Nitrate still high?

[Dakotahshy]

I have a 14g nano reef tank. I have slowly removed the bio balls, and replaced them with live rock and top them off with the filter media but I can't seem to get the nitrates down. This week I removed the remaining few bio balls, and did a pwc. My nitrates are still sitting between 40 and 80 ppm. I am just running the regular filter that came with the tank. Any suggestions. Everyone appears to be healthy in the tank but I know I need to get the nitrates down.

 

[Mike-words]

Can you take a sample to the lfs to have it checked. I would call the no3 test into question

 

[carey]

Are you using test strips or an api liquid test is my first thought.

Secondly is how much and how often do you feed? Thats alot of nitrates for such a small tank. How often and how much are you doing for water changes?

 

[Dakotahshy]

I am using the api liquid tests. And I feed once every morning, and they only get a half a small cube of blood worms, or brine shrimp. etc. If they eat it all and are looking for more I sometimes give them more but not always. My water changes are about every two weeks usually about a third. I figure there is probably about 10 gallons in the tank and I usually do about 3-4 gallons a change. I would take the water in to be tested but I live about 50 miles from them so it would be the next time I go down. I just did another test ; ph 7.8, ammonia 0., nitrite .25, and nitrate is still hovering between 40 and 80

 

[carey]

When and how did you cycle your tank? The presence of nitrites is a very bad thing. A water change is in order as soon as you can.
Trites are more dangerous to your fish than nitrtaes and usually are only evident in a newly or cycling tank.

 

[Dakotahshy]

Sorry, I miss quoted my nitrites. They are 0. The tank has been cycled for about 2 - 3 years. This is the first time the nitrates have gone up this high.

 

[carey]

whew, ok, you had me worried there for a second. lol

Are you doing anything different than you have been? Changed food perhaps or added or removed a skimmer? Did you used to do weekly water changes, cause that would be my suggestion going forward. get them back into manageable range and go from there. With a small tank the pwc should be minimal and quick. But thats an easy fix for high nitrates.

 

[Dakotahshy]

Yes, I think I have to go back to weekly. I use to, but that was over a year ago. I have even tried the premixed water but that made no difference. I am on a well, and my water tests great. I never had a problem in any of the tanks with the well water before. I just thought I would try the bottled and see if it made a difference. I guess just stay with a half a cube of food and no more, and weekly pwc and see if that fixes it. Thanks for all your help.

 

[carey]

Good luck, let us know how it turns out, I bet you see a decline in just a few weeks.

 

[Dakotahshy]

Well after doing a pwc (about 6 gallons) and really getting into the gravel and cleaning and then waiting a few days, my readings are now.
ph 8.2
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm

Is 10 ppm's sound ok for a 14 gal. It seems I can't get it any lower.

 

[carey]

10 is not obscene but yeah, if you have corals it could be better.

I wouldn't muck up my sand all that much though, it can release nitrates and other nasties into your system.

Give it a few weeks and just do your regular water changes with no sand siphoning and I bet they go down.

if you are finding that you have alot of uneaten food or other detrimus sitting on the sand then your flow should be adjusted via powerheads. You want your filtration to catch everything so you want no dead spots in the cube.

 

[scubasteve03]

I agree with Carey flow can be your best friend

 

[KGotschall]

I would say either your bioload is too high for the amount of water you are changing out, or you need to make your changes larger or more frequent. Don't forget to siphon out your filter and sponges, the bio-balls tend to harbour nitrates, I would not use them, neither do a lot of people. Some people keep liverock in thier filters, but you must clean this regularly or you will have the same problem with matter getting stuck in the filter.

If you are pretty consitent, you could always add a Chaeto refugium and put a light on it at night to keep the tank more stable and get rid of some of the nitrates the natural way.