Nitrate questions

[jlbiggs11]

My 30 gallon has been up for 8 months and doing great. But since it has finished cycling, though stable, my nitrates are always always always 20 ppm. I have never ran into issues because of the nitrates but I would like to get somes corals soon and like to bring them down to 0-5 ppm.
Ammonia 0ppm, nitrites 0 ppm pH 8.0 ppm
The water I use for changes or top offs have 0 ppm nitrates
30 gallon with 1 yellow tail damsel, 2 clowns, and a yellow watchman goby
50 or more snail all different types
2 hermit crabs
1 emrald carb
2 inch of sand and 25 lbs of live rock that looks great
I have the sun sun sun/ perfect "outside" canister filter the one with the uv sanitizer. I got that set up last night. With 2 types of sponges and brand new bio balls
So, suggestions to anything. I heard bio balls can be nitrate traps but I know it's not my bio because I but them in 24 hours ago and my nitrates have not changed for 7 months
Suggestions to clean up crews, filtration media, water changes.
Yesterday I noticed a bit of brown hair algea? Suggestions of getting rid of that
Thanks!

 

[cubnb79]

what brand of test kit do you have?

 

[jlbiggs11]

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals liquid master saltwater test ing kit

 

[cubnb79]

ok im have no experience with that company but im sure someone on here does...to give you a example i used to test with api master test kit and always read at least 20ppm nitrate until i got my seachem kit which by many on here says they're the best but that's just imo situation...once i got it and tested vs. the api kit api said 20ppm and seachem was 5ppm so diffrent kits might read higher is i guess what my point is...wrong or right that's my experience...as far as bio balls go yea the harvest trates and you have to rinse some of them off in old water when you do you water change to try and keep them clean but dont rinse off all of them at once maybe just a 1/3 of them per water change...since then i've got rid of the bio balls and built a algae scrubber (snakes/seth's design) and now i have 0 nitrates or at least low enough it doesnt read on the test kit...but nothing wrong with bioballs they work well just extra work imo

 

[deejeff442]

i have never worried about a nitrate reading of 20 .i have had it get up to 40 when i get lazy in the summer and it didnt bother anything in the tank.you will drive yourself nuts trying to get it to zero.if its 20 or less just do your weekly water changes and as the tank matures it will go away on its own.

 

[btldreef]

API Nitrate kits are known to read high and a few people on this board have proven that in recent months. Before you stress, try the SeaChem nitrite/nitrate combo test kit. Trust me, it's a good $9-$15 investment to not make yourself nuts. I went through removing live rock from my sump, adding a carbon reactor, adding a refugium, etc all to find that it was my darn API kit reading high.
Do you run any chemical filtration such as carbon or purigen?

 

[florida joe]

Nitrate testing no matter what kit you use is only as accurate as the accuracy you use in the testing procedure. Use a watch when testing if it states shake the vile for 2 minutes make sure using the watch that it is in fact two minutes and only two minutes

 

[beaslbob]

To lower nitrates it is best IMHO to increase nitrate consumers like macro and other algaes.
borwn algae indicates the tank is still "settling in". It probalby is diatoms which need silicates for cell structures. Fortunately silicates is not added to the tank through feed fish and other normal maintenance actions. therefore the browns will go away as the silicates are consumed. then you may get other algaes like the green and reds.
All algae will die off if you kill the lights.
my .02

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
To lower nitrates it is best IMHO to increase nitrate consumers like macro and other algaes.
I think it is best for new hobbyists to understand the principle of nitrate assimilation via higher forms of algae. That is to say that the algae store the nitrates from the water so while they may get a low nitrate reading these nitrates that are stored can in fact be reintroduced into the tank unless the algae is harvested

 

[mr. limpid]

You say your nitrates were always at 20 even during the beginning during the cycling, they never came down? If that the case then I say get a new test kit. Denitrification is a natural microbially facilitate process of nitrate reduction, so the only way for this to increase is to add more bio material which you have done with the addition of bio balls, which will take some more time for this to happen.

 

[jlbiggs11]

Im gunna invest in a new kit tomorrow i think. from what i read im kinda confused on the chemical filtration part and its importance. Some say no chemical filttarion is needed. Some say like carbon is bad and others say chemical filtration is important? ?

 

[mr. limpid]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jlbiggs11 http:///t/389657/nitrate-questions#post_3445664
Im gunna invest in a new kit tomorrow i think. from what i read im kinda confused on the chemical filtration part and its importance. Some say no chemical filttarion is needed yes. Some say like carbon is bad if done in excess, will strip minerals from water and others say chemical filtration is important yes helps remove organics from water and makes water clearer because of the removal.? ?
Basically I run carbon once a month for a week, this a practice I've done for 30 years, works for me.

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jlbiggs11 http:///t/389657/nitrate-questions#post_3445664
Im gunna invest in a new kit tomorrow i think. from what i read im kinda confused on the chemical filtration part and its importance. Some say no chemical filttarion is needed. Some say like carbon is bad and others say chemical filtration is important? ?
It's personal preference really. I've always ran carbon and Phosban 24/7 with no issues. I actually won't run a tank without carbon.