Nitrate help needed. Please!

[daneatkinson]

Currently have a 48 bowfront that has been running for 3-4months. For the past month I have been doing weekly 10-20% water changes with R/O water. Simply due to the fact that I constantly have readings of 60-100ppm Nitrates. :headwally:
I use the API liquid/beaker test kit.
Why would I constantly have Nitrates that increase after water change but always read 0 Ammonia and 0 nitrites?
Today I cleaned protein skimmer and sump (hoping it would help) and weekly take a turkey baster to the live rock.... I currently have around 15 hermit crabs and 5 snails.
*There is 1 powerhead that makes good flow through tank.
I believe the tank is at its limit or overstocked and understand that I will/should take some out but still don't understand why I only ever read high nitrates and nothing else.
*feed 1-2 SMALL amounts a day or ever other. (enough to feed for 30secs)
1 maroon clown
1 blue spotted goby
1 yellow tang
2 cardinalfish
1 firefish goby
1 stupid damselfish I cant catch
*All fish are around 1-2 inches
1 sand sifting star
1 brittle star
1 emerald crab
1 flame scallop
1 anemone crab w/ carpet anemone
3 feather dusters. (1 bought about 6 inches, 1 .5 inch living in LR when bought, and 1 living on a huge snail that was bought).

 

[ibew41]

have you had an lfs test your water you might have a bad kit,because the carpet anemone would be dead at those levels for too long.imo you also need more flow one power head in that size tank is not enough

 

[gradymo]

Try a different test kit, yours may be bad.

 

[bang guy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaneAtkinson http:///t/393565/nitrate-help-needed-please#post_3501847
Why would I constantly have Nitrates that increase after water change but always read 0 Ammonia and 0 nitrites?
Nitrates are the end product of Nitrification. Bacteria use oxygen to get energy from Ammonia, and then other bacteria do the same for Nitrite. There are no bacteria that oxidize Nitrate so Nitrate will stay in your tank until it is physically removed (harvesting algae, water changes, etc), or denitrifying bacteria consume Nitrate and produce pure nitrigen and oxygen. The denitrification process can ony take place where the oxygen content is severly depleted such as deep in a sand bed or the center of live rock. Without enough of these anaerobic zones your Nitrates will just continue to build until they are physically removed by you.
To assist the anaerobic bacteria you can feed less, buy more live rock, do larger water changes, build an algae scrubber, install a denitrate coil (I do not recommend) or use a chemical nitrate remover. You could also install a remote deep sand bed.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Protein skimming also helps to keep nitrates and phosphates in check.

 

[geridoc]

Of all of Bang Guy's suggestions, I like algae scrubbing the best. You can build a scrubber following the plans readily available on line, or purchase one ready built or in semi-kit form. Alternatively, you could add some chaeto to your sump. Wither way, the algae will remove nitrates and phosphates from the water, and ultimately from your system as you discard new growth on a regular basis. I have even read (but wouldn't try myself) of people dispensing with water changes when using aggressive algae scrubbing.

 

[flower]

My API kit said I had 80+ nitrates. My shrimps were fine, and the coral looked happy enough...which made no sense. I did daily water changes and right afterward, the NO3 would be down to 10, but by next morning the test would read back in the 80s.
BTLReef insisted that the API kits were bad for reading high NO3, so I opened another kit I had in the garage ...same reading, thinking perhaps it's outdated, I got a brand new API kit and it also read in the 80s off the chart. So I was certain it wasn't the API test kit. After switching to a sump system from my canister, and having a remote deep sand bed/ refugium. I also purchased a Aquapure nitrate filter and continued doing daily water changes with no better readings...I finally purchased a Seachem kit...the NO3 was at 1 ...and the SeaChem tests come with a regent to be able to test the test kit to make sure the readings are accurate.

 

[saxman]

This is kinda random, however, if you store your RO/DI water in a large hopper or barrel, you may need to clean the barrel. I had a friend who couldn't figure out where his NO3 was coming from, but we tracked it down to a film that was growing on the inside of his RO/DI storage barrel. Once it was emptied and cleaned, everything was fine.

 

[bang guy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by GeriDoc http:///t/393565/nitrate-help-needed-please#post_3502134
Of all of Bang Guy's suggestions, I like algae scrubbing the best. You can build a scrubber following the plans readily available on line, or purchase one ready built or in semi-kit form. Alternatively, you could add some chaeto to your sump. Wither way, the algae will remove nitrates and phosphates from the water, and ultimately from your system as you discard new growth on a regular basis. I have even read (but wouldn't try myself) of people dispensing with water changes when using aggressive algae scrubbing.
A huge advantage to using algae is that it also consumes PO4 and heavy metals, even copper. If Nitrate is the only issue though a remote sand bed is a lot less effort.