constant high nitrates - any suggestions?

kerriann

kerriann

Member
so for the past month or so my nitrates have been running a bit high, ranging anywhere from 20-50. I want these zeroed out so I can get my nem out of my boyfriend's tank and put it back in mine! I have a 24 gal nano with about 20lbs of live rock, a perc, a diamond goby, a purple firefish, 2 yellow clown gobies and green clown goby. i also have 2 zoa frags. as far as inverts i have a sand sifter star, a pin cushion urchin, 10 snails, 10 hermits and 2 green emerald crabs. i plan to look into getting more hermits to hopefully help with the problem - anyone else have any suggestions?? i'm thinking i might need to make the sand bed a bit deeper as well considering my diamond goby has it cleared right down to the glass in some spots. i've also been doing 4-5 gallon water changes twice a week right now trying to help with this problem and it only helps for a day or so. normally we do 2 gallon water changes once a week.
params:
nitrites 0
phosphates .1 - also working on this problem but definitely seeing an improvement since we switched to RO water vs tap
ph 8.1-8.2
ammonia 0
calcium 425
 
sigmachris

sigmachris

Active Member
Check the back chambers for "gunk" and detrius. I was playing around in one of my chambers last night and was surprised by a lot of gunk. Needless to say on the next water change I will be siphoning out the chambers.
As posted above, bioballsand even LR rubble in the back chambers can trap detrius if it makes it past the mechanical filters. It is suggested to clean out ONE THIRD of the bio balls at a time. By cleaning just rinse them around in old tank water in a bucket after a water change. You don't want to rinse them all at once or rinse them in fresh water as that will kill beneficial bacteria.
 
kerriann

kerriann

Member
mine does not have bioballs, it actually has these sponge things that we clean out about once a month...
 
digitydash

digitydash

Active Member
What is your feed routine?I would do a 10 gal change which is a hair under 50% of a water change.That should lower them a little faster for you.
 
N

nereef

Guest
i would rinse the sponges in the water that comes out with each water change. that should help. you might also look into the stocklist. 6 fish (even though most are small) is a lot for a 24.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
I am gonna bet on the sponge things. When we talk about nitrate traps things like this, filter floss, filter pads, bio balls etc. can become part of the biofiltering system of your tank. They will quickly develop the bacteria needed to convert ammonia to nitrites to nitrates but then trap the nitrates as there is no where for it to go, no anoxic zone. That is why these things should be cleaned out often like NEreef suggested. I bet if you were to get rid of the sponge things all together and just used some filter floss that you threw away every week at water change you would see your nitrates tumble.
For filter floss don't get the stuff at the fish store, go to a fabric store or Wally World and pick up the cotton fiber fill. Cheap and works just as good.
 
kerriann

kerriann

Member
i feed them once a day but lately it's been every other. if i do a 10% water change would it shock the tank into another cycle?? i plan on doing another water change this evening and i'll rinse the sponges again...
 
sigmachris

sigmachris

Active Member
When my phosphates and nitrates were high in the fall I did 25% changes every 4 days and it brought everything down quickly. As someone told me, you can change 10% but that leaves 90% with high nitrates.
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
I've heard if you tried to change too much of your water at once you could risk a minicycle. I don't think that it is just Nitrates in your water and you might take out too much of some things you actually might want in there.
Anyway, the reason for multiple every day 10% water changes is to gradually drop your trates.
Best thing I did was change over to a refugium with cheato...I had the same problem with a wet/dry and the cheato did the work for me.
I would even consider throwing in a filter bag full in your display tank.
 
N

nereef

Guest
you won't run a risk of a cycle by changing too much water. the bacteria that processes waste is on the hard surfaces of the aquarium. change all the water you want as long as you test that it is the same pH, temp, and s.g. as the display tank water.
as for the clam, adding livestock isn't ever the answer to water quality issues. clams don't grow fast enough to make a dent in your nitrates anyway. any tridacna clam would be tough to keep in a 24 because: a. keeping Ca levels adequate would be tough, and b. they all grow pretty darn big.
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
cleaner clams if u dont hv the lighting. and to say clams dont make a difference is wrong. a 4 -5 inch tridacna clams can filter out quite a bit of water in a hour. they r known to reduce nitrate. i hv 5 tridacna in my 72, and they i can see my water quality has improved dramatically. calms feed off the poops ur fish produce.
 
trainfever

trainfever

Active Member
You have way too much fish for that size tank. I would remove at least 2 of them and then do a 50% water change.
 
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