Nitrate Question

So I went on vacation....Yea for me. My daughter and I left for 10 days leaving my husband behind to take care of everything in the house while we were gone. I did a water change before I left and left him instructions on how to take care of the rest of the tank telling him he shouldn't have to do a water cahnge until I get back. Well he did his testings and 2 days after I am gone the nitrates are up to 40! I tell him to do a water change again. We have a RO/DI unit that he used. He tested the next day and it was still high so on his own he did another water change. The next day it was ok then the next it was up to 80 so water change #3. That was on Sunday. Todays test before I got home showed up to 40 again. I will do a water change tomorrow AM as it is late now. After the second high he started feeding every other day and smaller amounts, except my sun coral. I have a red mushroom missing but everything else seems ok. No one that we can count for has died. Any suggestions? Why would my nitrates be so high? All other tests are normal/negative as far as he has told me!

 

when was the last time you changed the RO filters? what kinda salt mix are you using? what test kit are you using to measure nitrates? when you mix up the next batch of saltwater for your water change test it and see what the nitrates are before you do the water change.

 

The RO/DI unit is about 1 month old and it filters 75 gpd. We use Instant ocean. We use aquarium Pharmicuticals (the drop testing). and tests before adding to the tank are negative.

 

I am getting what looks like an algea build up under the top layer of sand. My cleaning crew does a good job of keeping the top clean but what about underneath? Could that be part of the problem? The algea underneath has different colors. Some is pink and some is green. I can't get a pic now but hopefully tomorrow!

 

do you test po4? if so what is that reading? how old is the tank? what were the nitrates reading before you left on vacation? (just trying to get an idea of how dramaticly they jumped between the time you left and the time your husband saw them at 40ppm) Tell us more about your filtration system (ie. skimmer, refugium, de-no3 coil, fluidized bed running phoshpate removal media, carbon, etc...)

 

Do not test for po4. What is that testing? The tank is about 2.5 months old maybe a little older. Nitrates before leaving were 0. See my signature for my set up. No coil or carbon.

 

po4 is phosphates. not always but usually if you have high nitrates you have excessive phosphates. If it were me in that situation id look into a fluidized bed reactor and run ROWAPhos, and add a de-no3 coil. I still think you may be getting a faulty reading cause jumping from 40ppm-80ppm in one day is a bit excessive. If you have any friends that are reefers see if they have a different test kit and compare results on the same water sample.

 

That is part of my problem....My guru is in the army reserves and out on his monthly run. He gets back soon but until then I will take it to my LFS and see what he says. I take it though I should still do a h2o change tomorrow? I don't think it was one day but it was 2 days. I left on a Saturday night, testing Friday night before my water change, thenhe tested again Saturday to make sure he knew how to do it and it was Monday when he got the 40 and had to do his first change. I am pretty sure that is how it was!

 

Nitrates are the end of the de-nitrification chain and if you do not have NO3 then you have a sick tank. A water change just dilutes them you have to deal with NO3's like PO4's in that you have to find a way to bind them up Or with NO3's to have them consumed as a food source by another bacterium. I use a coil de-nitrater I use a PO4 reactor and I have I do not do water changes I never have NO3 or PO4's

Recurring NO3 are always a issue to deal with . You really need to get yourself a good set of test kits and learn to do it sometime it may save your tanks life ! Often times a few hrs is all the time you get to sort the problem out not days or weeks

 

This is a really stupid question, I made did myself. When I did the test the first few times , I got confused and shook the test tube for 30 seconds on the 1st part of the test instead of the of the solution bottle. Could your husband done this?