Newbie - High Nitrate

[mwilliamssr]

Hi guys, my name is Will and I'm fairly new to the saltwater hobby, I had a 120gal tank around 12 yrs ago but after 3 1/2 yrs I had to put it on hold. I have a new 125gal tank now and been running it for about 5 months now, I have liverock with fish so far. I have a couple of ocellaris clownfish, a bicolor angel and a coral beauty angel, three blue/green chromis, a couple of black & gold chromis, and a lyretail anthias. I'm having trouble with high nitrate levels and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on what to do to get them down, because I want to add coral down the road.

 

[melosu58]

What kind of water are you using for your water changes? If you're not using clean water as far as RODI water then you could be adding nitrates to your tank. Do a water check on your water change water make sure that's clean first.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi Will

If you reduce the feeding it will help to keep nitrates lower for longer.
A protein skimmer can help slow the build up of nitrates.
A sump/ refugium with macro algae (Halimeda and Caulerpa) will help reduce nitrates.
Lots of live rock will help a bit too.
You can add nitrate adsorbing substances to the filter to help remove nitrates.