Nitrates Rising

My nitrates have been goin up steadly since my tank started. I expected it to rise after cycleing, but the tank is 3 months old and my nitrates are at 20 to 40. I do weekly water changes. I am probly over feeding being a rookie and all. But that aside what else can do that. I have a canister pump as well. I change the mesh once a week.:-/

amonia 0
nitrites 0
ph 8.2
nitrates20 40

 

have a fuge?

 

Tank size and livestock?

 

When doing a W/C, siphon as much detritus off of the rocks as possible. Every tank has a spot where the marine snow settles. I'd also really work on feeding enough food for the fish to finish eating in 3 minutes. Do you have a skimmer?

 

use a turkey baster to blow your rocks clean before vacuuming bottom and water changes. do a bigger water change next one. make sure your new water doesnt already have nitrates in it.. tap water sometimes does. take a water sample to 2 LFS to have them test the nitrates to see if they get the same results..

 

Cut your feeding down to every other day also.
Change a higher percentage of water per week/biweekly too!

That along with the others advice of vacuuming the sand a bit, blowing off rocks should get it down.

Clean any mechanical filters you have very well also with each water change. They can collect a lot of nitrates.

It would help to know whats in your tank too!

 

Consider flow in the tank as well....where are your powerheads placed?

Try shifting them around a bit to be sure that all areas of the tank are getting good flow. This might mean moving rock further away from the glass as well to help keep circulation going.

Nitrates and a lot of buildup will eventually lead to other issues especially in dead flow areas. Flow and frequent "rock basting" are important. (this comes from a fellow newb who has also had similar issues BUT is winning the war now).

good luck!

also: check around for something that may have died and gotten lodged in a rock or your equipment someplace. Ive found a badly decomposed snail or two that way - and they most definitely were contributing to some of my issues.

 

A water change is a sure fire way to bring down the nitrates in your tank but, understanding why you have elevated nitrates is very important. Keeping excess nutrients out of the aquarium water is one key element in reducing your NO3. As you may know, dirty bio media become a nitrate factory, most people don't use any additional bio media besides live rock in their tanks. There are many other things that can add excess nutrients into your tank like some commercial foods which may contain undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc and overfeeding the tank is also another factor. Using , RO/DI water, a high quality salt with no NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin or similar good quality salt should really help too. You may also want to have your LFS retest your water to be sure that you are getting accurate results.

 

Flow is good. I will check for a dead critter.

I wash them well. Listed them down below.

I use my power head to blow the rocks off once a week then vacuum.

Will do with the food and yes I do have a skimmer.

36g 2 damsels, 16 hermit crabs(10 zebra 4 scarlet reef 2 blue leg), 10 nessaius snails, 1 blue tuxedo, 1 emerald crab.

Nope thinking about building a custom one do to limited space thou.

A little more info on my part is in order. Live stock in tank is up above. I have a canister filter and a power head in my tank. My tank is 36g half moon in shape so I have a pretty easy time keeping a good flow due to the rounded front. Once a week I blow off rocks with powerhead, change and wash mechanical filters, i buy water from lfs ( i dont know how good they are), Vacuum sand good, and water change is about 20% which some would say over kill but its a small tank and easy to change water. I am pretty sure my problem is over feeding but wanted your advice. Thanks for the responses guys any more opinions with the new info that I gave is still welcome. I hope I responded to all as well sorry if I missed one of you. I am not on often so I also apoligize for slow response.

 

I personally avoid disturbing the sand myself. I use a combination of sand-stirring CUC (nassarius and hermits) and keep flow over the surface of the sand with powerheads. When you vacuum sand, you tend to release a ton of crap in to the water column that the bacteria in the sand is meant to take care of