nitrate problem

[Fuvibo1]

i am still having nitrate problem after water change, what should i use to lower my nitrate, i am getting a reading of 160 and everything else is normal, at the min. level. i feed my fish twice a day in the morning and at night, i feed them variety of food. any help would be great

 

[AndySmithers]

We are going to need a huge amount more detail than that to give any meaningful answer!!

Tank size?
Skimmer?
RO/DI water for topoff?
Inhabitants?
How old is the tank?
EXACT water tests (not just "at the min" or "good")?
Qty. of Live Rock?
Other filtration?
Any chemicals added?
Recent changes?

All this is necessary to have any idea what's happening in your tank...

Andy.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

You're probably feeding too much by feeding twice a day...most people recommend once a day or once every two days

Andy is right that we need to see what else you have going on to determin the cause and help eliminate them.

Do you use a DSB?

Are you using a canister filter or bioballs...both will be big time nitrate factories

 

[AndySmithers]

You're probably feeding too much by feeding twice a day...most people recommend once a day or once every two days

Not sure everyone will agree with this statement (I personally feed twice a day - always have, never had a nitrate issue). And, of course we'd need to know what type of and how many fish and also how much is being fed twice a day. A lot of fish prefer "small and often" versus "large and occasional".

Andy.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

Not sure everyone will agree with this statement (I personally feed twice a day - always have, never had a nitrate issue

hehe...I said most, and I am just going by what i have read on posts here!

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

How large is the tank, and what percentage of a water change have you done?
You might try a dose of Cycle, an additive containing bacteria that consume nitrates. Also, you should let us know what kind of fish you have...

 

[Fuvibo1]

i have a 60 gallons, with a deep sea bed, a canister filter, a wet dry, a skimmer, 3 power head, about 13 small little demsels, 1 adult koran angel, 12 snails, 2 cleaner shrimps, 12 blue leg hermit, about 25% weekly water change, feed twice a day, light on about 12 hrs, the nitrate is costing red slim problem too, any more infor needed, i test the water, everything is perfect except nitrate is extremely high, my ph is at 1.018, i like to keep low to reduced fish problem.

 

[malkore]

your ph is 1.018 or your sg is 1.018? I mostly hear of fish stores going lower than 1.021 to lower salt water costs...

 

[seaham358]

IMO 1.018 is fine for a FO tank. It's my understanding that the lower SG helps keep parasites in check. I have a LFS that has some tanks at .016... Takes around 3 hours to acclimate these fish to my tanks.
How often do you clean your wet/dry and canister. Bioballs will trap food and waste over time this will break down causing the high nitrate readings. Canister filter what do you have in there? If there is anything in there that can trap waste then you need to clean it.
Low water flow and lighting are other factors besides excess nutriants that bring about cyno. Good luck..

 

[luntiz]

The real question here is, what are your inhabitants? Lots of fish = lots of nitrates when all the ammonia and nitrite are broken down. Overstocking or stocking too quickly will lead to high nitrates. I should know, I had nitrates jump from 0 to 40 in as short as a week. My d*mn blenny and tang poops like mad!!! Good thing I feed lightly so they eat less and it also helps when they eat their own cr@p.

You can also cut down the feeding to twice or thrice a week. Your fish should be able to handle the lower amounts of feedings. They are a cold-blooded species and do not require as much food as we do.

 

[Fuvibo1]

my canister only have the bio-ring, and filter, i don't use the black stuff, my wet dry has bio balls, and bio ring and filter, i will try to cut down feeding on the fish to see if it's better, sg = 1.018, haven't check ph, but amo = 0, nirite = 0, i clean my filter once every two week, or is it better for me to clean it more often to lower the nirate level

 

[jackdp]

Where does your water come from? Tapwater, your own RO unit, a store machine etc. Tapwater can sometimes have a high concentration of nitrate. If you are using tapwater, check it for nitrates either before adding salt or even after or both.

 

[Fuvibo1]

i use tab water purchase from the store, i have check the nitrate level, and is 0
my temp in my tank is about 81-84 and on hot days it's up to 86, could that be a cost of high nitrate level?

 

[Nitrate]

IMO if your wet/dry is adequate for your tank then get rid of the canister. I went through the same process several years ago and although both are nitrate factories, the wet/dry gives better biological filtration and aerates the water. With the power heads you dont need the canister for circulation and you can use it in the future as a vacuum cleaner, or as a filter for a QT.

You may have to do several large water changes to get the nitrates under control. Ive done as many as five 30% changes in a week and a half in order to get my levels right.

Ive never heard of high temp causing high nitrates, but 86 if awfully warm. Be very wary of any new additions as they may not be able to take the heat.

 

[darb2]

time to do some water changes and reduce feeding.

Ive done as many as five 30% changes in a week and a half in order to get my levels right.

doing this can be a shock if temp and sg are different, so be careful. The first thing do do is reduce nitrates by doing water changes. Then you need to find what is causing the nitrates and cut it out. If you feed twice daily, how much? And how do you clean the filter?

 

[Nitrate]

doing this can be a shock if temp and sg are different, so be careful

Very true Darb, I mix my water in a 55gal tub and aerate for at least 2 days. I dont do the change till temp and salinity is spot on.

 

[Fuvibo1]

oic, that seems like a good idea to keep mix water in a 55gal rubber trash can, i think i might out with the idea of changing more water to get the nitrate to drop, oh and what is a good way to chill out the tank, my water stay warm all the time even in the winter so i don't have a heater in the tank

 

[darb2]

my tank has egg crate on the top instead of glass. and on hot days a fan running pointing at the water. If that doesn't do it it may be time to look into a chiller