high nitrate- please help!!

thedutchess

thedutchess

New Member
okay, let me give you a little rundown... my tank has been established for over a year now. all my levels are good (ph=8.2, ammonia=0ppm, nitrite=0ppm) but for some reason my nitrate is quite high and i can't seem to get it to go down. Last night it was at 80 ppm, then I did a water change it was at 40 ppm. Today I did another water change thinking it would make it lower the nitrate some more, but it still remained at 40 ppm. I doubt my fish are over croweded and I am not over feeding. I have had a hair algae problem ever since I introduced live rock into the tank a little after it cycled.
My set up is:
46 gallon bow front
emperor 280 bio-wheel filtration system
& a sea clone skimmer
(i have yet to buy my compact flourscent hood)
My fish are:
3 tiny damsel fish
1 clown fish
chocolate chip star
2 blue hermit crabs
Would changing the filter media help? I'm not sure. Help me out guys!!!
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Take your water to the LFS and have them test it. If you are reading no ammonia and no nitrates, I would suspect the test.
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
look into getting a bigger clean up crew. 2 hermitsmight not be able to handle 46gl. also, if your nitrate problem continues. search this site for the thread on clams.
Ive successfuly followed the advice on getting them from the fish MARKET, and they are the same as the cleaner clams. nitrates are GONE..... check it out.
 
reeffreakgeek

reeffreakgeek

Member
I would remove the bio-wheel and see if that helps.They are known to be nitrate/phosphate sponges if not clean or replace often.Maybe this will help.
 
larryndana

larryndana

Active Member
Where do you get your water?
Did you run lower nitrates with a different test kit? Did they go up when you changed test kits?
 
velvetchs

velvetchs

Member
What type of substrate do you have? If you have crushed coral, you need to be vacuuming it regularly. I run an emperor bio-wheel 350 on my 46 bow also. If you are worried about the filter media here was what I was told when I had high nitrate issues:
First, rinse your bio-wheel and filter media in the old saltwater from a water change. Get the majority of the gunk off. If the filter pads look EXTREMELY dirty switch them out one at a time.
Second, if you are having issues with hair algae, I suggest getting a phosphate test. If you are making your own new salt water from tap water that may be the cause of your issue with that. If you are purchsing new salt water, test it. I blindly trusted the store where I bought my saltwater; an RODI unit and about 20 water changes later, my nitrates went from 160ppm+ to about 20ppm.
Third, cleaner clams do help (at least in my experience), but as stated before buy them at the grocery store. Buy littlenecks or cherrystone.
I know this is a lot to process, just keep working on it and good luck.
 
thedutchess

thedutchess

New Member
Well I took a sample of my water to the place with my test kit. The test kit is fine. They got the same readings that I got. I'm using the API saltwater test kit. I don't know which one they were using, possibly the same. All of my levels are good except the nitrate wasn't. I did a water change and now the levels are down considerably (didn't do a big enough water change before). They told me to do a 33 gallon water change
, so I did more like half of the tank instead. My brother in law told me it could shock the fish though... I'm hoping that by listening to their advice I didn't do something stupid, but the fish seem to be doing fine. Nitrate is at 5-10 now from about 40 something. Hopefully I didn't hurt the fish by doing such a big water change.
Tell me what you guys think. Was that stupid or not?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
50% water change pretty drastic, but if you made sure the parameters in the water you were using matched the tank, ie. PH, SG and temp, you should be good to go.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Hey any pics?
 
velvetchs

velvetchs

Member
50% water change pretty drastic, but if you made sure the parameters in the water you were using matched the tank, ie. PH, SG and temp, you should be good to go.
I agree with that. However, damsels and clowns are pretty hardy fish, I wouldn't worry to much about them; it's the cc star, you should keep an eye on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top