Please, a little help/advice?

[MKFMedic]

Hi,

I have had my 12 gallon nano dx for the past four months and things, with the exception of a minor glitch or two, have been going well. In the last few days, I have noticed some changes.

I change water weekly, approximately 10 - 20 percent each time. I have the normal pump and an additional nano power head to add additional circulation. I use a Stevie T rack with purigen, chem-pure and floss in chamber 1, charcoal in the second chamber and have the pump and heater in the last.

I noticed over the last couple of days that my fan sponge seems to be losing it's brightness and "denseness," while one heady of my torch tip coral seems to be retracting and looking pretty ill. I also have one group of zoas that have closed and don't want to open, while another group seems to be flourishing. All the while, I have mushrooms that look awesome, and feather duster that is doing fine, and two groups of star polyps that are also doing well. I also have a birdsnest coral that is doing fine at the top.

I have three fish, a percula, a watchman and fire fish. I also have a CUC with 2 emeralds, a fire shrimp, 3 hermits, 2 nassarius snails and 2 turbo snails.

O.K. Water tested as of this email.

pH 8.2
Am 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 - 20 (THE HIGHEST I HAVE EVER SEEN IT)
These were the result of an API liquid drop test.

Any ideas on why the sudden spike in Nitrates? Any suggested plan of action? The only thing that I can see with my very limited experience is the rise of nitrates causing some of my corals to be unhappy?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Mike

 

[crister13]

20 is a little high for trates. I would do a couple pwcs to get that down.

 

[MKFMedic]

Thanks Crister,

I've done a couple of changes since posting and head a coral tip die, so I also removed that piece of coral and my trates are heading back down. I'm going to check again and do another this morning if necessary.

Thanks for your response.

Mike

 

[davePM]

How often and how much do you feed? Overfeeding can cause a rise in nitrates.

 

[MKFMedic]

Hi Dave,

I was feeding two small feedings every other day, with a single feeding in between. Every few days, I'll put in a half cube of mysis shrimp. Since the nitrate spike, I have scaled back to once a day.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[crister13]

I feed my fish once a day. You shouldnt have any problems with that. Just make sure most of the food is getting consumed. You should be good. GL!!!!!

 

[MKFMedic]

Thanks Crister!

I have nitrates trending down and then I went out and bought myself a 30 gal tank which is three times as big as my nano. Oh, fish tanks are like crack!?

With the 40 lbs of sand, cured base rock and transferring all the live rock from the previous nano, I added about 18 gallons of "new" fish store water and the remaining water from my previous tank. Hopefully, fingers crossed, it will be a smooth transition.

After a day of letting the water adjust in the new tank, I transferred over my two fish and coral today and plan to sell the nano.

Thanks again for your input!

Mike

 

[crister13]

Start a new build thread!!!!! AND WE WANT TO SEE PICS!!!!! LOL