Help with NITRATES

[jsofield]

I have a 30 gallon tank and it has cyled. I noticed that nitrates started going up. Mylfs said to do a water change and I did. Nitrates did not come down and they were still going up. about 80-100ppm. Was only doing 10%water changes. I was told to try larger waterchanges so I have now done 3 15gal water changes. Nitrates are at 20 now but even after the last 15 gallon water change they are not coming down. Is there something that causes nitrates to go up? And what else can I do to get them down? I cycled with 5damsels. They are out now. I have about 25 hermits 2 serpentstars 1 emerald crab 1small pulsating zenia and 1 small buch of zoos. 2 condi aneneme(forgive my spelling) and about 10 snails. About 25 lbs live rock. I am running a prism pro and a whispper back filter. I also have alot of brown algea. Any help would be great.

 

[cain420]

im surpirsed that level of nitrates did not kill your fish.. nitrates arent as toxic as nitrites, which are less toxic then ammonia... anenome's are a bad idea in a new tank.. do you have metal halides? how old is the tank?
nitrates are the end result of your biological filtration.. microalgae in a fuge is a great way to rid your system of them! did you use tap water??? the brown algae is diatoms.. again... how old is the tank? sounds like u have alot of stock in there for a 30 gallon... does the whisper back filter have a biowheel?? they can collect nitrates... do u have crushed coral?? or live sand??

 

[jsofield]

lots of questions. first I was told to take the pack out of the whisper. I have a sponge and a charcoal pack in it now.I have live sand. power compact. Yes I used tap water. (FOUND OUT TO LATE)using R/O now. Tank is 3 months old. I thought damsels killed my 3 peppermint shrimp and emerald but now thinking it was Nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites are at 0ppm. LFS said anenames were ok. ALOT to learn. Just hate to kill anything learning. I also noticed that about the time lfs recommended TLC is when Nitrates went up. Any common thing with that?

 

[uberlink]

First and foremost, you should attack the problem at its source: overfeeding. Feed minimally and do weekly 5-10% water changes to export excess nitrates.
You could also add a refugium to your system. This can be something very simple like an old hang on filter with a light on top (see what I did below), or it can be a second tank that you slowly circulate water through. In either event, use it as a place to grow macroalgae (and other things, if you have more room...cleaner clams, etc). It will bring down your nitrates.

 

[francisco5]

my nitrates stay at 20.they have been 20 since i started testing the water and have not went up or down the test strips that i use indicate that this is a safe level.

 

[tainte97]

20 ppm is a safe level depending on what kind of tank you have. Reefers like to keep there nitrates as close to zero as possible, however aggressive tanks or FOWLR will always have nitrates. Fish can tolerate alot higher nitrates than you think. Try to keep it below 50ppm with fish but with some tanks with larger meat eaters and wet/dry filters it sometimes is next to impossible.

 

[criminal]

Originally Posted by uberlink
First and foremost, you should attack the problem at its source: overfeeding. Feed minimally and do weekly 5-10% water changes to export excess nitrates.
You could also add a refugium to your system. This can be something very simple like an old hang on filter with a light on top (see what I did below), or it can be a second tank that you slowly circulate water through. In either event, use it as a place to grow macroalgae (and other things, if you have more room...cleaner clams, etc). It will bring down your nitrates.
hey how would i go about doing that? i have a HOB filter right now and i did not know that you could do this . . .
thanks
Matt