Nitrates Issue

[Tmaida17]

Quick question for the Saltwater fish wizards. Lol Here's a pic of a current test I took and the PH could be a little better which I'm going to buffer, the Ammonia looks good along with the Nitrite, but my Nitrates have always been high.

I thought if nitrates are high so would ammonia and Nitrites would be too? I'm going to do a few back to back water changes the next few days at 10-15% of my water and see if that helps. I only clean the waste out of the filter once every few months which think is part of the problem am I right?

I have a 30 gal, 2 good size fans, good aqua clear filter, two clowns ( one big and one small), two gobies ( one big and one small), 2 cardinals, and a dart fish.

1 tiger pistol shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, 2 brittle starfish, just got a bunch of snails and hermit crabs bc I was running low on them.

Any help would be great and highly appreciated. Hope to hear from you .

 

[woody390]

How much live rock? How often on water changes? The bacteria the converts ammonia into nitrite then into nitrate can grow on any surface the bacteria to convert nitrate to a harmless substance only really grows in live rock as it can't grow in water so grows in the oxygen in live rock. which is why a lot of thing coin the term nitrate factory. You can also use macro algae, deep sand beds and water changes to help with nitrates and skimmers remove organic waste which stops nitrates building up. Canister filters don't really do much to help nitrates and they need to be maintained pretty well to ensure no detritus build up. Hope all that makes sense lol

 

[Sniperhank]

The beneficial bacteria in your tank eats ammonia and nitrite. That is what you are building up when you cycle a tank, since they are poisonous to livestock. Ammonia is turned into nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. The nitrate is them consumed by algae and removed by water changes.

 

[Tmaida17]

I have around 25lbs of live rock and 2- 2 1/2 sand bed. I had some mass snails and bought a bunch more to move the sand around with the pistol shrimp and the gobies.
I knew the ammonia and nitrites led to nitrates being bad I thought they all had to bad in order for the nitrates to be bad but they nitrites and ammonia are ok.

I'll keep an eye on it the next few weeks and take your guys advice and keep you updated. I appreciate the info a lot thank you .

 

[Sniperhank]

All 3 are poisonous. Any level of ammonia or nitrite can be deadly. Nitrates is varied depending on fish and other livestock. Should just aim for 0.

 

[woody390]

Nah they don't all have to be bad your tank can cope with certain amount of nitrate, more if you don't have inverts and coral but any ammonia or nitrite are deadly.

 

[Tmaida17]

Well that I've learned recently but inverts are kinda necessary to help keep it clean. Plus I always wanted corals for obviously reason. Lol. One day at a time I guess. I'm still learning I guess.

 

[woody390]

Inverts aren't necessary if you feed the correct amount they will contribute to waste just like any other fish

 

[Tmaida17]

True, well I meant the inverts that eat poop and excess for ( which is rare in my aquarium bc my fish are like Americans at Mcdonalds) are kinda necessary lol. Some are just easy on the eyes. I've bought Shaving brushes once to help lower nitrates but something ate them. :/

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

True, well I meant the inverts that eat poop and excess for ( which is rare in my aquarium bc my fish are like Americans at Mcdonalds) are kinda necessary lol. Some are just easy on the eyes. I've bought Shaving brushes once to help lower nitrates but something ate them. :/

Everybody wants inverts that eat fish waste. But you have to remember that first of all no invert will want to, they only do when necessary. If there's other food they'll eat that. But also, if they eat the waste, then they're just going to produce it again. It doesn't disappear haha

 

[Tmaida17]

True but their waste is smaller lol. I know what you're saying. Do you have coppods? Any idea what the best way to get them out of the filter when cleaning it ? Haha they are always in there which is good bc they eat the crap but I'd like to preserve them as long as possible .

 

[TheTodd]

Everybody wants inverts that eat fish waste...if they eat the waste, then they're just going to produce it again. It doesn't disappear haha

Exactly. I've actually always thought that algae eating critters do more to help keep the tank "clean". Waste does not magically disappear though, so get a CUC if you like watching critters, but don't look at them as magicians. They are absolutely not a necessity and don't do much to help with nitrates.

 

[Tmaida17]

What's a CUC?

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

What's a CUC?

Clean up crew, so all of the invertebrates.

 

[Tmaida17]

Oh I never hear anyone call them CUC lol . Makes sense.

 

[Animal-Chin]

You know your tank looks pretty clean and algea free, I'd be surprised of that reading of 160 ppm for nitrate is correct. I mean that is a super high number. My gut says do a couple of waterchanges and test again to see if it comes down, if not buy a better test kit than API.

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

Yes and coralline grows in great water conditions, and that high of nitrates definitely isn't great. So my guess is it's incorrect. Maybe not though. Like Animal-Chin said, just do some major water changes and check again.

 

[Tmaida17]

Have you guys noticed that API Master Test Kit Nitrate in these test kits go bad? I had a previous one where I bought a new one and test from both kits and the older one (6 months after opened) went bad . I'm thinking maybe the same with this one possibly. I keep them all cover and follow the instructions.

Yeah I have a lot of Coraline algae . One reason why I'm bought some snails to help clean the glass bc scraping it sounds like nails on a chalk board lol.

 

[Animal-Chin]

Ya and tanks usually look like swamps at 50, your test is showing 150...

Something seems off to me. Just sayin...

 

[Tmaida17]

I think you're right . What do you use?