Help! 10 gal. Nitrate??

[kathy667]

My husband and I are new at this. We have a 10 gal tank with 20 pounds of live sand and 9 pounds of live rock. The tank has been running for about a month. It has cycled we saw everything spoke and everything to return to 0 with the exception of nitrate which is at 40ppm. We did about a 30% water change. The nitrates didn't go down. What can we do to bring it down and where should it be normally?

PH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Sounds like your still cycling, how long has it been since you saw ammonia or nitrite?
Edit: a 30% change should only drop you to about 30ppm so if your using an api kit this maybe why it looks the same

 

[Macscale]

You should shoot for less than 5ppm. 0 Would be ideal.

To bring them down you can either:
1. 10% water changes everyday until they disappear.
or
2. Do a couple 50% water changes through the week, and see if they go away.

 

[drfu]

I see in your picture a hob filter, what do you have in it, it may have to be replaced depending on what you are using.

Second is have disturbed your sandbed at all?