High Nitrate problem Please Help

[taikoboi]

Hey All,

So I have a 60 gallon Flowr tank with 75lbs of premium fiji live rock with 70-75lbs of live sand, with a protein bak-pak protein skimmer, fluval 305 filter canister with clearmax and carbon compartments and great water flow around the tank. It's my 8th week and my salt level is at 1.022, amonia is at 0, ph is at 7.8, nitrite is at 0 or barely anything and my nitrite is bright red thinking anywhere from 80-160ppm. Also, my protein skimmer collection cup has been very dark and almost sludgie with little bits of dark pieces.

I currently have a sweetlip clownfish, gold maroon clownfish, flame angel, coral beauty and a baby cowfish which are all healthy and eating well. I don't over feed them and I have started doing 1 water change of 25% per week for the 2 weeks.

My tank has gotten very milky the past 3 days and I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong. I posted some pics below. Any help or advice would be surely apprecaited it.

 

[SweetTang]

I would say maybe too big of a bioload for that new/size of a tank. While the bacteria has developed to process the ammonia and nitrites, the denitrifying bacteria necessary to process the Nitrates has yet to develop to handle that much waste. I would say at a minimum, keep your feedings low, get a good sized clean up crew (they will have plenty to eat), add something like Instant Ocean Nitrate Reducer to jump-start the denitrification process, and definitely look into some Macro-Algae to absorb some of the Nitrates. Keep doing water changes and blow the detritus out of your LR with a Turkey baster before your water change and definitely don't add anymore fish.

 

[Dr. Reef]

nitrates will not decrease on their own. u have to rid them water changes and refugium with algae is the cheapest option next in line will be more expensive denitrators.

 

[shaginwagon13]

How much do you feed per day? As stated above you are probably over feeding and your tank is still very young so it has not yet developed the adequate levels of bacteria to properly break down the waste/excess food. Nitrates are only caused from having excess food/waste present in your tank.

I would start by doing a water change and reducing the amount you are feeding. Are you currently running a sump? You could try to add a refiugium and put in some Chaeto or Caulerpa to help combat the Nitrates and any possible Phosphates present in your tank.

 

[Putty]

blow the detritus out of your LR with a Turkey baster before your water change

Explain this please

 

[shaginwagon13]

nitrates will not decrease on their own. u have to rid them water changes and refugium with algae is the cheapest option next in line will be more expensive denitrators.

+1

I was just typing that when you beat me to the post.

 

[shaginwagon13]

Explain this please

When you over-feed or have excess waste it settles on LR, sand, etc.

By taking a power head or turkey baster and blowing the rock and sand bed, you are causing the waste to become suspended again. Doing this right before a water change ensures you remove as much of the excess food/waste as possible.

 

[Dr. Reef]

+1

I was just typing that when you beat me to the post.

thats ok if u tell em or i tell em as long as the message gets passed out the right way lol. we all try to help in a good sense.

 

[SweetTang]

Explain this please

Gunk can get stuck in the holes, crevices, and dead spots (places where the current from your powerheads don't go) in your Live Rock. IMO....Gunk/Detritus=Nitrates. My tank has good flow and no Nitrate problem, but I still blow the detritus out of my LR once a week or two.

 

[SweetTang]

The definition of over-feeding is something that took me a while to get through my hard head when I first started. I assumed that as long as my fish ate most of the food I put in, I wasn't over feeding. I could feed them 2-3 times a day and they would eat it all. I soon realized that even though my fish were eating all that I put in, I was over feeding. The more a fish eats, the more waste it produces. I am not saying starve your fish and put them on the adkins diet, but don't fatten them up like a Thanksgiving Turkey either.

 

[Peter T]

+1 Good advice given so far.

One other question I have is what type of water are you using for water changes and top-offs? Are you using RO/DI or treated tap water?

 

[taikoboi]

Thanks for the great advice.

I feed my fish frozen cube mysis shrimp twice a day. Usually one cube each feeding.

I do not have an r/o system but I do use filtered water from the grocery store. I have five 5 gallon jugs that I fill up and use for my water changes and top off. I also tested to see if it had any nitrates but it was very minimal if any.

I will start blowing off debris off my live rock and sand before a water change. Very good tip!

My LFS has clean up crew package for $60.00, I believe its about 10 turb snails and lots of crabs

I do not have a sump and do not a place to put it. But I will look into a refiugium and see what I can do about that.

I will not be adding anymore fish and I will only feed once a day and continue my weekly water changes.

 

[fishgate]

It also looks like you have a Fluval canister filter. Do you run sponges in it? Bio-media?

never-mind - I think that is your skimmer...

 

[Peter T]

Thanks for the great advice.

I feed my fish frozen cube mysis shrimp twice a day. Usually one cube each feeding.

I do not have an r/o system but I do use filtered water from the grocery store. I have five 5 gallon jugs that I fill up and use for my water changes and top off. I also tested to see if it had any nitrates but it was very minimal if any.

I will start blowing off debris off my live rock and sand before a water change. Very good tip!

My LFS has clean up crew package for $60.00, I believe its about 10 turb snails and lots of crabs

I do not have a sump and do not a place to put it. But I will look into a refiugium and see what I can do about that.

I will not be adding anymore fish and I will only feed once a day and continue my weekly water changes.

While financially it is a good idea to purchase clean up crew packages to save money on shipment/gas, my advice is to slowly add your CUC and observe how it affects your tank. Most reef cleaning packages are tailored for a fully matured and stocked tank. In a newly cycled tank, your tank may not have enough food to sustain all the new additions to your clean up crew and many may end up starving to death. This in turn will just lead to higher nitrates as the snails/crabs die in your tank.

 

[BigCountry74]

large water changes are the fastest way to bring them down for sure.

Save up some cash and invest in a RO/DI unit when you can. Heck put that 60 dollars towards it (you do not need a cleaning crew at this point). I got mine on Amazon for 150 bucks, was not too bad. Might be the best thing I have purchased for my tanks. Makes this hobby so much easier...

Save the empty 5gallon jugs you are getting at the grocery store to fill/store the RO/DI water.

 

[taikoboi]

Okay, I will buy 5 turbo snails and 5 hermit crabs and see how it goes. Do you think it's safe to do a 50% water change? Also, I will look into a RO/DI unit.

 

[BigCountry74]

yeah fowlr 50% change is fine.

is that a large dogface puffer in that second pic? that thing is a ****(nitrate) wagon man. be warned hehe

 

[BigCountry74]

yeah fowlr 50% change is fine.

is that a large dogface puffer in that second pic? that thing is a ****(nitrate) wagon man. be warned hehe

 

[taikoboi]

He used to be in my tank but I gave him a way couple week ago to someone who had a 200 gallon tank. I miss him though :-D

 

[shaginwagon13]

Okay, I will buy 5 turbo snails and 5 hermit crabs and see how it goes. Do you think it's safe to do a 50% water change? Also, I will look into a RO/DI unit.

An RO/DI unit is a must IMO to save you from so many headaches down the road. You can buy a good used one online on this forum for very reasonable prices.