Nitrates from 10ppm to 100ppm in one week??? What the heck???

siline

siline

Member
I have a 72g tank for a while now...
Anyway, in X-mas, I left for a couple of days, and left it in "automatic"...
When I returned, 2 fishes were dead, and nitrates were close to 200ppm.
Anyway, I manage to recover and stabilized it at (around) of 10ppm.
However, last weekend I did a 10g water change... (BTW I do that regularlly)
parameters were pH 8.2, Ammonia & Nitrites 0 ppm and Nitrates 10ppm...
and a week later parameters are pH 8.4, Ammonia & Nitrites 0ppm, BUT NITRATES ARE AT 100PPM!!!
I have a 20g refugium with all kinds of media (Activated carbon x 2, NItrate sponge x 2, pad in tower w/ bio-balls x 12, protein skimmer for a 150-180g & 2 pumps @ 1750gph) additional I also have a big Skilter filter and skimmer on the back of the tank. About LR, I have a wall from bottom to top of LR and from side to side (about 4 feet wide by 1.5 - 2 feet tall) thats around 100lbs + of LR and L Sand & substrate of about 60 - 70lbs.
...Now, what the heck happened???
 
siline

siline

Member
I just did a 20g water change...
Im going to retest in a while...
I hope they are right now

Anyway, Ill post the results in a while...
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
I would recheck your test results and verify it with another test kit or at your LFS. Have you changed anything in the last couple of weeks and are all your tankmates present and accounted for?
 
siline

siline

Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2618973
I would recheck your test results and verify it with another test kit or at your LFS. Have you changed anything in the last couple of weeks and are all your tankmates present and accounted for?
The only new "thing" in the tank was, and I mean was because is NO longer alive
, was a softie "finger" coral. Everything else has been there for a while...
 
reefmate75

reefmate75

Member
my maroons stir up the sand bed every day and it dosent cause nitrates to go up like that, i would guess you have something thats dead and rotting in your tank, your biolacical filtraion is doing its job and converting the amm, No2 to No3 and thats where you get stuck with it
i would deffently look for something dead like something you dont really look at like a cucumber and wouldnt notice its gone
 
siline

siline

Member
Originally Posted by reefmate75
http:///forum/post/2619126
or you can ride it out till what ever it is thats rotting rots away
The only thing that was dying was the softie, but obviously is no longer there...
Anyway, after a 20g (almost 1/3 of the water in the tank) the parameters are:
Temp: 76.5 F (24.6 C),
Specific gravity 31ppt (1.023),
pH: 8.3,
Carbonate hardness (KH): 180ppm,
Ammonia & Nitrites 0ppm,
Nitrates: 40 ppm.
Now what???
 
siline

siline

Member
Originally Posted by BoneSnapper
http:///forum/post/2619074
Do you have any fish that stir up the sand bed?
The only "bottom" fish that I have is a Watcher Goby...
BTW, Can I add a Diamond Goby???
Or is it better to add anotherone better instead???
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Continue doing water changes until you get your nitrates under control , and try to identify the source, clean your filter and replace any foam or floss filters in your system with new filters, be sure to do this one at a time every few days to avoid removing too much bacteria at one time.
 
siline

siline

Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2619609
Continue doing water changes until you get your nitrates under control , and try to identify the source, clean your filter and replace any foam or floss filters in your system with new filters, be sure to do this one at a time every few days to avoid removing too much bacteria at one time.
I replaced the refugium pad yesterday, and the Skilter 400 pads today.
Do I have to add some Bacteria since I did that???
I still have Cycle on my fridge. Should I add some???
 
siline

siline

Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2619609
Continue doing water changes until you get your nitrates under control , and try to identify the source, clean your filter and replace any foam or floss filters in your system with new filters, be sure to do this one at a time every few days to avoid removing too much bacteria at one time.
BTW, Im thinking about adding a mangrove plant to my refugium (since I dont have any plant)... what do you think of that???

Right now its a fish only tank (since the corals died because of nitrates
). The inhabbitants are: 3 Tangs (Powder brown, powder blue & sailfin), a firefish, Coral beauty angel, 4 damisels, 4 green chromies, 2 cleaner Shrimps & about 10 hermit left (were 25 but a previous Engineer goby, no longer there, took care of them
) & a Watcher goby.
 
siline

siline

Member
Originally Posted by Siline
http:///forum/post/2619930
Right now its a fish only tank (since the corals died because of nitrates
). The inhabbitants are: 3 Tangs (Powder brown, powder blue & sailfin), a firefish, Coral beauty angel, 4 damisels, 4 green chromies, 2 cleaner Shrimps & about 10 hermit left (were 25 but a previous Engineer goby, no longer there, took care of them
) & a Watcher goby.

Ohhhh, and a Foxface Rabbitfish...
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
You shouldn't need to add cycle there are already bacteria present they just need time to reproduce and replace what you removed.
Mangroves are excellent nitrate exporters if you have the room and you will definetly want to look at your nitrate removal since you have a pretty heavy bioload in your tank with that many fish.
 
siline

siline

Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2620347
You shouldn't need to add cycle there are already bacteria present they just need time to reproduce and replace what you removed.
Mangroves are excellent nitrate exporters if you have the room and you will definetly want to look at your nitrate removal since you have a pretty heavy bioload in your tank with that many fish.
I already have a complete bowl (distributed in 3 packs in the refugium) of Nitrate sponge. But anyway, havent been lucky removing nitrates.
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
The bioload in your tank is through the roof. You need to either upgrade to a lot larger tank with that stock list or reduce the amount of Tangs.
 
cjworkman

cjworkman

Member
I agree with the stock list comments.
But the tangs are not causing your current nitrate problem.
because ammonia and nitrite is zero, something is leeching nitrate into your system.
anything dead, left over food, or fish waste will first become ammonia, then nitrite then nitrate. so if ammonia and nitrite is absent and nitrates are not falling then something is leeching nitrate back into your system.
dirty filters, canister filter that hasn't been cleaned for more than a week, things stirring up the sand...
 
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