nitrate

L

LisaLee3030

New member
What do you do if your nitrate is to high or to low? Yes i'm new to salt water tanks.So i am so lost on this,Im hoping some one could help me on this!
 
hello my name is Pat ,,,and im a reefaholic

Welcome to Reef Central ,,,, water changes and watch the amount of food each day ,,,cut back a bit on the food and water changes regularly... the goal is ZERO with nitrates !!! and water changes are the best way ,,, with RO/DI saltwater 20% weekly until its way down
 
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Although some like to some measurable nitrates below 5ppm, I don't think too low is an issue. You can help prevent high nitrates by running a decent skimmer, watching what you feed and avoiding overstocking of fish. You have a few options. Remember, these are bandaids as the issue is excessive nutrients that are decomposing in your tank.

1.) Water changes

2.) Run a refugium

3.) Deep sand bed (remote or local)

4.) Denitrator (coil or sulfur)
 
I have a 46gl tank and it has some live rock,and a lemonpeel,and a star fish. i had the tank for a week and every thing was good until a freind of mine came over and showed me how to do a water change ,everything was reading good as of that night and the only thing he didnt test was the nitrate.Because i didn't have that test. anyways when i got up the next day my fish and star fish was dead!!!!!! So know i'm sad and need to find out what 2 do next.
 
LisaLee3030 im am new to saltwater myself but i was always told to take is slow you have to allow your tank to cycle for about 4 to 5 weeks and do about 10% water changes. The cycling process will undoubtedly be the most tense time for your tank
 
Lisa,

Did you let the tank cycle with the rock prior to adding fish? If so for how long did you run the tank with the rock prior to adding angel? How long were the angel and starfish been in your tank? Did you test ammonia with your friend the night before the deaths? Did you match the temperature of the water change water to your tank water? Did you take a nitrate reading on the tank in the morning when you found the fish and star dead?

I know these are a bunch of questions, but answering these will help everyone determine where the issue is so you can get it solved.
 
I got the tank all set up the lady had it for 8yrs and had to sell do to being out of a job.So I took it down water and all and put it back up. the fish and rock and star fish came with it. so I dont know what had happen, It was doing great until the water change
 
What are you testing for and what are the results? You can lower that temp a little too, as I'm sure it wouldn't hurt and it will help slow the metabolism of your critters. I run mine at 77 F.
 
My nitrates in my sps tank are always around 10 and I have no problems!!
I dont think its your nitrates
I even have pipefish in there that do great
 
Maybe it could be a combination of things like stirring up an 8 yr old sandbed could be a dangerous exercise, moving fish can be very stressful and also moving live rock could stir up things that had previously been settled into nooks and crannies. That combination could have been a deadly one as the tank could have gone through a decent-sized cycle even though the tank was previously established.
 
Welcome to Reef Central and to the ridiculous addictive hobby of saltwater aquaria. I'm sorry for your losses! Fish can withstand a very high nitrate level. Coral and sensile inverts like your starfish can not. I'm almost positive that even though the tank was set up for a very long time that a cycle occurred. Nitrite and ammonia probably spiked over night which caused a Ph drop which killed your fish. I would do one large water change then let the tank sit for 4 weeks. While the tank does its thing do lots of reading and research. Then at the end of 4 weeks... Test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphates, ph,SG, and alkalinity. Ammonia and nitrites must be 0! Po4 should be 0-2ppm No3 can be from 0-75ppm ( for just fish) 0-15 [ (FOWLR)Fish Only With Live Rock]and 0-5ppm for reefs. You should not do water changes while a tank cycles because when you do a water change the nitrogen process starts over and it will take much longer to cycle. Just make sure you read lots, ask lots of questions and do tons of surfing on RC! Hope this helps and good luck!
 
With the tank only up a week are you sure the tank went through its cycle? I think it was to soon to put a fish in. Starfish are even tuffer to keep, I personally wouldn't put one in for at least 6 months. Just my thoughts!
 
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