Nitrates are high...

jarice1978

jarice1978

Member
Hello,
I have had my 55 gallon tank up and running for about 1 year and 3 months. I have periodically added more and more things and upgraded over time. Right now I am at the point were I would like to start adding inverts like anemones and corals.
I purchased a flat anemone and a candylactus anemone a few weeks ago. The flat anemnone lasted for 2 weeks and then died, and the candylactus lasted for 3. At the time I got them, my water params where the following:
nitrates = .05 - 10
nitrites = 0
ph = 8.4
ammonia = 0
After the anemones died, I took a sample of water to the LFS and they said I had high nitrates (40 - 60) and high ammonia(20). They said it was probably because I was overfeeding. I agreed. I then stopped feeding for 5 days and have been feeding lightly every other day for about 2 weeks now. I even did a 20% water change.
I purchased a new test kit(the one the LFS uses) and am still getting nitrate readings of 40+.
Does anyone know what is going on with this?
Changes I have made recently,
I added a new AquaC Remora hang on skimmer - good thing
Started using distilled water to top off - good thing
less feeding - good thing
So what else can I do?
I will check this post later tonight...
Thanks in advance,
Joe
:notsure:
 
fatpuffer

fatpuffer

Member
I'm having the same problem with my tank right now, but the difference is that it's fish only and my trates where 120+ ppm verified using 2 separate test kits. I immediately started doing 30% water changes every other day with RO water, cleaned out the sand bed real well and flushed out all of my coral decorations. Today I tested the trates and they're at 80 PPM, so I'm slowly making progress. I've done 5 water changes so far over 2.5 weeks and just replaced the filter padding in my sump(I have a feeling this was what was causing the high trates). Besides that, I ordered a denitrating bacteria that harmlessly converts trates to CO2...don't know if this works or not, but only time will tell.
 
jarice1978

jarice1978

Member
Installing a refugium is not an option right now.
I currently have a 4 inch sandbed that I switched to about 4 months ago. How often does it need to be cleaned? I have read on here that it should not be cleaned, and that a deep sandbed maintains itself...
Adam
 
tony detroit

tony detroit

Active Member
A sandbed will "maintain" itself if it is stocked with the right detrivore kits and microfauna/macrofauna.
If you just thew a bunch of sand in there and didn't stock it with anything you're looking at 4'' of a septic sand bed.
A DSB can work but ONLY if you spend the time and stock it right. If you just put a bunch of sand in there and call it good IMO you're asking for polluted water. See if there is anybody in your area with some good, high quality live sand from established, pest free tanks if you can.
 
druluv

druluv

Member
I would continue to do water changes with rodi water, use a power head to clean the wastes off the live rock and stir the sand and change the water with all the suspended wastes. It would hurt to add some kind of refugium to your tank either.
 
jarice1978

jarice1978

Member
Okay, so how do you stock a Deep Sand Bed correctly?
I actually coverted from CC to Sand periodically by removing CC and replacing with sand. I first removed about 2/3 of the CC and replaced with sand. I left this combination of CC and sand for about 2 - 3 months. I figured that this would allow enough time for the new sand to establish a large enough bacterial base to sustain the system....
Does that sound right?
Joe
 
fastmarc

fastmarc

Member
The mechanical filter might be the reason why your nitrates are elevated.
If you have sufficient live rocks and sand bed (which should be properly seeded), it might be best to phase out all mechanical filtration or at least clean it very frequently.
 
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