nitrates high..update

Well I thought I would update everyone on my nitrate problem. I have been doing water changes since last thursday and my nitrates are still between 30-40ppm. I have been vacuuming my substrate really good, removed quite a bit of stuff, I 've been blowing my rocks, cleaned out the intakes to the powerheads and still no improvement.

My rics are the only corals being affected, they are a little shrunken, and I have lost my scooter blenny, he passed on last night! I will miss him because he was a joy to watch.

I am at a loss as to what is causing this problem. I have gone through everything and I am going to say it's probably my filter sponge! I can't think of anything else that could be doing this if I have cleaned everything.

 

30-40 isn't extremely bad but I understand your desire to get it lower.
how large and how many water changes have you been doing
Have you measured nitrates in you fresh water?
Have you measured nitrates in you water+ salt?
it could be your water change water is going in with high nitrates

when you vacuum the sand bed you will stir up a lot of crap could be have to wait a bit to see a drop.

I would remove the Aquaclear

J

 

I have been removing 18 litres every other day. My ro water reads 0 for nitrates and no I haven't tested my make up water. I use instant ocean salt and it's supposed to be nitrate free.

Do you think I have enough LR to remove the sponge from the filter because I think it's probably the bigger problem. I just don't think my tank could handle a spike at this point so I am trying to be safe. I hate the sponge and think it's most likely the cause even though I clean it weekly.

 

you know what you could do. Turn the Aquaclear into a Refugium. Pull the sponge and carbon out then find LR rubble and add that to the bottom. then you could plant mangroves

j

 

different nitrite test

HI,
I am sure you checked but there are two distinctive nitrite test on the market one measure true nitrite and the other measure nitrogen+nitrite , the seconed method may have 4 times the normal values of the first.
Be sure your apples are apples.
if your using the second method it may be normal.
Doug

 

Sounds like you have done all the rite things. Other than removing the filter sponge, I may suggest that you evaluate your feeding habits, and perhaps feed a little less. You may not have enough anaerobic bacteria to handle the nitrate level your nutrients are producing. You may have to do this until you either get refuge with plants, or a decent level of anaerobic bacteria which require a low oxygen, slow moving water system (sump) with very porous media such as lava rock. Good luck

 

Nemo, sorry to hear about your scooter, I lost one a while back so i know what you mean. I to dont think 30-40 is dangerous. But agree that you should over time try to bring it down. I know I change my sponges about every 2 weeks. I also thought about taking mine out all together but ended up leaving them in cuz afraid to tamper with what has been working. Good luck.

 

Well it sucks to hear about the fish, on the other hand it sounds like the nitrate problem is starting to come around.

 

I actually removed my sponge because I do think it's the culprit. I have about 37-40lbs LR and I used tufa as base rock which I do believe is seeded so I really think that my LR and skimmer should do the job on it's own. Sponges collect and trap nitrates and put it back into the tank so I want to see if this is my problem. I am going to cntinue adding LR a 1lb or 2 at a time when my tank stabilizes.

I don't think my sponge was doing anything for me as I made the biggest mistake of all..rinsing it in freshwater which would kill all the bacteria on it, so this whole time my sponge was really doing nothing.

 

You may want to cure it externally to avoid a spike in ammonia. It is quite easy if you have the room

J