NITRATE LEVELS Dangerously HIGH

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minniling

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
1
My tank is well established 55gal. I have

2 clowns
1 fuzzy lion fish
1 orange spined unicorn
1 royal gramma
1 watcher goby
4 green cronis
hermits and snails


all levels are normal except my nitrate levels are thru the roof. I have been vacuming the bottom floor and doing water changes but nothing seems to help. The fish are thriving no one seems sick. But I don't want to push my luck. Please help !!!!!! any advise will be nice
 
What size tank do you have? I would advice a few extra large water changes, maybe twice a week to get the numbers down.
 
I think he said 55 gallon. But I agree with Fluff in that frequent PWC`s will help more. Also are you feeding every other day. Check your water that you are putting in the tank for PWC`s.
 
WELCOME TO AA!!

I have been vacuming the bottom floor

This could be stirring up some nasties. What kind of substrate do you have? I agree with the other posts. Large PWCs twice a week.
If you update "my info" with your tank size/equip/critters, we may be able to help easier.
 
minniling said:
My tank is well established 55gal. I have

2 clowns
1 fuzzy lion fish
1 orange spined unicorn
1 royal gramma
1 watcher goby
4 green cronis
hermits and snails

I think that is a large amount of fish for a 55 gallon tank. My questions would be this:

What are you feeding the Lionfish? Live and even frozen foods can easily raise nutrient levels thus causing your nitrates to spike.

Also what kind of filtration are you employing? While many casual hobbyists like canister filters many people call them "nitrate factories" as they can house lots of waste and cause for a great amount of bacteria to multiply thus creating excessive nitrates.

Do you have a refugium? These areas where Macro-Algae can grow freely can quickly lower nitrates and lessen the growth of undesirable algae.

Do you use a protien skimmer, if so does it have biological media? Many skimmers on the market employ a bio-media like CPR's bio-bale to add in biological filtration. While this is good is can cause for excessive nitrates.

PWC's are a good start to lowering nitrates but often are only a band-aid to a much larger problem. There is a nutrient problem in your tank contributing to your nitrate reading, it is a matter of finding out what it is or putting systems in place to assimilate the nitrates.
 
melosu58 said:
I think he said 55 gallon.

Your right, that's what I get for posting in a hurry. ;)


I think that's a pretty heavy load for a 55g tank IMO and could be part of the issue. The lionfish adds alot of load to a tank and the naso (orange spine) isn't suited for that size tank. Water changes will bring your numbers down but this is a temporary fix of a bigger issue that will only get worse as these fish grow. HTH
 
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