Question about Nitrates and Anenomes

Hi Everybody!
I'm still pretty new to saltwater tanks. The tank has been operating since November. I currently have 3 freshwater tanks so I do have some experience. About 2 months ago, I had a ich breakout. I bought a fish from Petco that came down with a severe case of ich the day after I got it. From there, one of my snowflake clowns had it as well as my three bangaii cardinalfish. Petco told me that it was ich but honestly I still doubt it. Unfortunately, I lost my clownfish, tang, and 3 bengaii cardinalfish. Before any of this happened, my water parameters were perfect. Nitrates and Nitrites at 0. Alkalinity at 180, ph at 7.8 and salinity at 1.024. I'm pretty sure that my tank is back to normal now after my little hiccup in the aquarium. But ever since the hiccup my nitrates have been at 20. I have done repeated water changes (about 20%) and still haven't been able to bring them down. I do these water changes 2-3 times a week, depending on my school schedule. I have been doing it for a month or so now. These are my water parameters now:
Nitrates:20
Nitrites: 0
P.H 7.8
Alk. 180
Salinity: 1.024
Any other recommendations on how to bring these down, without using medications.
The main reason why i'm so anxious to get everything back to normal is because my snowflake clown is lonely. She has been looking for the other one for a few months now and I would like to add another one to my tank soon. Also, I have noticed her playing with the seaweed and hiding in it. Is this an indication she might want an anemone? What are your recommendations on anemones? Would it be too soon to add one? Do my nitrates have to be consistently at 0 to add one? Any recommendations on anemones to add? I heard clown fish loved the bubble tipped ones. Please let me know! Thank you!

 

The nitrates must be building from somewhere. Did you medicate when you had the ich outbreak? Did they increase when your fish died? Were they in there a while before you could remove them? Does your sand stir up at all? Are you feeding less since there are fewer inhabitants? I am just throwing out thoughts on where they could be coming from. Maybe cut back on feeding and see if they lower at all after WCs. Also if you aren't doing so already, vacuum the gravel a little at a time during WCs. Do you have algae issues? If you don't do a WC do the nitrates rise?

An anemone is fine with some nitrates you just need to make sure alk, salinity, and temp are pretty stable with anemone. Bubble tips are some of the easier ones to keep. The clown may or may not make it his home. It is pretty hit or miss. They do go into some corals as well, Hammer, frogspawns, duncans, torches to name a few, and they are a bit more forgiving than anemones sometimes.

I hope this helps.

 

Thank you for the fast reply! I did medicate when I had my ich breakout. I used Ruby Reef Ich Attack. I have a habit of checking my fish on a regular basis so when they died they weren't in there that long, maybe an hour. Also when I noticed they were swimming funny and on the verge of dying I took them out and put them in a fish bowl. It seemed like after this, the nitrates went up to 20. However, I feel after 2 months they should be improving. I only feed my fish a pinch a day, if that and I feed them shrimp every other day. I do have algae in the tank but I think it's normal growth, on the sides of the tank and the rocks. The nitrates do not go up if I don't do a water change, it's always consistent. I have live sand, and mix it up on a regular basis before a water change. Than I collect as much stuff in the water with the gravel cleaner. Any thoughts?

 

What size is the tank?Stop cleaning the sand.If you are seeing algae you have excess nutrients.Fish are dirty and stocking a sw tank is very different from a fw one.
How are you doing wc's?Are you using premixed sw?Have you had your test results double/triple checked?

 

My tank is 75 gallons. I'm doing water changes 2-3 times a week (20%) to help bring down the nitrates (recommendations from my local pet store). I'm using instant ocean salt. Before a water change, I put in 25 gallons of water, 12.5 cups of instant ocean, the water conditioner and mix it up. I also let it sit for a white with a heater to make sure it's the same temperature as the tank. I tested my water from the faucet thinking that maybe the nitrates were being introduced from it but it's reading 0. I have had my water checked by two different petcos, my local fish store, myself, and at my work (I work at a pool and spa store where we can test for nitrates, nitrites, etc.) I only feed my fish a pinch, if that, at night, and shrimp every other day. Here is what is currently in my tank:
1 snowflake clown
1 yellow tang
1 lawnmower blenney
1 six line wrasse
1 fire shrimps and 3 small hermit crabs that came in the live rock.
Any ideas?

 

If you are using tapwater chances are good you are adding nutrients every time you change the water.Phosphates,nitrates as well as copper, arsenic,etc.An rodi system will greatly enhance your chances of success.I would not add any more fish until you can acheive a clean healthy system.Your tang will need greens daily.