Nitrates too high

[deblin2]

I have a 60 gallon salt water tank that ran successfully for years. Then my mother got Alzheimer's and I just didn't have time to take care of it anymore. I lost my fish, the water was out of it. I had at least 40 lbs of live sand in it and more live rock than could be weighed. I know the live rock is dead now and so is the sand, but I thought it would be good to grow the needed bacteria to make it cycle good anyway. I filled it back up with salt water and it started cycling. It has been cycling for over a month now. The nitrite is very high and seems stuck. There is some ammonia and a about 30 nitrate. Will it ever cycle and be good to put fish? I added a small bag of live sand to help and I put in some Prime because I read that would help push it over the edge. I have a skimmer and a pump to circulate the water. I did have a filter on it but I remembered that when I first set it up that caused me problems with the readings so I took it off. I have a yellow tang that seems fine. I have lost several other fish though. I'm not putting anything else in it until it is right. I had an anemone that I was accusing of eating my fish. It may have eaten some, still not sure. I did a 70 % water change and got the nitrate down to about 80. What can I do to lower the nitrate? The ammonia and nitrite are 0. Thank you for your help.
Debbie

 

[1guydude]

Did you clean the rock out or sand before re start? Might wanna run a big chemi pure elite I think it is. Charcoal or carbon

A couple more scheduled water changes will help as time goes.

Usually people vinegar acid bomb the rock. Dry it out. Rinse it. That way all the Lil dead critters don't rot in the tank.
Hths
D

 

[pegasus]

Other than tearing down the tank and starting over, I don't think anything but time, patience, and water changes are going to solve your problem. However... carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar, NO3 - PO4: X, etc.) can help speed up the process by causing a bacterial bloom, but you have to use extreme caution if there are any inhabitants in the tank. You'd be better off to move the tang to a holding tank until the process is complete, as it looks like there needs to be some serious changes made to the tank.

 

[flower]

I agree with Pegasus, except instead of vodka dosing, try adding macroalgae, it absorbs the nitrates, phosphates and nitrites to grow, as you prune it to keep it from over growing (called harvesting) you remove that stuff from the system...the more of No3, No4 and No2 you have, the faster the macros grow.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother, mine also has Alzheimer's, strength to you to help her as she deals with that dreaded disease. My Mother thought the toaster oven was the microwave last week, and she tried to pop some popcorn... the toaster was a fireball, but I managed to get it snuffed out before it burned the house down. It's like having a small child in the house, I have to watch her every minute.