friend tank nitrates read 160

anthonys51

anthonys51

New member
my friend just tested his water and it came back at 160ppm for nitrates. cant believe his fish and maxima clam is still alive. his leathers and zoas are ok too, but all his corals, acan, hammer, torch have been died one by one. h
cant believe it, had to go check myself. how did his clam live
 
i would say re test with a different kit. maybe human error or bad kit. rule that out then
160ppm is tolerable to fish but not inverts. maybe they are irritated, also if nitrates grow over time with small increments they might be dealing with it. i would do water change is results are true and bring them down under 50 for sure and under 10 if possible.
 
bnumair said:
i would say re test with a different kit. maybe human error or bad kit. rule that out then
160ppm is tolerable to fish but not inverts. maybe they are irritated, also if nitrates grow over time with small increments they might be dealing with it. i would do water change is results are true and bring them down under 50 for sure and under 10 if possible.
Click to expand...

yes i tested he tested and lfs store tested. i really didnt think soft coral pink zippers, green goblins and a clam could live, but like you said maybe slowly over time. i told him do a 25 percent water change every 5 days, dont want to shock whats left in the tank, they might of gotten used to the bad water
 
I would to 25-30% water change everyday until it's back to somewhat normal, then spread the water changes out a bit. Also what often does he do a water change for regular maintenance? How much are you feeding. Is he using live rock and skimmer for his filtration?
 
his tank has been up for 9 years. he runs a skimmer, gfo and carbon. also has a DSB he hasnt cleaned in 9 years and has had like 9 tank wipe outs since he got the tank.
but the last go around everything was ok, Then he added a few more fish, and started feeding his corals like 2 to 3 times a week. his scoly and acans looked great after he feed them,, then a month or 2 later one by one his corals would die, took like 2 -3 months for them all to die. he was so worried about phosphates he never checked nitrates. told him too, he said he didnt have a test kit.
 
Its entirely possible..
Clams can take some dirty water.. Fish.. no problem for the most part.. Soft corals,etc.. sure..
But everything would likely be better without nitrate levels that high..
And as you have seen other corals like LPS/SPS,etc.. will NOT fair well in a system like that..
 
If it were my tank I'd do small waterchanges every day and vucuum up very small section of the sandbed with the waterchanges until basically all the sand was gone.
 
To save a ton on salt from all the water changes, personally I'd consider starting a little carbon dosing. A shot of vodka in to the ATO res, for example.
 
toothybugs said:
To save a ton on salt from all the water changes, personally I'd consider starting a little carbon dosing. A shot of vodka in to the ATO res, for example.
Click to expand...

he actually started carbon dosing. probably easier to do that long term then clean 90 gallon tank thats 9 years old out
 
One other thing that jumps out: Turn off the pumps, blow out the rock and let the crud settle, skim suck it out and let the carbon do its thing. Might take a bit to kick in and see results but I wouldn't hesitate to be a little aggressive with the vinegar.
 
anthonys51 said:
his tank has been up for 9 years. he runs a skimmer, gfo and carbon. also has a DSB he hasnt cleaned in 9 years and has had like 9 tank wipe outs since he got the tank.
but the last go around everything was ok, Then he added a few more fish, and started feeding his corals like 2 to 3 times a week. his scoly and acans looked great after he feed them,, then a month or 2 later one by one his corals would die, took like 2 -3 months for them all to die. he was so worried about phosphates he never checked nitrates. told him too, he said he didnt have a test kit.
Click to expand...
rofl why even help this person sounds like he's been hitting the glass every year for 9 years. gettim a betta bowl and be done with it that's alotta life that's been murdered
 
toothybugs said:
One other thing that jumps out: Turn off the pumps, blow out the rock and let the crud settle, skim suck it out and let the carbon do its thing. Might take a bit to kick in and see results but I wouldn't hesitate to be a little aggressive with the vinegar.
Click to expand...

will advise him on that one
 
In my old tank, I would remove large amounts of those corals regularly. I just threw them in the trash. They grew back very fast.
 
Cool!! My Kenya tree has already dropped a couple branches so hopefully when they grow that might help a little bit too


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