Nitrate help???? Combined two tanks 4 days ago

njbluefish

njbluefish

Member
Hello all.....I have just set up a 110L. I combined my 65 and 55gal. tanks. I just wanted a lager tank..I just can't get enough. My wife to be thinks I am crazy...well, I just might be? My problem is Nitrates (No3's). I think I made a mistake utilizing the subsrtate from both tanks. I combined both substrates and now I have blak and white substrate. (LS) When I removed the substrate I noticed a great deal of life along with some brown stuff...this can be the cause of my Nitrate spike. 80ppm. I have currently since last night. I did utilize some water from my old tanks to start my new tank. (about 40gal.) The rest of my water is RODI with a sal. of 1.023 along with Kent buffer to raise my ph. to 8.3. I did change 30% (about 40G. the other night) My wet/dry filter has just been introduced. I am runing my Fluval 403 for now that has just had a media change (nitrate spounge, carbon, filter spounge) two weeks before I combined both tanks. Before the last water change I was sitting at 80-160ppm. Nitrates. Now a steady 80ppm. Nitrates. My question is....what do I do next? I have listed all of my readings for you below. Any help would be much appriciated.
NO3 80ppm.
NO2 0
ALK. 300
PH 7.4
Temp 81 (high I think?)
Sump...nitrate spounge 1 800mc. bag
I have some Caleurpa....but my tang is eating it like it is going out of style.
Please help if you can......I want to do things right this time if you know what I mean.
Regards,
Mike (NJBLUEFISH)
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
What I would do is another water change. Do you have any buffer you can add, PH of 7.4 is really low.
And 81 is not high for a temp, I run mine at 78/80.
 
njbluefish

njbluefish

Member
Yes, I do have buffer and I will add some to the sump. 8.3-8.4 should do the trick....what do you think? I will leave the temp. at 81. I have noticed that some people hover under 80....any reason why? I am also going to preform another water change. I can't complain knowing I just set up the tank. Any other suggetions would be great. Thanks for your advice. Happy holidays!
NJBLUEFISH Mike
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
Their are numerous reasons why some run temps higher or lower.
The higher, 82-84, some will tell you corals (softies)look better and fish are more active. The lower 78-80, some will tell you it's better for prevention of RTN(stonies) and fish eat less and live longer.
It's where YOU fell comfrotable at. And remember not to let it fluxuate to much.
By buffer, i meant something like Kent superbuffer. The 8.3, is that some thing like proper PH for FW?
 
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