high nitrate

[squarepant]

I am new to the forum and relatively new to the sport.
Have a 55 gal tank that a former neigbor gave me. The tank had been running for a year and has now been set up in my home for a year. At first, I had a tank guy comming every 2 weeks to service, but recently I have been taking on more of the care.
The tank is stocked with live rock, rubble coral base and assorted easy corals, (2 brain, button polyp, candy cane, mushrooms, toadstools, fan worms). Fish are composed of 1 yellow tang, 1 blue tang, 2 clowns, 1 banggai cardinal, 3 blue chromis, 1 dottyback, 1 lyretail anthias. Also have assorted clearner inverts (emerald crab, hermits, sifting sand stars, snails and cleaner shrimp).
Filtration is a fluval 304, Redsea ps, 1 Seio 604 and 1 Powerhead.
Since testing the water I have found high Nitrate levels. Everything else tests fine. For the past few months I have been doing 10% water change every 3 weeks. Was using tap water (as had been the case for the last year) but this week switched to filtered sea water, because the levels are not moving down. I have lost a couple of fish recently and was not able to retrive them from the tank. They are now where to be seen. I have never been able to keep anenome for more than a few days which leads me to believe I have had high nitrates for some time.
Everything I have read says water change is the best solution. My question is can too much change be bad? Should I do 10% every day or so for awhile until the nitrate drops? Should I do a larger change? What is the recommended proceedure on this?
Anything else I should consider?
Thanks

 

[ctgretzky9]

One word...fluval. Canisters and wet drys are known to be nitrate factories, but really, trates in low numbers are fine unless you have certain more difficult corals.
Get rid of the fluval and either add a refygium with cheato or a protein skimmer. If you want to keep the fluval ( i have a canister and wet dry myself, but....) clean it regularly...and I mean every 2 weeks to 3 weeks. You may also want to run some carbon occasionally.
What is the substrate? If it is crushed coral, ou will need to vacuum it occasionally to help as well.
If you have fish die, the nitrification cycle could have bumped up the trate levels too.
I wouldnt do very large water changes. I would say do a series of 5 gallon changes over the next couple of weeks, every other day or so. Otherwise you may shock your system.
Make sure your replacement water has circulated for 24 hrs or more.
Check parameters of your change out water, especially if not only the pH and alkalinity.
What water is filtered sea water? Is it pre-mixed? I have heard good and bad things about this...the problem is buffering (alkalinity) is low. In the ocean, buffering isnt such a problem, because it is so vast, in your closed system, buffering needs to be a bit higher since more acids are usually being added than usual.
What is your salinity or specific gravity parameters?
Are you overfeeding (big contributor to trates also)
What lights and cycle do you have the lights on?
What other tests do you do right now?
You should try and test for:
calcium
alkalinity
amm/nitirte/trate
phosphate
pH

 

[fishieness]

realy large, often water changes will hurt the bacteria level in your water. so smalls once every other day or so it good. You can also get some macro alge such as cheato. I dont think i remember you saying you have a fuge, but you can just stick it in your tank It will grow and suck up nitrates.
You have an anthias in a 55?!!!! Beutiful fish. But they need a tank upwards to a 125. How big is the fellow. You might be in for an upgrade or trade.

 

[jacknjill]

i would get rid of a couple of the fish. that could be one of the nitrate problems.

 

[squarepant]

Thanks for the input. I have a hang on protien skimmer in addition to the Fluval.
Substrate is crushed coral. I use a vaccum when water is changed but have trouble reaching all areas.
The water I have started using is from the Pacific Ocean. The local store recommended. Water is collected a mile off the Cal coast and then filtered.
My salinity is in the 1.02 range.
Nitrite is 0
PH is 8
Ammonia is 0
Have not tested for anything else.
I do not overfeed. All food is consumed in a minute.
I do not think my tank guy ever opened the Fluval for cleaning. I repaced the sponges three weeks ago and they were quite dirty. Also added some carbon.
Based on what I have heard, I will continue with 5gal water changes every couple of days.
Thanks again

 

[ctgretzky9]

Originally Posted by squarepant
Substrate is crushed coral. I use a vaccum when water is changed but have trouble reaching all areas.
The water I have started using is from the Pacific Ocean. The local store recommended. Water is collected a mile off the Cal coast and then filtered.
My salinity is in the 1.02 range.
Nitrite is 0
PH is 8
Ammonia is 0
Have not tested for anything else.
I do not overfeed. All food is consumed in a minute.
I do not think my tank guy ever opened the Fluval for cleaning. I repaced the sponges three weeks ago and they were quite dirty. Also added some carbon.
Based on what I have heard, I will continue with 5gal water changes every couple of days.
Thanks again
Glad ya got the protein skimmer, that will help a bit.
Your specific gravity is 1.02 what? 1.021....025? Big difference. You want it in the .025 range.
The water you are using, that would concern me. I strongly suggest getting an alkalinity test kit. Chances are you may find out it is low. Do you notice swings in the pH?
I would also get the test kits I mentioned. It made a world of difference from before when I didnt test everything to now. Bangguy and some others really made me think about it, and now that I test for everything, my tank looks so much better, and things are now absolutely thriving (pics coming this weekend
You will need to clean that fluval every once ina while. Dont worry about getting everything when you vacuum. I get maybe 25% of the bottom in mine now with al of the LR. But its better than just taking water out in the middle somwhere. Youre getting at least some debris out, and thats better than nothing.

 

[squarepant]

thanks for the input. The Anthias Lyretail is a male about 3 inches long. Seems to be doing pretty well. What is a fuge? I am doing the smaller water changes with filtered pacific ocean water.

 

[ctgretzky9]

A fuge is shortened from refugium...a place protected from fish and inverts etc that you can grow plants like cheato to help with nutrient export like getting rid of nitrates and phosphates. It is also a place where some of the little tiny creatures like pods can multiply.
It basically adds a safe haven for biodiversity in your tank.
Some people have in tank fuges, and some people have out of tank fuges. It all depends on the room youy have and what you want to do with it.
I just started a small in tank fuge just a few days ago because my trates and phosphates are always higher than I want them. I put cheato in there...ill let ya know in a week or two how it worked.