Need help with adjusting water properties

[jamieh1257]

First, I am new to this forum and I wanted to say hello. Second, I have been having a problem with my water properties and was hoping for some help.
I have a 75 Gal Bow front with approximately 2" of live sand and approximately 93 lbs of live rock. This tank has been established from 3/06 to 10/08 when I moved my residence and the tank crashed. I think most of the live rock died. I discarded the old substrate and bought new live sand. I set up the tank again and seeded the sand "just in case" etc. The tank cycled properly and I have fish and a few corals now.
After the cycle the tank has been consistant with the following levels:
PH- 8.0
SG- 1.023
NitrItes- 0
NitrAtes- 50
Amonia- 0.03
I am using "the large" Sera test kit.
I added Buff last night and have been putting in Coral Boost and Iodine as directed since the Corals have been put in.
I have been doing routine water changes of 10 gals. and have carbon in my Fluval 404 filter along with the bio media. My nitrAtes have not come down at all.
How do I get my PH up and my Nitrates down. I did read on this forum about sugar dosing and started it last night with 1 tsp per tank.
Thanks Jamie

 

[veni vidi vici]

Welcome to SWF.com

When is the last time you cleaned your filter ,particularly your Bio media? How much are you feeding? Are you useing tap water? Did you do a large water change after your cycle completed?
As far as your PH goes, 8.0 is fine.I would stop buffering ph.
However her are some causes of low ph, i took the liberty of using copy and paste.
I would look at #2 &5
1. A calcium carbonate/carbon dioxide reactor (CaCO3/CO2 reactor) is in use on the aquarium.
2. The aquarium has low alkalinity.
3. The aquarium has more CO2 in it than the surrounding air due to inadequate aeration. Don't be fooled into thinking that an aquarium must have adequate aeration because its water is very turbulent. Equilibrating carbon dioxide is MUCH harder than simply providing adequate oxygen. There would be NO change in the pH between day and night if equilibration of carbon dioxide were perfect. Since most aquaria have lower pH during the night, they also are demonstrating less than complete aeration.
4. The aquarium has excess CO2 in it because the air in the home that it is being equilibrated with contains excess CO2.
5. The aquarium is still cycling, and has excess acid being produced from the nitrogen cycle and degradation of organics to CO2.
One other thing ,i would stop using Iodine unless you are testing for it and i would stop using Coral Boost,at least for now anyway.

 

[jamieh1257]

VVV,
I cleaned my filter two days ago. I rinsed and changed out the carbon packs and rinsed off my media in water I took from the tank (as part of my water change). I am feeding a mix of flake and pellet for different fish and have learned to be sparce. I am feeding every 2 days. I am using tap water to set up my changes. I use water conditioner and then fill my jugs through a carbon filter/hose. I mix the water and aerate as it sits. I did do a 20 gal water change after the cycle a while ago and it did not help the nitrAte situation.
I did put 16 lbs of live rock in the tank a day prior to testing. I don't know if it has change anything. I intitially had my skimmer feeding back into the tank directly and it was creating a current and bubbles in the tank water. I read on here that air bubbles are a no,no. So I put the catch cup over the input back into the tank to reduce the bubbles. There are some bubbles going across the surface of the water now, but not into the water as before.
I did add about 10 Narsussus(?) snails in the tank three days ago and two of the smaller ones are dead. The others are doing fine. Little things like this are occurring and I want to find the cause and correct it if I can.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Originally Posted by jamieh1257
http:///forum/post/2871891
VVV,
I cleaned my filter two days ago. I rinsed and changed out the carbon packs and rinsed off my media in water I took from the tank (as part of my water change). I am feeding a mix of flake and pellet for different fish and have learned to be sparce. I am feeding every 2 days. I am using tap water to set up my changes.I would test your tap water for nitrate I use water conditioner and then fill my jugs through a carbon filter/hose. I mix the water and aerate as it sits. I did do a 20 gal water change after the cycle a while ago and it did not help the nitrAte situation. A Larger water change probably would have been helpful ,at least 50%
I did put 16 lbs of live rock in the tank a day prior to testing. I don't know if it has change anything.I would guess this is probably part of the reason for the elevated nitrate I intitially had my skimmer feeding back into the tank directly and it was creating a current and bubbles in the tank water. I read on here that air bubbles are a no,no. So I put the catch cup over the input back into the tank to reduce the bubbles. There are some bubbles going across the surface of the water now, but not into the water as before.Coralife SS?Ive read conflicting opinions on air bubbles in the tank some says its ok others say no,Im not a marine biologist so i cant comment other than saying the tank looks better without.If you do have CLSS i can point you in a direction to get rid of the overflow box for a different mod
I did add about 10 Narsussus(?) snails in the tank three days ago and two of the smaller ones are dead. The others are doing fine. Little things like this are occurring and I want to find the cause and correct it if I can.Ive had new snails die before ,i don't think its uncommon .They are sensitive creatures.
All in all i wouldn't worry to much about 50ppm Nitrates,i would do some bigger water changes and see if that helps but i would guess its your new rock or nitrates in your tap water or a combo.You may want to consider a sump/refugium for the future.It would be a benefit to your livestock and the over all appearance of your tank
.

 

[natclanwy]

I agree with Veni vidi vici, The new LR is probably a contibuting factor all live rock generally has die off no matter where you get it from. Test your tap water and consider changing to RO/DI water especially since you are keeping coral.
The air bubbles I have heard conflicting information on as far as fish health is concerned, but overall they detract from the tank because the cause your water to be cloudy and increase the amount of salt creep around your tank.
I don't think it is the high nitrates that killed the snails it could be your overall water quality but 50ppm isn't all that bad when you are just housing fish but it can cause corals to die and lose their color.
Stop adding buffer and calcium until you test your water for calcium and alkilinity, continued dosing without testing can cause your parameters to get out of whack and cause more problems. Your PH of 8.0 isn't bad its more important to have a stable PH than to be in the center of the range (8.1-8.3), anything between 7.8 and 8.5 is fine.