Nitrate help...I'm about to cry!!!

[bleu]

I recently started using a sump. I was fine with my Eheim 2217 for about a year and a half. I started getting into corals and was recommended to get a wet dry sump, of course by my local fish store . As I read threads and spoke to experienced people They said get rid of those bio balls!!! I followed a friends advice that has a thriving tank and made a sump/ refug. A couple of inches of sand in it and a few of my live Rock. This was all after I upgrade.it's a 72 gallon bowfront. I have three quarrels that look like they are not doing good. My Copperbend butterfly fish keeps picking at my open brain lps. Tested nitrates two days ago they were at 40, today it is up to 80 I'm going crazy!!! After the first test I did a water change of about 20 gallons and to my surprise when I tested it was actually higher than before I did the water change. Is it because of the corals that are not faring well? What is it that I am doing long I don't understand. I will do another 20% water change today. Is it my son that's causing it to spite? Here are some pics of the dying coral and my sump. Please check it out and give me some advice or tips. Thanks so much I haven't even been getting much sleep lately this on my mind!!!
I also just noticed that my protein skimmer is not filling the bubbles up to the neck into the collection cup. The skin looks like it's in the actual skimmer and not at the neck or at the cup. PS sorry about the long long story but I need help!!!


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[bleu]

This is what my skimmer is doing & looks like today :-(... I have it in 8 1/4" of water. Dial is completely opened. Had it running for about 4 1/2, 5wks now. It was overflowing the first few weeks, then calm down to where the collection cup was going slowly now it's not collecting at all


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[bleu]

Almost forgot to say I am still running my canister filter also. Just added the sump never stopped using canister now I use both


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[bond300]

Almost forgot to say I am still running my canister filter also. Just added the sump never stopped using canister now I use both


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Hello There! What size Tank do you have? Are you using RO/DI water?

 

[Mebbid]

Is there any chance a fish died that you couldnt find? How often do you clean out the canister filter?

 

[Ziggy953]

Is your return pump in the same chamber as the skimmer? If that is the case you are having fluctuating water levels on your skimmer and that could be part of the reason the skimmer isn't working as it should. I'm not sure what water level you should have for your particular skimmer but to me it looks too low.

I would clean out the canister and do a larger than 20% water change. The copper band nipping at the coral is not uncommon they do that.

I think there is a little more going on than just high nitrates.

 

[bleu]

72g bow front... No my fish are all fine thankfully & I have only had that skimmer for 5wks now. That gunk accumulated in one day. Will clean it out later tonight. Are usually get my our own order for my Lfs, so hopefully that's what they are giving me.

 

[bond300]

It may be your canister that is causing the problem? If you are just starting with corals....try mushrooms,and ZOAs first!!! DON'T purchase hard corals until you do your research save your money$$$ Your LFS will sell them to you but won't tell you the proper way to keep them!









"90G Reef HOB Marineland 350, 2 Hot mag/w coral HOB Skimmer AquaC"

 

[bleu]

Sorry... I clean the canister about every six months at a time every 3. My ammonia is it zero, nitrates are at 80 my phosphates are at 5, calcium at 420. Nit zero and pH at between 8.2 & 8.4.
Ps that's for the replies

 

[bleu]

I've had mushrooms, torch into Blasto's for about a year now also to bubble corals. Within the past 2 1/2 months I've gotten to SPS, and elegance that's giving me problems, but I've done my research and it seems like that's just how they are. I try to do as much research as possible on my quarrels before I purchase but I think my lighting system may also be contributing to my tank messing up. I purchased a marine land reef capable Timer strip. Sad to say that was a waste of money for this set up play I just finished ordering an echo tech GS pro ;-D. Will be getting a second one when I come in to some more money LOL

 

[bleu]

My friend told me I should take my open brain, meat coral and elegance out of the tank because they may be dying off enclosing my nitrates to spike. I do not have another tank in the a lot of money going down tubes!!! Would you recommend that? Have any dying or squirrels ever had the chance to come back and get healthier the ones that I mentioned?

 

[PB_Smith]

well if you removed the bio-balls and replaced it with the large chunks of live rock from the display tank, that's your problem right there, you removed a significant portion, if not most of the bacteria colony that was keeping things in check.

