Nitrates are up to 40ppms now

I have only had my tank for about 3-4 weeks now.

I have 10 under the sand snails, 10 snails that go up for air periodically, and 25 red leg hermit crabs.

They have been in the tank for about a week now, and it looked like they had already eaten most of the brown algae... So I got some 'Algae Wafers', crushed them up, and tosses two pinches of them in. I did this two days in a row, then tested the water on the third day. The Nitrates are up to between 20 and 40ppms now.

Everything else looked ok, except the calcium, which was a ~540ppms.

What do I do to lower the nitrates?
I am going to do a 20% water change today, but I need to know if I should use RO water instead of tap water (Tap water is what is in the tank now, and tap water is what I have been adding for evaporation).

If I do add RO water, is there anything I need to add to the RO water to make it ok for my tank?

Thank you for your time.

Frog...

 

You don't need to add anything to RODI and yes you do need to do a water change to lower nitrates.

 

Get a DI unit. Never use tap, it will lead to algae and copper in the tank.

 

When you say DI unit, you mean an RO filter unit, correct?

 

Did this tank cycle fully?

Water changes as you are doing – test the water before you add it to the tank and make sure your RO filters aren’t causing you trouble. If you were using tap water that would be the cause as well.

Tell us about the history in the past few weeks – describe the cycle, what you tested when you tested and the results. Aside from that – check your make up water parameters.

I just reread your op. You are using tap water, test the tap water for nitrates and you will probably have your answer. But for my money you are rushing things, for what its worth, 3-4 weeks old, adding your cuc 1 week ago is just too quick in my opinion. Also seems as if you have a fair amount of homework to do; start here:

Reef Tank Parameters:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php
Randy’s tank basics:
Part I: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php
Part II: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php
Part III: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php
Part IV: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php

 

You add this, it's sort of like a water polisher, a di will help get you to 0 TDS
Single DI Canister - English
They also sell dual. A DI is a RO system on steroids. You add it at the end of the RO unit.

 

I think I already have that. I have a three stage filtering system. I thought one filter was for carbon, not sure what the other one is for, and the third stage is the RO membrane canister.

I was not using it yet, because I was told tap water is fine to use (Even though in Arizona our TDS level from the tap is ~750ppms), and because I thought I would have to add calcium and other chems/minerals to the RO water to make it right for the tank.

 

Yeah, I thought so too, but I measured the water, the guy at one store measured the water, and I even took it to another store to have it measured a third time to make sure I could add life last week. I think it was the fourth week of cycling before I added the life.

Anyway, I agree. I need to know so much more before I add anything else. I am going to wait a few more months, and read everything I can, before adding anything else.

Some good news: One of my crabs moved out of his/her original shell into a larger one last night. That is soooo freakin cool. I need to get more empty shells for his/her friends now though.

 

pretty normal, you can and should water change the nitrates down to less than 20ppm for your inverts sake.

 

You have the right attitude – I guarantee you will be very successful in this hobby. Finding this web site was a huge step in the right direction, the amount of knowledge here is mind staggering. Whatever you encounter in the future someone here has already been there and can help you out … it’s awesome ! We all made the mistakes in the beginning (oh man did I ! )

Follow those links I posted – everything there is accurate and easy to understand.

I suggest you pick up and use RO/DI, continue with weekly water changes until your parameters are corrected – then wait 2 more weeks before doing anything, the key will be to go slow and not rush anything. I look forward to seeing your pictures !!