12g nanocube nitrate problem, help!

[katfish22]

Can anyone tell me what would cause my nitrates to be 20 ppm? Salinity is 1.023 and I don't seem to need to top the tank off. Ammonia and nitrites are fine but I'm struggling to keep the pH level above 8. I think that problem is caused by the high nitrates.
History: everything was fine for a while. pH level needed boosting so I added 1 tsp a day of SeaBuffer as recommended by a friend and monitored its level so as not to get too high. Then I rinsed out the filter sponges in the back and the carbon bag with the water from cleaning out my tank...recommended again by a friend so as not to lose benficial bacteria. A water change improves it just a little but it isn't lowering. No fish, just a clearner shrimp, 3 crabs, xenia (which I am worried about), green star polyps and a zoo.
What am I doing wrong?

 

[katfish22]

I should probably add that I am feeding the cleaner shrimp a TINY(!) piece of formula 1 everyday and a capful of marine snow everyother day for the corals. Is that enough? Too much?
There is one other thing. I have an unknown snail-like creature. The underbody looks like that of a cowry but I can't find anything that resembles in it books or online. Anyway, I just caught it expelling something into the water. Is that normal for snails? I've tried to get pics but they don't turn out. It is too small.

 

[zephyrlily]

Did you remove the bio-balls and ceramic rings?

 

[katfish22]

I have sand and did water changes every 2 weeks. Weekly as of late and the last time I vacuumed the sand as much as I could. I was surprised it didn't help. I took the bio balls and the ceramic rings out weeks ago. Should I put them back in?

 

[zephyrlily]

Originally posted by Katfish22
Should I put them back in?
No, not with a reef setup. They will actually raise the nitrates. Your LR is serving as bio filtration.

 

[katfish22]

I took a water sample to a friend. They tested it and it was fine. That is good news. I bought more lr just to be safe thinking maybe it was on the low side. Thanks Zephyrlily & Mark for trying to help. Not sure why my test kit went bad.
Kat:happyfish22

 

[wrassecal]

How long have you had the nano cube? Do you like it? I just bought one a couple weeks ago. I really like it so far. I had to house a couple fish while I conduct a black out in the 135 to get rid of a big algae problem. I think I'm going to keep it in the bedroom with a couple fish in it. I'm glad to hear your nitrates are 0 but 20 on nitrates isn't that bad. 20 on nitrites would be bad though. Here's my nano cube...

 

[stevebk]

Katfish-
Good job on taking out those bioballs and ceramics. You can probably remove all the sponges, too, besides the one just inside the intake. So... It's been a couple of days now and I'd recommend doing another nitrate test. If you're using the Aq. Pharm. one like most everone does where you're adding 10 drops of 2 indicators, make sure whoever is doing your test SHAKES both bottles well- if you don't, the nitrates won't register and you'll get false good news. Further, as I remember you don't have a ton of corals in that tank- isn't a capful of marine snow quite a bit? I've never used that product, so I'm not sure how concentrated it is, but I know with my feeding regiment (phytoplankton and cyclopeeze) I only use 2 drops of each every other day. And I have a LOT of coral in my tank. One other thing- how's your water change schedule? I say it all the time, but water changes are the most important (and most irritating) part of these tanks. I'm never surprised when I miss a water change by a few days and my nutrient levels climb really quickly. Anyway, not to preach but I hope everything's as good as it looks. Good luck!

 

[psychoskater]

Hey,
I dont want to bother you guys but it would be really helpful if you could tell me how much room is in that hood to put lighting. I am planning on getting the nanocube but I want to make a plan for lighting first. It would jsut be really helpful.
Thanks,
Alex

 

[rich460]

hi all new to site i just got a nono cube and the guy at the fish store told me to keep all the stuff in my filter.

 

[hassasin]

Just out of curiosity, what is the benefit to taking out the bioballs and ceramics? Im asking because I dont know anything about these things, and Im about to buy a nanocube. Also, as I was looking at the eclipse and the nano, I noticed the nano has a much better quality set of lights, are the lights that come on the nano good enough to keep live rock and cleaner crew, aswell as a couple of small clowns. I dont really want to have anything on the LR except for some shrooms, maybe.
If the lights are not enough, where is a good place to look for a retrofit kit designed for the nano.

 

[footbag]

For shrooms the nano's lights would be fine. (PC's right?) Clowns and Live Rock don't need any special lighting.
Reefkeepers remove bioballs because they tend to hold a lot of decaying matter. They need rinsing with saltwater or else they become "nitrate factories". This, in fact, is not a bad thing because it means less ammonia and nitrites, but nitrates remain the most difficult to remove.
Water changes are the most efficient way to remove nitrates, and you will be adding trace elements at the same time. Another way to erradicate nitrates is by adding a refugium. A refugium is a seperate tank hooked up to the same water supply. This tank grows variuos macro algaes which absorbs Nitrates as it grows. A regular harvest removes the nitrate from your system.