40 gallon water test no3 high

[Dewey]

Well heres my problem. My no3 seems high. Its has allways been around 20 ppm. I tested water tonight its been four days sence ive tested ive been working out of town. I did about 7 gallon water change five days ago.

Gravity 1.026-----ph 8.2 ----no2 0---- ammonia 0----no3 40ppm-- Temp 82

Any ideas , Its a 40 gallon 40 pounds live rock, magunm 350 power filter, seaclone skimmer.. Thanks Duane

 

[e-cat]

mabey some thing has died in your tnak that wwas living on your live rock?

 

[Dewey]

water test

wouldnt the ammonia go up to. Thanks

 

[Dewey]

water test

I just thought of something. My cleaner shrimp molted about five days ago i didnt remove his skin. Could this cause it? How do i get these nitrates to go down? Thanks Duane

 

[cj10488]

I honestly dont think that the MOLT would cause the nitrates to climb so high... I have had several shrimp as well as crabs molt and my no3 is still at 2ppm.. Have you had an algae problem prior that recently disappeared??? Algae usually thrives off nitrates and lowers them since it is constantly using them.. Therefor making the levels lower..

Water changes is the easiest way to get the levels to drop...
I would say change 20% of your water should cut those back to a better more acceptable level...

Also Some test kits are known to be off. These are usually the cheaper tests.. I personally have had Great Experiences with Either Salifert or Seachem..

Another Thing that might helpful would be pulling the media out of the Magnum and using it as an empty pump as you could be getting nitrate buildup in the filter pad as well... I know that I personally have experienced an issue like with the filter pads and Cartridges.. At least pull the media and clean it real well.. I would definetly wait for someone else to post their opinion about this as you only have 40lbs of LR which as you probably know is a Great start but most recommend 1.5-2x the water volume to use it as filtration alone.. I must say that I am by far no expert but as well must say that I have been reading and researching for quite some time...

HTH,
James

 

[Dewey]

Do you think i should change pad and media in filter. Thats the only thing i can think of. Thanks Dewey

 

[e-cat]

Re: water test

wouldnt the ammonia go up to. Thanks

after the nitrate and nitrite

 

[cj10488]

The ammonia would not go up After the nitrite and nitrate.. Amonia is the start of the cycle.. Nitrite is produced to eat the Ammonia.. Nitrate is then in turn produced to eat the nitrites... Nitrates are the End Production... The ammonia and Nitrite production would have occured before the nitrate spike and probably was Cleaned up "Why we have the tanks cycled" before there was ever any sign of them..


HTH,
James