help my nitrates are off the charts!!

[cannonman]

I had a very similar problem, got a deal on a well established 75 gal. complete with everything and 8-10 fish. Nitrates went through the roof after the move and took weeks to get them in check. The previous owners had a deep bed of crushed coral and moving it all stirred up all the muck- I had to clean the sump, bio balls, combined with substantial water changes on a weekly basis for a while before I got them in check. Moving tanks can really cause havok.

 

[cskendrick]

Well i tested my water with a new test kit and the nitrates are still over 200ppm. Not sure what to do. i guess i will do weekly water changes for like 2 weeks and see if the nitrates go down, if still not go down then i might just have to take all the sand out and then take the crushed coral that was under the sand out and clean the take, but thats 125gal of water, that will be last resort. any other idea or should i just wait it out, thanks

 

[puffer32]

I don't think 2 water changes are going to make alot of difference, in your case, probably not enough to matter. Get an RO unit and make your own water. And take the others advice and start over. Welcome to the boards, I hope you take the advice we are giving you, I don't think your plan will work. Good luck.

 

[cyclops]

I just bought a new test kit also I had the Saltwater Master kit for a couple of months and my Nitrates where always 80 so I did 60Gallon weekly water changes on a 135G tank so I then started cleaning the pumps and the plumbing that carries all the water and still my Nitrates where 80 so 3 days ago I bought the Reef Master Kit and tried the new Nitrate test set and it read 5ppm. So with all of this said please before you tear everything up try another test kit or someone else test it. I hope this helps.
James