Nitrates at 60. help

[moneymm]

i havent done a test in a few months, i went a good 10 months with checking regularly, and every ammonia/nitrate/nitrite and ph test always should the same results

ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ph 8.2

i have neglected my testing for the past couple months, but the last few days my fish have been acting alittle more lively and stressed. so i ran a test and noticed my ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, ph 8.2 but my nitrates are around 60 ppm.

what can I do to get this down. i know more water changes are a good long term solution, but i am not setup to do one today.

also i have a riduclous amount of bubble algae for past 2 weeeks and hundreds of baby ceriths born a few months back

 

[WerezMiePie]

Prime detoxifies ammonia nitrite and Nitrate I think.

 

[Hitch08]

One thing to consider is whether your test kit is out of date. Perhaps you could get a second kit to compare the results?

 

[moneymm]

Prime detoxifies ammonia nitrite and Nitrate I think.

i just did a dose of that thanks.

 

[PatW]

There are the usual methods of nitrate export:

1) Large water changes, which is probably the fastest and least expensive optiion for smaller systems.

2). Turf scrubbers or macro algae in refugia.

3). Carbon dosing and vigorous skimming.

4). Deep sand beds or other harbors for denitrifying bacteria.

5). Not over feeding which is virtually impossible. We all tend to love to feed the fish.

 

[CStrickland]

Nitrates of 60 isn't a crisis for fish, but it means your tank is dirty and inverts are prolly unhappy. It's going to take a fair amount of work to bring them back down, if you replace half your water, they will only get down to 30. I'm guessing that while you were neglecting your testing you were also neglecting your maintenance?

I'd find and clean the places in your system where waste is accumulating and rotting. Like filter pads, filter socks, piles of poop in the sump, gravelly substrates etc. and use a small powerhead or turkey baster to blow junk out of the rocks too. If the rocks are really bad you can swish them in a separate bucket of saltwater so that stuff isn't released all at once into the tank. Like most things it takes longer to fix than it did to break. But if you get back on track with cleaning and testing, it should resolve after a few largish water changes

 

[moneymm]

i def neglected alot of things, only doing water changes every 3-4 weeks, ton of algae problems etc.

 

[JammyBirch]

I agree, not a crisis. Water change it out and you'll be good to go

 

[gji]

Red Sea no pox works