I need assistance!

[saltfisher]

I just tested my water and my Nitrates are above 160ppm. What can I do get this to go down? I've done water changes before and it does not help it. All of the fish seem to be fine. This has never been this high before.
Should I remove some of the sand that I have in the bottom? I understand that it hold a lot of what causes nitrates to rise.

 

[tdragon]

no dont remove the sane the sand acctually helps get rid of traits how old is ur test i just went through the same thing and it was my test it had expired

 

[cincyreefer]

I wouldn't really worry about nitrates all that much to be honest with you. Am I correct that this is one of your aggressve tanks? The only time I worry about nitrates are in reef/invert setups, and possibly angel/tang setups. I have found that nitrates can lead tto tang and angels having a better chance of getting hlle, but i have kept numerous aggressive setups where nitrates at that level have not affected the fish one bit. Even after several years. I know many people would disagree with me but that is my experience, and you have seen some of the experience I have with fish.

 

[squidd]

What kind of filtration are you running on your tank?
I have an aggressive tank with a BB Shark,PV Lion fish,a Dragon Wrasse,Crocodile fish, and TWO Tangs and My nitrAtes are less then 20...about 16, reads 4 on a N-NO3 test.
I run a Shallow Sand bed,sump,fuge/macros,skimmer and a canister filter for mechanical filtration/carbon, and a UV light.
I keep the sponges/filter floss clean(weekly) and suck out the uneaten food pronto and I'm a little weak on the WC (about 20gal a month on a 125+45)
Oh, and I use RO water...

 

[saltfisher]

Well, a few days ago I gave my sharks to a friend of mine and ended up combining my tank with my G-friends. In the tank there is a Tusk, Clown Trigger, Niger Trigger, S&T puffer, Naso blonde and a soldierfish. As for filtration, I have two fluval 404s, a AquaClear 150 sump w/skimmer. I also have two aquaClear 802 powerheads. All this on a 180. On each of the Fluvals I have UVs. A 9-watt and a 18-watt. This is plenty for this tank. I just don't want anything to happen to these fish. As I said, I've done water changes and it does not help. I think I am going to get a Reverse Osmosis system. Just need to figure out where I can put the tub of water. Any suggestions to what I can do? I dunno when my kit expires, I have had it for sometime. All the other tests come out fine though.

 

[squidd]

My first guess would be the water...get the RO it does make a difference.
Second guess would be to get the test kit double checked...LFS or new kit or test your tap water or a bottle of RO for a 0 reading.
As far as where to set up your system/put the tub...I use a 10gpd in sink/home system with a 4gal pressure tank/reservoir
and it takes a day or two to collect/transfer 20gal of water to a 25gal Rubber Maid garbage can for aeration/mixing/WC.
The system is out of the way/under sink and the tub is in the basement/out of sight.
Oh, and clean those filters on the 404's on a regular basis. It's a dirty job but someones got to do it...

 

[saltfisher]

I know someone with huge tub using a RO system. I think I may ask him for about 40 gallons and do a water change. As for cleaning the Fluvals, I HATE doing it. That has to be the biggest pain the as*. I guess i'll do it this week. By the way you explained your RO system, you had to run plumbing all through your place to get it to work. I really dont want to do all that. I'll do what I need to thought in order to make this right, I guess.

 

[tony detroit]

If you want to drop your nitrate without doing all the water changing I think Kent marine makes a product to remove nitrate. I'm not sure how effective it is I've never used it.