High Nitrates in old tank

[theschlay]

I have a tall 200 gallon tank with a 60 gallon sump and I have extremely high Nitrates. The fish were grossly over fed for years by my (now) wife. All other important readings, Nitrite, Ammona, PH are at the needed levels (0,0,8.4). I would love some advice from anyone on my process I have used as well as thoughts on a Brown Algae problem (I will explain). When I started working the clean-up of this tank the salinity was low <30% and there was brown hairy agae growing all over the tank. I removed everything from the tank and did a moster water change as well as a genle scrub of the Live Rock to remove the algae. I also performed about a 50% water change which was work with 5 gallon buckets. I have been continuing to do water changes every other day of about 20 ga along with twice daily mechanical filter rinses. I also returned the salinity (slowly) back up to 35%. There are only 5 fish (about 20 inches of fish) in this 260 gal system and feedings are now controlled. There is about 100 lbs of live rock (guess) and I know it needs more. I am adding 3 lbs every week or two. So here are my questions. The Nitrate readings were steadily declining and I got excited when I measured them at 20 ppm. (They were off the charts). I just ran out of test solution and replaced with a like API kit and the readings were back off the chart, I had enough solution to test with the old kit again and they were at 20. So I ordered a new kit hoping the the current reading I am getting from the new kit is wrong but I dont think it is. Still very high nitrates. Second question. All of the Brown Algae is going away (dying) and the fish and the tank look great. Is it possible that I will continue to see high nitrates while this brown crap is being eliminated and water changes post brown algae will return me to where I need to be? I will also bring some water to my favorite store and ask them to check it. I hate the inconsistancy of test kits although I have always liked the API. Sorry for the long message but I know details are important.

Tank stats:
Temp 79
Salinity 35%
Nitrates 160+ PPM
Nitrites 0
Amonia 0
PH 8.4
live rock 100lbs
fish inches 20
Coral none
Protien skimmer - sized for for 200 gal
Running three large bags of Carbon in sump change monthly
water changes multiple times per week (approximately 40 - 50% per week for last 3 weeks)
feeding once per day. slow feeding mysis and silver sides
dirty aggressive fish - triggers and angels
sump is dirty - have been trying to stir and capture with mechanical filters daily
avoiding all chemicals. Did add some purple up (one dose)
Am I too impatient and just need to stay the course

 

[dolphinfan76]

You are on the right path. Just remind yourself it didn't get the way over night, so it's not going to fixed overnight. I would do a bigger water change if at all possible. Try to get in the 20-25% range.if you do a 50% water change you remove your nitrates by half, ( only recommend in a dyer situation) if you do 20% water change you reduce by 20%. And so on. Another thing to keep in mind is that feeding 1silverside is like feeding 5 cubes of frozen food. With that much feeding you might want to look into a bio-pellet reactor. Just my .02 good luck and keep up the good work. You'll be back there soon.

 

[theschlay]

Good advice and thank you Dolphinfan76. I didin't realize the silversides were equal to 5 cubes. I introduced them to keep the aggressive Triggers away from a Foxface and it seemed to work. I will reduce the frequency I use them. One more nugget I forgot to include. When I saw this Tank 4 years ago it had a monster Brown Leather (biggest I have ever seen.. at least a foot in diameter). That Leather exploded and died. Any thoughts on how a disaster like that would impact the water. This baby may have been off the PPM charts before I started.

 

[dolphinfan76]

I'm sure that didn't help... Lol. Just keep up with what you are doing and you should see some good results.

 

[dolphinfan76]

Also if you are not already take a turkey baster and blow off the detritus off your rock before your water change and try and suck out as much as possible with your water change. That will help out as well.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by theschlay http:///t/396968/high-nitrates-in-old-tank#post_3537125
I have a tall 200 gallon tank with a 60 gallon sump and I have extremely high Nitrates. The fish were grossly over fed for years by my (now) wife. All other important readings, Nitrite, Ammona, PH are at the needed levels (0,0,8.4). I would love some advice from anyone on my process I have used as well as thoughts on a Brown Algae problem (I will explain). When I started working the clean-up of this tank the salinity was low <30% and there was brown hairy agae growing all over the tank. I removed everything from the tank and did a moster water change as well as a genle scrub of the Live Rock to remove the algae. I also performed about a 50% water change which was work with 5 gallon buckets. I have been continuing to do water changes every other day of about 20 ga along with twice daily mechanical filter rinses. I also returned the salinity (slowly) back up to 35%. There are only 5 fish (about 20 inches of fish) in this 260 gal system and feedings are now controlled. There is about 100 lbs of live rock (guess) and I know it needs more. I am adding 3 lbs every week or two. So here are my questions. The Nitrate readings were steadily declining and I got excited when I measured them at 20 ppm. (They were off the charts). I just ran out of test solution and replaced with a like API kit and the readings were back off the chart, I had enough solution to test with the old kit again and they were at 20. So I ordered a new kit hoping the the current reading I am getting from the new kit is wrong but I dont think it is. Still very high nitrates. Second question. All of the Brown Algae is going away (dying) and the fish and the tank look great. Is it possible that I will continue to see high nitrates while this brown crap is being eliminated and water changes post brown algae will return me to where I need to be? I will also bring some water to my favorite store and ask them to check it. I hate the inconsistancy of test kits although I have always liked the API. Sorry for the long message but I know details are important.

Tank stats:
Temp 79
Salinity 35%
Nitrates 160+ PPM
Nitrites 0
Amonia 0
PH 8.4
live rock 100lbs
fish inches 20
Coral none
Protien skimmer - sized for for 200 gal
Running three large bags of Carbon in sump change monthly
water changes multiple times per week (approximately 40 - 50% per week for last 3 weeks)
feeding once per day. slow feeding mysis and silver sides
dirty aggressive fish - triggers and angels
sump is dirty - have been trying to stir and capture with mechanical filters daily
avoiding all chemicals. Did add some purple up (one dose)
Am I too impatient and just need to stay the course

Hi,

API kits read nitrates off the roof high. 4Xs higher according to GeriDoc. As long as the fish food is rinsed and the fish eat it all...you don't have to worry about it equaling 4 cubes of frozen food. Check your phosphates as well as your nitrates for causing brown algae.

For cleaning up the sump...a tiny canister filter is what I found to really clean it up. Use the intake hose like a vacuum cleaner, it sends the cleaned water back into the sump and traps all the nasty stuff. Just google mini canister filter...we can't post other sites.

 

[geridoc]

You might want to look into adding macro algae to the sump - they will outcompete the brown algae for nutrient and phosphate, and are easily removed, eliminating those contaminants from the system.