Need Help. Nitrates.
- Thread starter kevheng
- Start date
NITRATES. the 30 gallon is a reset from a 20 gallon (2 months ago) with a high nitrate level. i have 5 fish a clown, lawn mower blenny, flametail blenny, flame hawk, and canary wrasse. 30 to 35 lbs of rock, 40lbs of sand. coralife superskimmer 65, marineland pengiun 200 powerfilter, just reciently added 6 blue leg hermits, 2 turbo snails. at least a 20% water change every week. the superskimmer has only been running for 5 days. what does IMO stand for?
Penguin 200 pushes 200 GPH so it's a bit light for a 30g - but the skimmer should help with that.
The skimmer if it's only been up and running for a few days, hasn't had a chance to help much yet though.
When did the nitrates spike? Were they high since the time the tank was set up? (read: Could it have been old tank syndrome from the previous tank the rock etc., came from?)
Was the sand new or used? Sand can harbor all kinds of ills too - particularly if it wasn't vacuumed.
It could be that your sand and/or rock are just leaching out old issues from having been a nutrient sink in the last tank. It can be cycled out in time through small frequent water changes, good skimming and going easy on the bioload and feeding - which, you're a bit high on the bioload end - it's workable but it will probably take a bit more time to get ahead of it.
Jenn
The skimmer if it's only been up and running for a few days, hasn't had a chance to help much yet though.
When did the nitrates spike? Were they high since the time the tank was set up? (read: Could it have been old tank syndrome from the previous tank the rock etc., came from?)
Was the sand new or used? Sand can harbor all kinds of ills too - particularly if it wasn't vacuumed.
It could be that your sand and/or rock are just leaching out old issues from having been a nutrient sink in the last tank. It can be cycled out in time through small frequent water changes, good skimming and going easy on the bioload and feeding - which, you're a bit high on the bioload end - it's workable but it will probably take a bit more time to get ahead of it.
Jenn
the tank had a high nitrate level about three weeks into the tank. that was when i first started testing on the tank. 20 to 40ppm. i am not sure i have it written down at my house. i am at work right now. the sand is new 20 to 25lbs of rock came from the 20 gallon. i also have a powersweep power head that pushes 190 gph. i don't know if that helps or not. i believe you are right it might be from the rocks from the last tank and the bioload.
Make sure your skimmer is working. Funny story: I bought my tank second hand, skimmer, filter, canopy. lights, fish, live rock, coral, live sand, everything! So, I put it up in my room (it took me, my mom, and dad all night to figure it out). A couple days later, I proceeded to test the water. All the params were perfect, except nitrates. I was like, WHAT?? I can't start out like this!! So I started dosing it with some stuff that supposedly brings down the nitrates. It did bring the nitrates down a little (the stuff is called prime), but not enough. Well, me and my dad started panicing, so we went to our LFS and asked them what to do. They told us to check out skimmer. We were like, of course our skimmer is working, they were like, is it making froth? And we said no. So, sure enough, we went home, checked on it, and there was a kink is the tube that sucks up water. So it was sucking up water, but not enough to get rid of the nitrates. So we just unkinked it, and the nitrates went back down, and have been down since (keep in mind this was about 7 months ago, so I could have another spike) Moral of the story is, always check your skimmer to make sure it is frothing/making bubbles.
Not to sidetrack... but Prime will not remove nitrate. It does remove chlorine and chloramine from tap water. As for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, it binds those molecules and renders them inert and/or less toxic but they are still present and will show up on a test kit.
It's not a solution to those issues, but it is a good emergency measure to use, until the problem can be diagnosed and resolved.
As for the skimmer issue - YES, that will help export nutrients, some of which are nitrates. However the only real solution to nitrate is to export it - through water changes.
The solution to pollution is dilution.
Jenn
It's not a solution to those issues, but it is a good emergency measure to use, until the problem can be diagnosed and resolved.
As for the skimmer issue - YES, that will help export nutrients, some of which are nitrates. However the only real solution to nitrate is to export it - through water changes.
The solution to pollution is dilution.
Jenn
thanks agian for the help. i am still keeping an eye on the nitrates. they were at 60ppm saturday before i did a 20% water change. i talked to my LFS and they said to change my food from frozen to pellets and feed less. thanks agian for the help. if there is any other suggestions just let me know.
I agree to feed less, but switching to pellets may not be a good fix. I've always been under the impression that flake/pellet food has a greater nutrient pollution potential than frozen. If phosphates were the big issue instead of nitrates, then you could look to frozen foods as a potential source.
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