Help, high nitrate
- Thread starter vicchic
- Start date
vicchic
New Member
I Use Ro Water, I Have About 90 Lbs Of Lr Cultured. I Have A Nemo, Clown, Sailfin, 2 Firefish, Goby, A Citron Clown Goby And An Coral Beauty Fish, A Starfish, Snails And Corals. I Have Had This Nitrate Problem For About 3 Months And Can Not Get My Levels Down Below 40 I Have Algae In My Ref, With Live Rock As Well. I Have 5 Powerheads Going As Well. I Use Red Sea Salt. My Ph Fluctuates And I Add An Additive To Keep It Contstant At 8.3 But My Nitrate And Ammonia Are Undetectable. I Am About At My Wits End I Can Not Keep An Anemone Alive, But Everything Else Is Okay My Starfish Looks A Little Sick. I Did Have A Cucumber At One Time That I Can Not Find I Am Not Sure If I Still Have One. I Did Have Crushed Coral In My Tank And Took It All Out And Added Live Sand I Have 5 Bags On It In There. Please Help
dskidmore
Active Member
Originally Posted by vicchic
My Ph Fluctuates And I Add An Additive To Keep It Contstant At 8.3
Which additive? Is this the AM/PM swing, where the pH rises through the day, and drops through the night, or a longer term swing?
What is your water change frequency, ammount, and proceedure?
My Ph Fluctuates And I Add An Additive To Keep It Contstant At 8.3
Which additive? Is this the AM/PM swing, where the pH rises through the day, and drops through the night, or a longer term swing?
What is your water change frequency, ammount, and proceedure?
carshark
Active Member
Originally Posted by DSkidmore
Which additive? Is this the AM/PM swing, where the pH rises through the day, and drops through the night, or a longer term swing?
What is your water change frequency, ammount, and proceedure?
yeah youre lighting may be giving you false readings, how much surface aggitation do you have? try testing in the morning before the lights come on, i think Mr.Bill will agree with this one!
Which additive? Is this the AM/PM swing, where the pH rises through the day, and drops through the night, or a longer term swing?
What is your water change frequency, ammount, and proceedure?
yeah youre lighting may be giving you false readings, how much surface aggitation do you have? try testing in the morning before the lights come on, i think Mr.Bill will agree with this one!
shoreliner11
Active Member
How often do you feed?
vicchic
New Member
I feed every other day a cube of brine or mysis shrimp and a piece of krill and then 3 x a week i feed Kent phytoplex and zooplankten. I change the water , about 20-25% a month with RO water I use Kent Sea Salt, the ph is the pm swing. I will try checking it in the am before the lights come on, but i use Seacheam correct ph of 8.3. What kind of test kit do you guys use, i have two different kinds and i have noticed a diffrence in the readings between test types. I did a water change on the 23rd, and tested my water last night a my nitrate was at 40, which is down from what it was. I have 5 wavemakers going as well as my ref pump and two mechanical filters on it. I will try and take a picture and send to you guys tommorow. Thanks for all your help, I need it. I am frustrated with spending all this money and then my stuff dying.(which i have kept all my corals alive now for about 2 months with no mishaps)
dskidmore
Active Member
Originally Posted by miked0523
You might want to try not using the zooplankton for awhile. a 20% water change a week sounds good to me until your nitrate levels drop.
:nod: - what happened to the nodding smilie?
Whenever you have a problem with water chemistry, increasing water changes is a useful too to correct it. As long as you have perfect water going in, the resulting mix should gravitate towards perfect.
You might want to try not using the zooplankton for awhile. a 20% water change a week sounds good to me until your nitrate levels drop.
:nod: - what happened to the nodding smilie?
Whenever you have a problem with water chemistry, increasing water changes is a useful too to correct it. As long as you have perfect water going in, the resulting mix should gravitate towards perfect.