High Nitrates what do I do?

N

nemosluckyfin

New member
Hello Everyone,
So recently I have been battling with a bit of an algae problem. While I have won the battle there has been so issues with the nitrate levels in my tank. I recently have done two partial water changes and for some reason, my nitrates are still very high. I don't have the exact number at the moment. But when I got it tested at my LFS they said that it was very high and it was "burning my fish". Does this actually burn them? Also, what do I do to bring this level down. I only have the light on for 6h a day, and I have started to cut down on the amount I am feeding this fish.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Nemosluckyfin:fish1:
 
What kind of lighting are you using? The amount of hours honestly don't matter as much alone, it has to be taken into account with the output and intensity/type when looking at it from an hours per day perspective.

With regards to reducing nitrates, water changes are your best route. 10-20% water changes every week to every other week, consistently will be what will help control nitrates in your water.

How long has your tank been up? did you complete your cycle? I highly recommend getting your own test kit even if it is just API and not relying solely on your LFS. Emergency testing is always something you will want to be able to do so you can get answers to any problem you're having immediately.

Lots of questions to be asked to understand why you have increased nitrates. What's your feeding process, are you running a skimmer, what's your current water change process, what do you have for a bioload in your tank, how big is the tank etc.
 
Hi and thanks for the response. Here is some of the info

Tank size: 37gallon

Time tank has been up: 10-11 months

Cycle completed: Yes

Feeding process: half a cube of mysis a day, sometimes flakes as well (currently cutting down to smaller amounts on all feeding for this tank)

Running Skimmer: No

Current water change process: Once a month now moving to once every three weeks

Bioload: Not entirely sure what that is and how to measure it.

Light: Current LED (current is the brand)
 
Bioload is your fish, inverts, etc - there's not a great measuring system for it. Just tell us what livestock you have and how much rock. That helps determine how much processing capability your system has relative to the amount of livestock and volume of water.
 
PS - get a skimmer. If that doesn't do wonders for you (though likely not perfect), consider vinegar dosing or better maintenance.
 
Ok thanks. What I have in my tank is the following
1 Filefish
1 clownfish
1 royal gramma
1 blue sided wrasse
1 valentine puffer
about 10-12 of rock
about 9.5 pounds are live rock
 
Do you have a sump? if so, I would look at the SCA 301 skimmer, it's a cheap skimmer and actually does a very good job. Otherwise, if you don't have a sump you will need to look at HOB skimmers, they get a little bit more expensive. I used to have a QQ1 but those are rated up to 30 gallons.

I honestly would really get your water changes down to every 2 weeks at a maximum. unfortunately in a smaller tank (we'll say under 50 gallons), you will need to perform more maintenance on it and very routinely.

Monthly water changes and no skimmer are likely the culprit of your nitrates.
 
Your LFS is frankly talking boll**ks, high nitrates does not "burn your fish", it is ammonia that does that as it burns the gills. Nitrates is the least dangerous of the three (ammonia & nitrites being the other two). Nitrates in a higher concentration can slowly poison the fish causing restlessness, not feeding and general erractic behaviour. But a lot of fish only systems have high nitrates and are more concerned over the effect it can have on algae growth than the fish. Fish can tolerate nitrates in the water fine from my experience. The first thing you want to do is either purchase a nitrate test kit and run the test yourself or ask another LFS to test it. Once you have the figure, post it here and we can advise on a suitable course of action.
 
Perform 50% water changes weekly (or more often) until levels are acceptable.. (20-40 or so is just fine for fish.. frankly more than that is ok too but the lower the better really..)
Levels that high WILL fuel the algae though..

Then do 20% or so as needed to keep levels the same.. You will need to do trial and error to see how often you need to change the water.. But your current schedule is simply not enough..

A 50% water change should cut the levels approximately in half..
 
mcgyvr said:
perform 50% water changes weekly (or more often) until levels are acceptable.. (20-40 or so is just fine for fish.. Frankly more than that is ok too but the lower the better really..)
levels that high will fuel the algae though..

Then do 20% or so as needed to keep levels the same.. You will need to do trial and error to see how often you need to change the water.. But your current schedule is simply not enough..

A 50% water change should cut the levels approximately in half..
Click to expand...

this
 
Thanks for all of the info everyone. Its really helpful. I got test strip myself and have the results here. Should I post a picture of them?
 
IMG_2054-4.JPG

Here is the image everyone. Its from a tetra 6 in 1 test strip.
 
If you have a sump you could grow some chaeto; it'll help to keep the nitrates down otherwise you'll find you're doing 3-4 WCs every month.
 
I've never heard of nitrates "burning" fish. I don't think that's true at all. They can harm your fish over time at very high levels, but as far as actual burns, that would be from ammonia most likely. I've been struggling with high nitrates as well and have found that dosing vodka will slowly but surely help you to get them under control. Other's prefer to use vinegar or other types of carbon sources. It's been about 4 months or so for us and we are still not where we want to be, but the nitrates are slowly dropping. We also had a ton of GHA that was likely releasing the nitrates back into the water as it died. Now that it's mostly dead (FINALLY), I'm curious to see how long it takes for our nitrates to get to where we want them. Good luck!
 
Skimmer, chaeto, water changes.

Might also consider some more rock. 12 lbs in 30 gallons is pretty slim for filtration.

The advice the members have given you is bang on, and following that advice will make you tank much better and your life much easier.

Remember. Trying to nickel and dime yourself on the absolute basic tools for a healthy reef now will likely end up costing you many times more in losses, salt and losses....

Get a test kit so you know where you are at.

I run between 5 & 10 nitrate.

I only use chaeto and a big Lifereef skimmer.
 
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