neglect), chances are you're fine.

And if you do find that the nitrate is high... we'll help you deal with that.

Jenn

 

[jdavenp3]

Ammonia was sub .25, hard to read with that test honestly.

Nitrites were 0

PH 8

I am going to give the recommended dose of Prime right now to help detoxify anything if it is present.

 

[jennm]

Good. Just in case. If there isn't a problem, it won't hurt anything.

Jenn

 

[jdavenp3]

Once again, thanks a ton...

Should I wait on stocking any other corals or fish until I know for sure the nitrates?

 

[jennm]

Yes, I'd wait just to be sure.