Nitrate level

[biff2100]

An anyone advise please my nitrate levels are circa 50ppm but all my other test are well within the norm range. Tested ph 8, nitrite 0ppm ammonia 0.25ppm kh 3.2mg, sg 1.024 ca & mg are both well high.

How do I drive the nitrate levels down?

 

[melosu58]

The immediate way is to do PWC`s. I would do some weekly 10-20% PWC`s and that will bring it down. A long term way would be to get a skimmer, feed less and lower your bioload if you have to. How about some info like tank size and tank mates?

 

[Schism]

Yep water changes id start with a big one to really knock them nitrates down and then start a weekly routine of 10-20% changes

 

[Carpious]

I would be more concerned about the ammonia. Do you have livestock in the tank?

We need to establish why you have NH4 present. Should be 0 under normal circumstances.

 

[biff2100]

Yer I have a 300ltr tank, skimmer, 2 canister filters in series, chiller, uv filter, top up system and metal hals. I normally do a 10% water change every 2 weeks. My stock is, normal clean up crew ( could do with a little) my fish are: orange spot goby, fire fish, majestic angel, sailfish tang, 5 anthias, 2 clowns and a cleaner wrass

 

[Carpious]

Canister filters are OK as long as you are cleaning very regularly, if not they become nitrate factories. Once a week really is best.

How much rock do you have? How old is your tank? Have you noticed any stock missing recently? Although if you have sufficent rock it would have to be big to spike ammonia.

The solution to pollution is dilution. So as above first but you need to sort the NH4 as it's very toxic to livestock.

HTH.

 

[barterking85]

I thought nitrate was ok in the 5-10 range I thought it was nitrite and ammonia that's toxic

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

You are way overstocked and that is why you have nitrate problems. The angel and tang should not be in that tank, they will get way too big and have large bioloads. What type of anthias? They probably need a bigger tank too

 

[Carpious]

I thought nitrate was ok in the 5-10 range I thought it was nitrite and ammonia that's toxic

True, the problem is the NH4 [Ammonia] is at 0.25ppm which is toxic, it needs to be 0. It's never good to see in a tank with any stock in. NO2 [Nitrite] is 0, which is as it should be. NO3 [Nitrate] isn't toxic but can be an issue due to excessve nutrients.

It has been said that at very high levels of NO3 it will irritate stock.

 

[barterking85]

True, the problem is the NH4 [Ammonia] is at 0.25ppm which is toxic, it needs to be 0. It's never good to see in a tank with any stock in. NO2 [Nitrite] is 0, which is as it should be. NO3 [Nitrate] isn't toxic but can be an issue due to excessve nutrients.

It has been said that at very high levels of NO3 it will irritate stock.

Yeah I heard that I thought the issue was nitrate not nh4 my bad

 

[biff2100]

All can just just say its high nitrates I have the problem with. It's ammonia and nitrite the fish don't like......

 

[biff2100]

I should say I do have a snakelock in my tank but I haven't seen he for about a week now?

 

[Carpious]

All can just just say its high nitrates I have the problem with. It's ammonia and nitrite the fish don't like......

I really wouldn't worry too much about 50ppm NO3 for now, as previously stated that is easy to tackle with water changes.

High NO3 is not terribly surprising considering you have high NH4.

IMO you need to address the important issue of the 0.25ppm NH4. Have a good look around for any deceased tank stock and start immediatley with water changes. If any dead stock is discovered then it needs to come out.

I would also clean all canisters just as routine.

Keep an eye on stock and watch for any signs of ammonia poisoning, gasping, always at the top, always on th bottom, red fins and/or gills, any signs of distress.

You may find that once you beat the NH4 issue the NO3 will also come down.

How old is the tank and how much rock do you have?

HTH.

 

[biff2100]

The tank is about 18 month old. I couldn't tell you how much live rock and sand I put in but the sand is about 2" thick and the rock is about 1/3 of the tank.

 

[Carpious]

OK, thats cool.

IMO, you need to start as I have suggested.

Start at 20% now and then monitor NH4 levels daily.

Make sure you check for that missing stock.

Once you get that back down then we'll tackle the NO3.

NO3 will probably have dropped by then, but let's see.

HTH.

 

[kdpuffer]

What are you running for canisters? Honestly two in series is kinda pointless as the only purpose for them in marine is mechanical filtration so if you want two run them individually. Also what media do you have in them? As stated above do a water change and find that missing fish. Well your at it give your canisters a good cleaning. That alone could be your problem.