problems with high nitrate

[stephen22553]

i went and bought a magnum pro for extra filtering. the fish store also said to use chemipure. and he said just put it in the filter. we also did 2 water changes. anyone with any suggestions please help.

 

[miaheatlvr]

How is your tank set up, live sand? live rock? etc etc, do you have a protein skimmer? what is you tank set-up? bio load? any other filtration? etc etc how high were the nitrates?

 

[spanko]

Feeding too much, dead livestock rotting in tank, stirring up your substrate, changed filter cartridges and cleaned out any sponges?

 

[aztec reef]

do you use RO water? how big is your tank? how often do you do Waterchanges??????

 

[stephen22553]

magnum pro , bio filter , 6 pounds of live rock live sand a couple peices of tree coral cruched coral 3 fish a sea horse star fish two
snails & two hermits 30 gal tank.
iam learning guys thanks for your help..

 

[spanko]

OK then:
More rock needed about 1 to 1.5 lbs. per gallons to set up a good bio filtering process.
Sand needs to be about a lb. per gallon.
Crushed coral is a detritus trap and needs to be cleaned regularly.
What are the three fish you have?

 

[stephen22553]

the person i got the tank off of told me it was a 50 gallon tank but to find out later after setup it was 30 gallons .the fish store gave me enough sand and crushed coral for a 50 gallon so to much sand and coral be messing it up also we have a angel yellow box danzel. should we take some out?

 

[aztec reef]

No, fish are fine.......First, do you use Tap water? second, are you Vacumming the Crushed coral? Now, if i Understood it correctly you said that you have crush coral mixed with sand? that is not a good idea...
You have to use all Sand or all crushed coral, If you use CC, then you'll have to keep it clean/vacumed or it will become a Nitrate Factory....

 

[stephen22553]

so would it be better to remove cc and just use live sand ?
well water

 

[aztec reef]

Originally Posted by stephen22553
so would it be better to remove cc and just use live sand ?
well water
Yes, it will be better to just use Sand, Although it doesn't need to be all "live".
If you use plenty of liverock your sandbed will become "live". You can use live sand for the top layer to enhance the biodiversity or buy a Detrivor Kit from a Seafarm.
As for the well water

That's going to be a problem for your Saltwater tank.. Most Peeps don't use well water or Tap for Waterchanges.Due to the high aboundance of chemicals and elements such as copper, Nitrate,Phosphates, ect...(wich in return give you nuisance algeas).. For the highest Quality of water there's nothing better than RO/DI water.(reverse osmosis)..your local fish store should sell it or you can buy an ro unit...

 

[rattler739]

I am a noob also and Im having the same problem I have had my tank for about 2 and a half months and every thing was perfect until now but for some reason it just went up to about 25-30 ppm did a waterchange 2 days ago and it still just as high

i have
14g biocube
17lbs lr
15-20lbs ls
neon goby
clown goby
4 zebra reef hermits
3 scarlet
1 red legged
sexy shrimp
rock anemone
had an emerald crab but he died yesterday
could this be the reason for him dyin
any help would be awsome
thanks