Nitrate levels

[Jayjay1981]

I purchased a new redsea peninsula 500 I set everything up. I bought out a running tank in my area and stocked my new tank with all the rock sand and live stock. The tank is fine everything is doing good. When I set the tank up I did a 50 gallon water change with great reef crystals salt. I tested the nitrates on the new saltwater it's 0
My issue is the nitrates are through the roof. Over a 100 0 ammonia 0 nitrite ph swings from 8.0 down to 7.6 through the day. I have a co2 scrubber Installed. I did a 25 gallon water change yesterday and still high nitrates. Any advice thanks.


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[Jayjay1981]

Also water is a 6 stage Ro/di with tds meter at 0


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[Daddi0]

When you move rock/sand you loosen old crap and expose different surfaces to water flow. Feed sparingly and give it a little time.
Cheers! Mark

 

[mcgyvr]

How did you cycle it?
What type of rock did you purchase?
How stocked is it?
How much food do you feed?
How old is the tank?
And many more details to determine why...

But you basically make more nitrates than your current bacterial population and export methods remove it...

Large water changes will help.. A 50% water change usually reduces it 50%....20% x 20%,etc....

Carbon dosing can also be quite effective..

 

[bertoni]

I suspect you are seeing the results of a lot of debris from the old sand and live rock. You could keep up the water changes if they are not too much trouble or expense, but it will take a lot of them if the debris is still producing nitrate. I agree that waiting a bit might be all that's required.

 

[Jayjay1981]

I have been doing a 20 gallon water change every other day lite feeding every other day. Tested nitrates tonight still holding around 80 I would say.


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[mcgyvr]

Sounds about right..