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Nitrate problems.

post #1 of 13
10/12/11 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 

 I have been having nitrate problems since the hurricane came threw the east coast. The power was out for 3 days. I just wanted to know what I can do to lower the nitrates? I have been doing 5 gallon water changes once a week (30g tank) and feeding much less. I also have been changing my filter media every week with the water changes. I cant get them under control. Am I doing something wrong? 

 

 

Here's what I'm running

       

2 bio wheel filters(550gph)

2 power heads

 

 

         livestock

2 clown fish

1 bi-color blenny

1 Talbot's damsel

1 little red fish?

2 chocolate chip stars

numerous snails and hermit crabs

1 cocoa feather duster

 

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post #2 of 13
10/12/11 at 10:49am

Any live rock?  Any live sand?  What exactly is the Nitrate level?  Do you also have an issue with Phosphates?

 

An algae scrubber would be a good add-on as my first recommendation.

 

A 20 gallon water change would be a good temporary start.

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post #3 of 13
10/12/11 at 9:11pm
Thread Starter 

Yea I have both but to give an exact number I couldn't tell you . The tanks pretty full with live rock though.

 

 

Nitrates-80ppm (I know its outrageous)

Phosphates-2.0 ( I don't know if this is good or bad)

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post #4 of 13
10/13/11 at 6:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by along View Post

Yea I have both but to give an exact number I couldn't tell you . The tanks pretty full with live rock though.

 

 

Nitrates-80ppm (I know its outrageous)

Phosphates-2.0 ( I don't know if this is good or bad)


2.0 is very bad for phosphates, and 80 is pretty bad for nitrates but deadly to inverts and coral.

 

 

I thought I had high nitrates, 80+, it turns out my nitrates were 1....my API test kit had a 2008 date on the bottle..and it was an unopened kit that I had just recieved. .
 

 

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post #5 of 13
10/13/11 at 8:26am

My phosphate, I couldn't keep down either.

 

Constant water changes will bring the lvl of the the nitrates down to normal lvls in due time. (live rock will help also) 

Phosphate, I'm not the best guy to give you the advise but I heard that API's Phos-zorb is pretty good. (I bought some yesterday to try out. My lvl is at 2.5-5)

tried phos ban didn't work too well for me. I will let you know of the result if you are interested.

 

 

 

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post #6 of 13
10/13/11 at 8:32am

Start doing water changes often, if your power was off 3 days then the bacteria in those bio wheel filters died and produced ammonia and now nitrates. You are probable going threw a cycle. A suggestion if it happens again empty the filters of water and place the wheels in the tank, add battery powered air pumps or I just manually aerate the tank during outages.

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post #7 of 13
10/13/11 at 2:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Siptang View Post

My phosphate, I couldn't keep down either.

 

Constant water changes will bring the lvl of the the nitrates down to normal lvls in due time. (live rock will help also) 

Phosphate, I'm not the best guy to give you the advise but I heard that API's Phos-zorb is pretty good. (I bought some yesterday to try out. My lvl is at 2.5-5)

tried phos ban didn't work too well for me. I will let you know of the result if you are interested.

 

 

 



I would definitly like to know how it works for you. And I will keep at it with the water changes.

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post #8 of 13
10/13/11 at 2:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Limpid View Post

Start doing water changes often, if your power was off 3 days then the bacteria in those bio wheel filters died and produced ammonia and now nitrates. You are probable going threw a cycle. A suggestion if it happens again empty the filters of water and place the wheels in the tank, add battery powered air pumps or I just manually aerate the tank during outages.



so does that mean the fish will eventually die along with everything else. and thanks for the info with the bio wheels

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post #9 of 13
10/14/11 at 12:26pm

Nope, not with the constant care. (water changes I mean) As long as the parameters stays in check, you should be fine.

 

It's only been day and a half so far so I haven't tested it but will do so on Sunday when I'm off. I should be able to see the difference if it's working.

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post #10 of 13
10/15/11 at 5:24pm
Thread Starter 

OK thanks for the help but definitely let me know the results.

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post #11 of 13
10/16/11 at 12:40am

Lots of water changes. Keep in mind if you do a 10% water change the level of bad stuff will only reduce by 10% as well.

 

Also if you have a sump you could grow some macro algae or run an algae turf scrubber.

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post #12 of 13
10/17/11 at 7:24am

Sorry Along was away for awhile, your fish need oxygen and salt water has less than fresh. Oxygen exchange happens at the surface that why we need to circulate our tanks to bring lower water to the surface, so during long periods of no circulation the fish use up the oxygen.

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post #13 of 13
10/17/11 at 1:19pm

Hey buddy, I checked my po4 parameters yesterday and it went from 5 to .5. That's from wed to sunday. I was very pleasantly surprised because I was kind of iffy on it.

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