How long to wait after doing a water change?

That is a great idea as well. You could use something like an aquaclear 70 as a fuge as well and mount something like a desk lamp that clips to it for light. ;D

 

lol if you get a refugium, you should make sure its big enough to add enough algae/live rock to make a dent in your tank's biological filtration. Its a common mistake to have an undersized refugium.

And you can look around for a bottle of cycling bacteria to help speed up the cycling. Public aquariums use it if they are running behind on construction and need to get fish in asap.
If you have fish already in the tank, just introduce more bacteria to eat away at that ammonia instead of getting rid of the ammonia causing fish.

 

Hello ZC42. I see in your signature you have “46 gallon bowfront (Cycled!)” so for my 2 cents I’ll assume this to be accurate. You said your Nitrates are high, exactly how high? This answer along with the actual age of this tank, set up and an explanation of how your cycle went will influence the response to your question.

 

Yes, I am cycled

Parameters-

Ph:8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
NitrIte: 0ppm
NitrAte: 60-80 I can't see exactly on the color chart, but its coming down since I first started doing water changes.
I bought seachem purigen and matrix, which should be coming soon, and also dosed the tank with prime...to my understanding this should de toxify nitrate?
Also I have read that API saltwater test kits can read fake reading...I've only had one test kit. I'm really confused- how can I have such high nitrates without any nitrite/ammonia

Thanks for your help!

 

The Nitrogen cycle breaks waste into ammonia then nitrites then to nitrates. This happens relativity quickly, but the bacteria that breaks nitrates into nitrogen gas need alot more specific parameters. very low O2 levels, which is why some people favor Deep Sand Beds. Also large chunks of LR will provide the right requirements. Its tough with a large bioload to stay ahead of these, especially right after a cycle.

 

Nitrate reduction via waterchange is directly proportional to the amount of water being removed. For example, if you do a 10% w/c the nitrates will lower by 10%, if you do a 50% w/cand nitrates will be reduced by half.
You need to find out why the are so high to begin with.
Tap Water for w/c?
Overfeeding?
Trapped detritus or filter socks/pads left uncleansed?

And as far as API test kits. IMO/IME the quality of any liquid test kit is only as good as the ability of the user to perform the test per the written instruction.
Read the instruction pamphlet and follow the instruction. Cut corners and your results are skewed.

Check expiration dates, don't use tests with seals that have been broke longer than a year.

Hold the bottle straight up and down. If you tilt it while adding drops there is more surface area available for the regeant to cling to and the drops will be larger. This will greatly influence accurate readings.

forgot to add this article on test kit comparison:
http://kb.marinedepot.com/article.aspx?id=10833

There are other write ups by other authors. The results are always the same. Google it.

 

Okay so I can continue to do large water changes and eventually it will go away? I can do another 5 gallons but that's all I have enough salt for until Wednesday (the LFS is closed). I've heard some mixed info on the toxicity of nitrates- some ppl have kept at 160 ppm for years and never had problems? Will prime help? What about Kenya or xenias?

 

I found the source!! At least I think I did... Well, I used to have a mature sand bed in my cycling tank with a lot of debris (I have a whole other thread about that) and I took out 95% of the mature sand and was told i could bury the rest. Turns out I didn't bury one part, as it was impossible to see with all the sand in the water. There are a lot of snail shells which i am about to scoop out.

 

I got most of it out and buried the rest.