nitrates are always up????

ok guys my corals and everything is ok. as you may know my lionfish died today IN my tank (not from nitrates he got a chunk taken out of him somehow. and when i found out who the frik did it to him well they arent gonna be to happy. we'll leave it at that.) my test kit is out of date as it always reads the highest it can on nitrates. my nitrites and ammonia are good (tad bit over but just barely. no exact numbers), when we went ot the lfs it read somewhere in between 40 and 80 (i know, i almost cried right then and there) so obviously today has been a bad day at my house. my leather coral is doing great as are the frags of it i have. my frogspwan and mushrooms are great also. My question is WTF is going on in my tank. i switched over to meety foods for my clownfish as i was having a GHA problem and i thought it was because of the phosphorus (it looks like it was cause now most of it is gone). could it be the foods that are doing this to my tank? my tank has been set up for around 4 months now. sorry for the long question but im freakin out because of the nitrates!!! im jsut glad i have a good place to ask these questions.:-/

 

I'm curious about the "tad bit over" part about ammonia and nitrite......this shouldn't be the case. Even a small small amount of ammonia is harmful..how often are you feeding? from your signature it doesn't look like you have a skimmer..that would be a great help. If you dont..how often do you do water changes?

 

i do not have a skimmer. nor do i have money for one at the moment (its on my christmas list). i try and do a water change once a month. about 5 gallons. it is near time for the one this month.i think that maybe the lionfish dying is PART not all of the problem. when i say a tad i mean .25 for ammonia and less than 5 for the nitrites. i feed a very small amount of rrozen food to my clowns every day.

 

ok just thought about something. a month ago my nitrites and ammonia were up. now my nitrates are up. does that sound like a cycle? it doesnt make any since however why this would still be going on after four months of it being set up and running. any ideas on the matter?

 

.25 is still not real good for ammonia..it should read dead zero..

how much live rock do you have? do you clean your filter out regularly?

 

A cycle can actually take anywhere between two weeks and several months, depending on how you cycle.
A 30gal tank is a little small for a lion fish. They need plenty of room to spread out, swim and hunt. Also to add a lion after only 4 months was kinda early.
You may want to start doing 10-20% water changer a week or every other week. It would help out. Are you using r/o water?
That penguin filter is crud, trust me. I had the same one, algae bloom city and high nitrates all around. If its the one with the bio wheel, take the wheel out. Its a nitrate factory.

 

.25 of ammonia is/can be fatal in itself. That needs to be at zero, always. No exceptions.
Nitrates can come from a multitude of things. My guess to the most of it would be the lionfish in itself. That is way too much fish for a 30 gallon, really should be in a 75 at minimum.
What exactly are you feeding, and how much/how often? If it's frozen are you making sure to drain the water off?
Looking at your signature (and assuming it's correct):
You have less than half of the amount of rock you should have. Rock is your #1, main source of filtration. Getting another 30 pounds or so is where I would start. Use base or you will recycle.
What is your maintenance schedule for your mechanical filters?

Looking at the set-up of your tank, and that ALL parameters are unacceptably high, I would say you have/had way too much fish and not nearly enough tank. The lionfish had no business there, and IMHO neither does the lawnmower blenny (as once you get control of your algae it will starve to death).
I would start by getting the rock in order. I would also consider finding a home for the blenny. Then I would look into skimmers. But right now your main objective is rock.
Until these issues are ironed out you're just going to keep fighting these problems.
And study, Study, STUDY!

 

it was a dwarf lionfish. it said a 30 gallon minimum but im not gonna do that again trust me. so i should take out te biiowheel because it houses nitrates? just making sure im hearing it right before i do it.

 

Yes I know it was a dwarf. Keep in mind they get to 9" and I stick by 75 gallon minimum IMHO
And yes, take the bio-wheel off.

 

i know i need more rock. you need at least a 1 lbs a gallon most people do a lot more. i dont have money for the rock OR the skimmer right now. i know i need them. the blenny is on frozen foods if that helps.