Nitrate Spike

[rikr88]

I am having a very high nitrate spike, in the 80+ ppm range

My tank has been up and running for about 1 month. All of my other #'s are steady and right where they should be. I am very freaked out by this!!!!!! Is this normal???? If it is, how long should it last??
:help: thanks

 

[tree]

The cycle builds up bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite & then to nitrate. Unless you have something in your tank like plants (algae) that will get rid of the nitrate, you will need to do a water change. This is normal :yes:

 

[beaslbob]

could be bad test kit. I had one that was too sensitive, so get another opinion.
But 80 ppm is very possible. Plant life even hair and slime algae consume nitrates and can bring that down to 0.0 in a week. If you have added cleanrer crews and they have removes the algae then you can expect nitrAtes to rise.
My recommendation is you culture or add all the plant life you can. That will be the single best thing you can do for you system. Plus by using nice looking macros or true marine plants you can reduce or even eliminate the ugly slime and hair algaes. The macros or plants consume the nutrients and therefore starve the uglies.

 

[jedininja]

Have done a done water change after your cycle? It will take forever before plants can make any real impact on nitrates that high.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by jedininja
Have done a done water change after your cycle? It will take forever before plants can make any real impact on nitrates that high.
I respectifully disagree. $20 worth of caulpera profilera will bring that down to 0.0 in about 2-3 weeks or less. A 20g I setup as a hospital tank had a angel die in it and it was in there for four days rotting. (I was out of town). Nitrates with a good test kit pegged the test kit at 160ppm++. Three weeks after adding macros the nitrAtes were at 0.0. Not much of a bioload but a baby molly grew about 3/4" in that time. All with no circulation and no feeding the fish.
Even if the plant life is so little the nitrAtes take three months to go down, the macros are consuming more nitrAtes than are being created and consuming carbon dioxide as well. So even if the nitrates do not go to 0.0 tomorrow, the plants start correcting the system immediately.

 

[jedininja]

First, you have nitrates in your system and you have a lot of calurpa in there. So it takes time for nitrates to come down, even in your own posts. No one is arguing that macros dont help. They will help in a controled situation. But the best thing to do for livestock is to do a water change now and then use plants to control the nitrates.
And $20 worth of plants is a whole lot of plants. I would not want my tank looking like that. That much macro belongs in a fuge, not a display tank unless you do not want a reef look.