Nitrates. I'm Baffled....

Or maybe I just don't get haha. I have a 125g that is arguably medium stocked. 12 small fish, cardinals, cromis, blenny, gramma, and 2 clarkii clowns. I have 6" DSB. about 300lbs of LR. A wet/dry and HOB prizm skimmer. A MRC MR2 skimmer setup and Solaris g series lighting. I feed every other/every third day. My MRC has just recently been connected so hopefully that will help ( already has started pulling out crap. MY nitrates are 100 but my phos are 0. I don't get it. What am I doing wrong?

Jake
P.S If you need anythin clarified just ask.

 

What are you using for source water?

 

how long has the tank been set up?

 

By any chance, do you have BB's in your W/D? Luna

 

Thats a deep sand bed.

 

Pull the bioballs out of the wet/dry if they are still in there. Remove any pre filters or sponge filters if you have those. How often are you performing water changes?

 

I thought 6" was standard for a DSB. That is how deep mine is.

 

How old is your nitrate test kit?
Are you reading it correctly?
If your nitrates are that high, you had better go back and test your ammonia and nitrites as well!
Welcome to 3reef by the way!

 

So much for the deep sand bed theory..........Test seems to be off.

 

Hey guys, sorry I haven't answered your questions but the site wouldn't work for me the past few days. The tests are a week to 2 weeks old. I have half BB and half LR in the chamber. sponge filters have all been replaced in the last couple weeks but they don't do much so I might remove them. Tank will be 3 yearsold in february. Yes it's a DEEP sand bed.


My theories include:
1. Bad salt, trates were 15 and lowering until I started doing 5g water changes bi weekly.
2. Sand bed isn't stirred up enough.( was going to gettign some sand'-sifter cucumbers but I don't want them to die of nitrates)
3. Bad tests. Only 2 weeks from API but still may be wrong.

I will be ordering new salt and a SALIFERT nitrate test kit soon.

Hope I answered all your questions

Jake