Nitrate

[Lshann14]

I have a 165g tank that has water,Liverock, and livesand that I switched over from my old 110g that had been running for the longest time ever.

My nitrates when I had the 110g was at about 10ppm,

Now my nitrates have slowly started to increase... They have almost reached 20ppm now

I have pulsing xenia, mushrooms, leather, toadstool, purple xenia, and chalice corals.

My livestock is a mandarin goby, and A lawnmower blenny I caught while diving

I am receiving either a 4" regal tang or a 6" blonde Naso tang on Friday.

So I would like to have my problem solved by them.

Any help needed thanks.

 

[hackteck]

the only thing you can do to bring down nitrates is doing large water changes with ro/di or or the very least ro water

 

[Lshann14]

Every time I do a water change the nitrates go up though so that isn't relevant.

 

[hackteck]

what type of water are you using to do water changes? if its ro/di water when was the last time you changed the filters on it?

 

[Lshann14]

I use my own water and my filters are a 80g refugium.

 

[hackteck]

no i meant are you using an ro/di filter to filter the water? the nitrates have to be coming from somewhere if its tap water you are using that could be the issue

 

[Lshann14]

Ok thanks

 

[Lshann14]

I don't have an RO/DI filter.
So I have to use tap and condition it myself.

But I checked my tap water measurements from the city and we are #1 water quality in the US

and the nitrates are only like .2

 

[hackteck]

i think you found your answer

 

[Lshann14]

You think that .2ppm is slowly adding up?
Do you know if it's per gallon?

 

[Lshann14]

And also... Do nitrates evaporate into the air with the water? Or stay in the tank?

Because I have to top my tank off every week with 10g of water.

 

[hackteck]

oh that i'm not too sure of but i would invest in an ro unit or an ro/di unit it will cut the nitrates to 0 and you wont have that issue any longer

 

[uh.oh...]

Water evaporates, but nothing else will. Yes, nitrate from your tap would definitely cause your levels to rise. Additionally, some slight die off may have occurred during your move, and that will eventually convert to n3

Sent from my SM-G900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Lshann14]

Ok, how often should I be doing water changes then, I have caulpera macroalgae and the biggest protein skimmer I've ever seen($600+$150pump)

 

[Lshann14]

Should I do anything suddenly to the tank? Or just chill and slowly kill of the nitrates with my water changes.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Your not going to lower them unless you start using ro/di other wise you just keep adding them through your wc's.

 

[Lshann14]

I know... What I'm saying is
Should I do a big 20g water change now?... Or just keep doing my regular water changes...

With RO/DI water

 

[jeffaquarius]

Are you checking the tds of your tap water?

 

[Lshann14]

How do I do that?

 

[jeffaquarius]

Get a TDS meter on line. Nevertheless, you will surely expect high tds in tap water.