My Nitrate Levels are extremely high

[milkieb@aol.com]

I have a 20 gallon saltwater tank with 2 clowns and 1 tang and live rock and live sand. My nitrate level is 160 and I have been doing constant water changes and the levels remain the same.
I purchased PHOS-X and it has been 3 days and the nitrate level do not decrease. What should I do? I have a skimmer and a wet/dry. Please help me?

 

[carrie1429]

First of all I have to point out that a 20 gal is way to small for a tangm they need at least 75 gal. Do you plan on like moving him later on or something?
There could be nitrates in the water you are adding to your tank, test the water your adding to make sure there are no nitrates. Nitrates can also come from overfeeding or having too much fish for too small of a tank (the tang). I really suggest getting the tang out of there.

 

[jlem]

How often do you clean your prefilter. I would advise cleaning your prefilter at least biweekly. If you don't have a prefilter then get one and rinse you biomedia with SALTWATER to get off any gunk that may be decomposing and leading to the high nitrates. Try using RO water with your water changes. I use the Glacier water machines for 25 cents a gallon. The Glacier machines are RO/UV/SEDIMENT/and Charcoal filtered.