High Nitrates

dse18612

New member
Its been along time since i have had a saltwater tank, just about a decade i guess hence putting this in new to the hobby! 40 gallon breeder used 40 pounds of dry rock ammonia 0 nitrite 0 to .25 but nitrate is 160 PH little low 7.8 Alk 5.0 tank is 8 weeks old nothing in it yet. I did a 10% water change but Nitrates remained the same, only thing im using is a HOB filter so my questions are as follows
1. how do i raise my Alk
2. how do i get my nitrates down
3. does my Ph need to be higher
 
Welcome back to the hobby. I wouldn't worry about the ph so much right now. 7.8 is certainly workable.

Your alk is really low for sure as you mentioned.
Before making changes like addressing the low alk...
I would
1) suggest retesting the low alk value again just to be certain. (You may want to mention what test kit you are using)
2) test for salinity and post the results here.

Water changes should bring improvements. (I'm assuming you are using RO/DI water). With nothing in the tank yet, you could be more aggressive (> 10%) with your water changes for now. As far as how to reduce your nitrates in general, there are several. I export nutrients by growing chaeto in a refuge.
 
>>> nitrite 0 to .25 but nitrate is 160 <<<

I believe no2 will show as no3 on a nitrate test kit so your no3 may not be as high as indicated.

Sodium bicarbonate, or better yet sodium carbonate will raise your alk, & Your pH.
 
Thank you for the replies! I am using Salifert Carbonate Hardness/alkalinity, I did another test and realized I used wrong chart my bad, different languages so alk is 14.7 my S.G is 1.023. I still have lots of air bubbles coming from rock, I am in no hurry to add anything.
 
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