Couple that with dying corals, and the other changes you implemented pretty much all at once (I'm assuming) and you more than likely went through a mini cycle and the elevated nitrates are the end result.
How are the other water parameters testing?

In my opinion the cause is you disrupted the systems biological capacity too suddenly.
you should have kept the bio-balls and systematically replace them with something like Seachems Matrix or similarly porous material, it will be MUCH better than the live rock.
Keep the live rock in the display tank and put media that is specifically designed as biological media in the sump.

I VERY strongly advise you to NOT clean out your canister filter at this time as that would remove more bacteria from the system and further compound the problems.
I know that goes counter to the advice already given, but it is the most intelligent step to take at this point.

Keep the canister filter in service, but make it into either a pre-filter that you clean twice a week OR turn it into a bio filter and put it at the very end of the sytem recirculating the water in the return pump section. That way any matter that would be problematic in a canister would have already been removed and clean water is being processed through the canister. That is how mine is set-up.
By doing that you are creating redundancy in your system and it will be more stable and better able to handle whenever you do changes/clean filters if your alternate cleaning the different portions of the system.

 

[PB_Smith]

ps.,
bleu turn off the auto-correct on your phone, unless you have squirrels in your fish tank.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Sorry... I clean the canister about every six months at a time every 3. My ammonia is it zero, nitrates are at 80 my phosphates are at 5, calcium at 420. Nit zero and pH at between 8.2 & 8.4.
Ps that's for the replies

With those nitrate and phosphate numbers your tank should be an algae nightmare. And it's doubtful any of your corals would be alive, and the fish would be getting stressed at those nitrate levels too.

 

[Mebbid]

Pb : I would agree with you completely except for the fact that theres no ammonia. Theres too much decomposing biological matter in the tank creating the huge nitrate spike. The bio balls have nothing to do with decreasing the nitrate levels so thay doesnt really make sense either.

My best thought at rhe nutrient source atm is the sand. Where did you get the sand from that you put in your refugium?

 

[bond300]

I've had mushrooms, torch into Blasto's for about a year now also to bubble corals. Within the past 2 1/2 months I've gotten to SPS, and elegance that's giving me problems, but I've done my research and it seems like that's just how they are. I try to do as much research as possible on my quarrels before I purchase but I think my lighting system may also be contributing to my tank messing up. I purchased a marine land reef capable Timer strip. Sad to say that was a waste of money for this set up play I just finished ordering an echo tech GS pro ;-D. Will be getting a second one when I come in to some more money LOL

I have the same light on my 90G and its working great for me. I have placed the light on top of the canopy
My Setup:
Specific gravity 1.025
Temp 79.7
Alk 8dKH
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0.2ppm
calcium 420ppm
Magnesium 1250ppm

 

[PB_Smith]

With those nitrate and phosphate numbers your tank should be an algae nightmare. And it's doubtful any of your corals would be alive, and the fish would be getting stressed at those nitrate levels too.

yeah, but do you have any helpful advice to offer....
I don't think she wants to be told what she is already aware of, but rather some advice on how to remedy it and prevent it in the future.

 

[bond300]

My friend told me I should take my open brain, meat coral and elegance out of the tank because they may be dying off enclosing my nitrates to spike. I do not have another tank in the a lot of money going down tubes!!! Would you recommend that? Have any dying or squirrels ever had the chance to come back and get healthier the ones that I mentioned?

I would take them back to my LFS (to hold) until you got the tank within the correct parameters.....

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

yeah, but do you have any helpful advice to offer....
I don't think she wants to be told what she is already aware of, but rather some advice on how to remedy it and prevent it in the future.

First thing I'm questionable of is the test results. So op which tests are you using? One thing I definitely would do though is clean out the canister, op has an abundance of excess nutrients, and 6 months between cleanings would lead me to believe that the canister is trapping/leaching them back into the system.

 

[bond300]

Well Bleu knows how to keep a saltwater tank FOWLR. When I started adding corals I purchased a HOB MarineLand 350 $30.00 Trashed the canister! RO/DI unit 5 stage $200.00, Marinaland Reef LED 48" $300.00 for my 90G and went from 10 percent to 20 percent weekly water changes saved my flower Pot and I use Kent Reef Salts. All is well for two years!!