Help with Nitrates

[snooter1]

6 Month old 90 gallon TBS tank
Everything else looks good, AM-0, Nitrites 0, Po4 .3, salt 1.025, temp steady at 82, CA at 470, Nitrates canot get below 30-40 and today I checked and they are very high 60+. Plan do do a 25% water change as soon as I make the water. RO/DI water only used. I change 15 gallons every 3-4 weeks. ER skimmer keeps pulling out tons of skimate and I feed one cube mysis or formula 2 flakes, alternating each day. I did lose an coral a week ago. Could that have caused the spike.

Here is what is in the tank
1 Royal gamma
2 firefish
1 bi-color angle
1 clown
1 six line
lots of critters. 3 weeks ago added 90 assorted snails, and 100 small blue legs. They all seem healthy.

Corals seem OK as well.

Any idea whats going on. Is there anything else I can do to bring them down for good. Is ther an addative I could add to help me control Nitrates?

I did run Carbon (chemipure) for the last three weeks as well. Removed for fear that was adding to my issue. Also remover filter pad that I used for mechanical filtration in the sump. I changed every week, so I do not think that is were the problem is.

 

[SeanT]

I would suggest verifying your reaings with another Nitrate test kit as the first step.
Kits can go bad.

 

[snooter1]

I used the kit on my water change water and it read 0. THink the kits are OK.
Someone said to add Macro Algee to the sump. What do you think

 

[reelfreak]

Fuge is the best solution, seems to be the overall consensus on this board....macro is a big help...i am in the process of designing and setting mine up.... i also have the nitrate problem....mine go from 20ppm to 50 before water changes....they have begun to stabilize after i began to slowly remove the bio balls, i now have only a few left in the wet dry....if you use bio balls and want to remove them, do it VERY SLOWLY, over several weeks time... otherwise you lose valuable biological bacteria...lots of posts if you search on it....

 

[Cearbhaill]

I would do multiple large water changes until I got those nitrates under control, crank up the skimmer, slow down on feeding, and add macros to the sump if you have a suitable growing area.
And I freak when I see "trace" readings!

I don't think the dead coral caused the nitrates- I think it died because of them, though. Fish might tolerate those numbers, but corals will not.

 

[snooter1]

I would love to set up a fuge for the macro's but the space under my stand is very limited. Can you just add them to the sump and get the same results or do you need the sand, mud, etc?

 

[SeanT]

To the sump is fine.
But they do need light.
And you would need to set up some mesh to keep them from getting sucked into your pumps.

 

[Cearbhaill]

One of my LFS floats plastic (dedicated) colanders full of macros in the display tanks- might work in your situation.

 

[snooter1]

Thanks for the great help. Off to the LFS to buy macro algee tonight.

2 water changes so far 2 ten gallon ones. Preparing for a larger 20 gallon one for tommorow.

Slowly going down. Now will be the trick to keep them down.