HELP! with Nitrates

meezercrazy

meezercrazy

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Dec 4, 2003
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HELP!!
I have tried to fix the problem on my own. Asking people at my LFS and such, but to no avail. Here's my problem. I have a 75 Gallon FOWLR. I tested the water recently and the Nitrates were off the charts! (at least 120 ppm) So I did a 25 Gallon water change using RO as I always do. Then checked the Nitrates again...it changed a little it looked more like 80 than 120 this time. I waited a week and did another 25 gallon RO water change. This time there was no effect at all the same reading 80! This has been going on for about a month. Every week I do at least 25 Gallon RO water change and NO CHANGE in nitrate :mad2 What's up with that? :huh: I have a hair algae problem that I have been fighting since it first started to appear. I've tried many different products to reduce nitrate and phosphate and inhibit its growth. Purigen, Kent's Nitrate Sponge, Prime by Seachem. Nothing seems to work. I haven't even lost a fish in a really long time!

Should I try a 50 or 60% water change? I've read in the forums about taking the Live Rock out and scrub it with a toothbrush in a bucket of the tanks water. Maybe I will try that along with the water change. I don't have enough jugs to change that much. So I'll have to try half RO and half tap water which have 5 ppm nitrate level in it. (better than 80 I guess),

Here are my tanks specs.
75 Gallon FOWLR
about 65-75 lbs. of LR with subtrate of about 1 inch of crushed coral and 1 inch of arag-sand on top.
Filter: Emperor 400 dual bio wheel filter
extra compartments included 1. (carbon and zeolite) & 2. (Kent's Nitrate Sponge)
Protein Skimmer: Prizm Pro Deluxe
Turbo Twist 9W UV Sterilizer
Lights: 220 W Power Compacts (4 x 55w) 2 Daylight, 2 Actinc 03
Heater - Of course!

Fish:
1 Orange Shoulder Tang - 5.5 Inches
1 Blue Spotted Puffer - 3 Inches
1 Dragon Goby - 2.5 Inches
1 Yellow Tail Blue Damsel- 2 Inches
2 Ocillarus Clownfish 2 Inches EA.
1 Christmas Wrasse - 4 Inches
1 Royal Gramma - 2 Inches
1 Falco's Hawkfish 3 Inches

Inverts:
1 Yellow Brittle Star
1 Banded Serpent Star
1 Gigantic Condy
20 or so Hermits--I had a lot more, but I think my puffer ate them! :sad
10 or so various snails (astrea & turbo)
I recently lost both my emerald crabs! :sad

Test Results:
Ammonia is now @ 1.0 - it's NEVER been that high!!!!
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 80
PH = 8.2
I don't have a Phosphate or KH test kit, sorry!

Can someone please HELP!!!!! :bowing:
Any suggestions would be MUCH Appreciated
 
Something is seriously wrong if you have ammonia, even the slightest bit of ammonia after the cycle. Once a tank cycles you should never see ammonia or nitrite again. Are you sure you have an accurate test kit? That it hasn't expired? Your tank seems to have a lot of fish in it. That would definitely cause high nitrate. Also using crushed coral can cause high nitrate due to the amount of space in between the pieces. I would say you need more filtration too. That would definitely help. I have a 55g salt, that has 75-85 pounds of live rock, 2 Emperor 400's, a protein skimmer, and several powerheads to keep H2O moving. The tank has low Nitrate even with 3 Lions and 2 Triggs inside (known heavy waste producers). Anyway, hope this helps and good luck!
 
My friend, nitrate is a result of organics.
Adding a more powerful or second skimmer will help; skimmers remove organics. Reduce your dissolved organic compounds and the nitrates will follow. Assuming you are not overfeeding (most do) all you need is less organics and additional organic/nutrient export. You are doing this artificially with water changes, but in my experience this only addresses the symptoms not the source.
Indeed, you could change ALL the water but it will eventually keep rising.
The source is what you need to change. In this case, likely the substrate. Caution; with no undergravel plate to circulate things down there, you could have a sulphide bomb ready to explode. Although the old undergravel plates are scorned by many, they did a good job for years in many fish tanks of keeping things from going anaerobic. That's why I still like them in some fish systems, but they do nothing for nitrates, because like most other "filters" on the market they do not remove organics. You can replace or reduce that 2 inch substrate slowly in thirds or quarters over a period of months, but before disturbing it you would be wise to have a second tank ready to move your fish to in case of trouble.
Without an undergravel filter, I would not use crushed coral; stick with aragonite sand and research carefully how much to use with fish systems; the jury is still out on that one.
The ammonia present is cause for immediate concern.
As far as nitrates, although the jury is still out on using deep sand beds in fish tanks, you could certainly try a remote refugium with a DSB and well lighted macro algae, I have read of excellent and quick reduction of nitrates using this combo.
Research your options; you will have success.
 
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Get yourself a new test kit-keep doing the water changes.
Get more live rock-it wouldn't hurt to go clear up to 2 lbs per gallon.
It wouldn't hurt to get another or a different skimmer. I know there are a few people on this site who have had pretty good luck with their Prizm, but more of them don't think they do very well. I don't know myself-never have used one. Mine is a seaclone, and I'm not very impressed with it, but can't afford better, yet!
Consequently, I have some of the same problem you do. My nitrates are always a bit high.
One other thing I did was take my filters out of my emperor and put in some small pieces of live rock. I still have my biowheels on mine, but I have heard they can be a source of nitrates after a while.
HTH! and good luck.
 
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