problem with nitrates

[Jarrett]

since my tank has started i never had any problems with any of my parameters lastnight i went to do my usually testing and everything is in check but my nitrates reading through the roof between 80 and 160 and also noticed today when i tested my ph dropped a little bit from my usualy 8.0 its now more between 7.3 and 8.0 all my fish are fine, none of them are dead. the only possible thing i can think of is i added 5 turbo snails not knowing that they have a big bio load and maybe adding 5 at one time was to much. also i currently have my protein skimmer off because im treating the tank with herbtana for ich and was going to turn it back on, on saturday when i do my usuall water change. i changed about 5 gallons out of the water lastnight and didnt even dent the nitrates any idea of what is causing this and what i could do to fix it?

 

[Jarrett]

btw its a 45 gallon tank with about 50 lbs of live rock, a eheim cannister filter(100 gallons worth of filtration) also just cleaned that about 2 weeks ago, powerhead with attachable filter for water pollishing and a remora protein skimmer which right now is off like i said appreciate the help guys!

 

[Purevil21]

1. Canister filters are nitrate factories.
2. What did you put the water in to test it. Did it come in contact with anything that has been used for food. I had a friend that pulled water out of his tank with a bbq baster. Then he put the water in tubes and the nitrates were outrageous. I got him to use a ziplock bag next time and bam, 5ppm.

 

[Jarrett]

yea i did do that actually today, but i also tested it 3 other times lastnight by just dipping the test tupe straight into the water and still got the same reading

 

[Purevil21]

Are you using an api kit?

 

[Jarrett]

yes sir its weird because the first time i tested it, the water was normal, but then i tested 4 times after that and it was consistently red, btu all the fish are shwoing no signs of stress or anything their all acting normal

 

[Jarrett]

and i cleaned out the cannister filter like 2 weeks ago and before that ran for MONTHS before it was ever cleaned and never a nitrate problem

 

[Purevil21]

The api testing chemicals do not have a manufacturing date, there is no way to know how long it was on a shelf before you bought it. They are notoriously inaccurate, I would verify your test with lfs. I had an api kit say my nitrates were 100ppm, turned out they were 10.

 

[Purevil21]

If your nitrates are that high then you are going to need to do several things. So I will ask you a few things to determine where the issue is. How often are you feeding? Do you have any algae growth? What are you using for filter media? What is your bio load? What kind of lights are you using and how much do you run them?

 

[shab]

1. Canister filters are nitrate factories.

So are there other methods of mechanical filtration besides protein skimming that won't end up as nitrate factories?

 

[Jarrett]

lol chemicals were bad went and tried it at my LFS from my water and the water at the store they both turned red reading my test kit but theirs were all normal

 

[Purevil21]

I thought that may be the culprit.