Help w/ chemical levels please...

[bennyd]

Ok, so my tank is close to 4 months old now... I currently have about 40lbs of LR in the DT... I have another 60lbs curing that I also plan to put into the DT, which would give me approx 100lbs of LR which is almost 2lbs per gallon.

I have 40lbs of LS in the DT and an additional 45lbs in my LR curing tank that I will eventually also add to the DT...

Here are my current readings...

Temp: 79-81.4
Alk: 125
Salinity: 1.026
NitrIte: 0
Ammonia: 0.1
NitrAte: Around 6-7

It seems no matter what I do, my NitrAte's are always at that level... I had nitrAtes at about 6-7 3 weeks ago, did a 15% water change... one week later did another 15% change... Still no fluctuation in the nitrAtes... So yesterday, I did about a 25% water change... and my nitrAte's are STILL 6-7...

The only thing that has changed in my tank as far as chemical levels go is the Ammonia and I know that it's registering now because I have more live stock and surely not enough LR in the system yet which will be changing in approx another weeks time...

Can anyone give me some advice as to why this may be happening?

 

[boozerell]

Others with more experience will chime in, but if you look under the chemistry forum there's a lot of info there. Plus Farley is really helpful, on that forum.
For me I had this problem with my little tank. Ammonia level was 0 though, but nitrates were up. I kept up with the water changes, watched how much I was feeding and the other day when I checked all was good. Can't tell you what made the difference.

 

[Jeff Trout]

Its still new.Everyone goes through it

 

[bennyd]

I understand that it's new... But NitrAte reduction is directly related to water changes....

Hence, if I were to change 25% of the water, theoretically my nitrate reduction should be 25%... However this is proving to not be the case here, and there has got to be a reason for this...

I understand new tanks have chemical stuffs going on, but after almost 4 months, I would imagine that most of the chemical swings are done...

 

[jbmynes]

nothings taking a crap and the fish are cool right?

You get the other LR in there and it might make all the difference... who knows...

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14111222#post14111222 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bennyd
I understand that it's new... But NitrAte reduction is directly related to water changes....

Yes and no...

You would need to do back to back water changes to see a drastic reduction. Waiting a week in between won't get you anywhere.

http://www.melevsreef.com/reducing_nitrates.html

55 gal Reef Example: Make up 20 gals of fresh saltwater in a trashcan in front of your tank. Drain 10 gals of tank water into the 20 gals of new water, and let that mix. Pump 10 gals of that water back into your tank, and let the power heads mix that water up in your tank for a minute or so. Then repeat this three more times. Dispose of the now polluted 20 gals of water. Make up another 20 gals of fresh saltwater, and repeat this procedure. As long as your temperature and salinity match the tank, your inhabitants won’t be affected adversely, and with each rotation of water, the nitrates are being diluted and removed from your tank.

Simply pulling out all of the water in one massive water change puts stress on your entire tank.Doing small water changes consistently won’t bring nitrate levels down. At best, it will maintain them at their current levels. Using the example above, a tank that was at 80ppm would be around 30ppm after a couple of hours work and your population will be happy and unaffected. Once your nitrate levels drop, they are easily kept low with regular water changes, as well as the use of a DSB and macro algae.

 

[serpentman]

Like TJ said, doing a 25% water changes will not directly correlate to a 25% reduction in nitrates.

Given the relative age of the tank and the fact that you are registering ammonia, I wouldn't worry about nitrates just yet. As the ammonia is broken down, it will be a virtual nitrate factory. I would not add any new livestock and feed very minimally until things settle out and your cycle is 100% complete. At that time, I would look into addressing nitrates if its still an issue.

Also, what type of skimmer are you running. Although LR is important, a decent skimmer can also significant reduce the amount of organics before they are broken down in your system.

 

[bennyd]

AquaC Remora on the tank, I'm getting ready to hookup my DIY AquaClear 110 fuge... Got a good chunk of cheato to put in there from Cove Beach, and once this LR is done curing, I'll have some rock/rubble to put in it as well.