Nitrate is high

LOL, well, two posts above I listed a whole bunch You didn't like any of them? Water change are next to useless for nitrates, they will always come back quickly unless the source is removed. The things I listed may take a while to work, but they do work. not sure what else to say.....

 

like m2434 said, i would make sure you have enough flow and no dead spots. Also, i'm not sure that your cuc is large enough. you might get on reefcleaners' website and fill out the custom cuc form and see what they recommend.

 

I guess I have more to say Here are some more thoughts/suggestions:

How much skimmate is it removing per week? There are a lot of variables, but I would guess you should be filling the collection cup about 1/2 way or so every week, with moderately dark skimmate.

Filter socks can be a source of nitrates. They should be washed thoroughly once every 3 days or so. Might be worth trying to remove it for a few weeks and see what happens.

Live rock rubble is another source of nitrates. It can collect detritus, but the pieces are too small to do anything for denitrification. The pores just are not deep enough.

There really aren't many marine plants, there is marine macro algae. Plants have roots, macro algae does not. Macro algae removes nutrients from the water, which is what you want. Plants have roots and remove nutrients from the soil, this is less helpful for nitrates, as you are detecting them in your water column. Plants and macro algae are probably tougher to keep than corals. Except maybe a few weed type algaes, such as cheato or caulerpa, but these should be run in your fuge, not your display, as cheato does not hold to anything and caulerpa will overgrow everything.

 

I empty a dark brown half cup every 4 days or so now. its working great i finally found a perfect spot that i like.

I will wash my filter sock once i get home today. I was also told my HOB skimmer is in need of a cleaning in ruturn might help the cause of the nitrates.

I just got 2 nice sized balls of Macro algae. About softball size each. i hope they lower my levels. i will test tonight when i get home. Test 2 days ago when i put them in read 30.