Can Crushed Coral cause high nitrates?

[mharrison86]

I am new to this hobby. I have a 46 gallon bow front tank with 65 lbs of LR, 20 lbs of LS and 40 lbs of Crushed Coral. The Petco lady suggested that I use crushed coral. I have a HOB Bio Wheel filter. The AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer is on order. Hopefully, it will be delivered by the end of the week.

Fish:

3 pajama cardinals
1 damsel
1 half-black angel

My tank has been up and running for about 8 weeks now. My ph is 8.2, ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0 but my nitrates are 40 ppm. I have been doing a lot PWC's trying to lower the nitrates down from 80 ppm.


I’m hearing that crushed coral could be the source of my high nitrate problem. Is that possible? Should I try to remove the crushed coral and add more sand? Can that be done without making my water cloudy?

 

[ianrich147]

this is most likely your problem i got the same advice for cleaning it and boy will you be suprised how muck crap the is hiding in that crushed coral

 

[Brenden]

Crush coral can definitely be a source of NO3. Best thing is probably to try and remove a little of the CC at a time over several weeks until it is gone and then slowly add sand back in the tank in several phases. Slowing removing the CC will keep from removing a large % of your bio filtration at once and adding the sand in 2-3 phases will insure proper seeding. Bio wheels are "known" to also be NO3 producers.

 

[mharrison86]

Thanks for the responses. I plan on removing the bio wheel filter as soon as I get my protein skimmer setup. Hopefully, that will help lower my NO3.

 

[pkremer]

Another thing to consider is what kind of water you are using. Many city water supplies come chock full not only of chlorine, but nitrates as well. If you are putting in tap water, you may not be removing as much nitrate as you could be with water changes.

Using RO/DI water will help you out a lot if you are not already using it.

Paul

 

[Don424]

I am new to this hobby. I have a 46 gallon bow front tank with 65 lbs of LR, 20 lbs of LS and 40 lbs of Crushed Coral. The Petco lady suggested that I use crushed coral. I have a HOB Bio Wheel filter. The AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer is on order. Hopefully, it will be delivered by the end of the week.

Fish:

3 pajama cardinals
1 damsel
1 half-black angel

My tank has been up and running for about 8 weeks now. My ph is 8.2, ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0 but my nitrates are 40 ppm. I have been doing a lot PWC's trying to lower the nitrates down from 80 ppm.


I’m hearing that crushed coral could be the source of my high nitrate problem. Is that possible? Should I try to remove the crushed coral and add more sand? Can that be done without making my water cloudy?

Were you vaccuming your tank bottom at all?

 

[melosu58]

I can tell you from experience that CC will cause high nitrates. That`s why I went to live sand when I got my new tank.