High Nitrate Levels

[J_Vee]

Hello,

In the last 2 weeks, my nitrate level has been high. I have done a 5 gallon water change daily for 2 weeks and the nitrate level level has not budged. The ammonia level is negative as is the nitrite level, pH, salinity, phosphates are all in normal limits. I use RO water only.

I even bought another kit Nitrate test kit from a different company. This is an established system for 4 years. Any suggestions? Thanks


J_Vee

 

[Ace25]

LARGE water changes daily and really blow out your rocks with each waterchange.

How big is the tank? I ran into this exact problem with someone elses tank locally, 130G tank setup for 3+ years and nitrates had creeped up to 200. Doing 10% daily had 0 effect on Nitrate levels because the rocks were so full of junk from years of sitting that any small amount of nitrates you would pull out via small 10% water changes would come right back from the rocks leaching them back into the tank.

Solution to the problem was to do DAILY 90% water changes for about a week straight. That was a lot of water on a 130G tank, but after the 3rd day of doing it nitrates started to fall and after day 5 nitrates went from 200 down to 20 which was much more managable.

 

[J_Vee]

ACE25,

What do you mean by "blow out the rocks". It is a 30 gallon tank. Thanks


J_Vee

 

[Riiz]

Direct some flow into the rocks or used another pump to clear out the rock work, it might be holding onto some detritus or other bio-material and that can be your source of nitrate.

 

[melissadotson]

you said that you have a 30 gal. tank? i have a question? you must know about satlwater tanks..i'm going to be starting a 30 gal. my self i was wondering what is the cheapest way to start one ? i just want to have 2 clown fish and maybe a chunck of rock and some live sand..and if i don't get the clown fish i was thinking of going with damsels.... so how much do you think it would cost me to do it the cheapest way...? and thanks for any answers..

 

[Amphiprion]

you said that you have a 30 gal. tank? i have a question? you must know about satlwater tanks..i'm going to be starting a 30 gal. my self i was wondering what is the cheapest way to start one ? i just want to have 2 clown fish and maybe a chunck of rock and some live sand..and if i don't get the clown fish i was thinking of going with damsels.... so how much do you think it would cost me to do it the cheapest way...? and thanks for any answers..

Hi. Your best option to get your questions answered would be to start a thread. Your topic is very broad and it would be rude to get this thread sidetracked attempting to answer it. In the meantime, I suggest you look at the following topics:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192682
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192743
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190569
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192097
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191882
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191238

FWIW, all of these were started within the last two weeks. All sorts of threads can be perused in the General Marine/Newbie section that would answer your question. Take a look there and if you don't see anything that quite gives you the answer you need, then start a thread there.

 

[Ace25]

ACE25,
What do you mean by "blow out the rocks". It is a 30 gallon tank. Thanks

J_Vee

Simple way is to just use a turkey baster, blow into as many holes in the rocks that you can reach. Your water should look pretty nasty at this point. Do a 90% waterchange, or as big as you can (I would shoot for 20-25G), and let everything settle for 24 hours, then repeat until your nitrates fall to acceptable levels. It is the quickest method I have found to solve the problem and your tank will be better off for it when your done.

 

[kryptic4l]

Simple way is to just use a turkey baster, blow into as many holes in the rocks that you can reach. .

+1

 

[J_Vee]

Folks,

Thanks for the help. It took 2 90% water changes to get the Nitrate to about 20, the 2 50% water changes to get it down to near 0.:thm:

J_Vee