nitrates high - enough live rock?

[rlemke]

Last November, I upgraded my 42 gallon tank to a 70 gallon tank(reef). I had gotten lazy in my tank maintenance, but was getting away with it until a few months ago. I noticed I was losing corals, and when I finally checked my nitrates, I was off the charts. Since then, I've been trying to draw my nitrates back down to acceptable levels with water changes and vodka dosing. But it's been a struggle, and I feel like I haven't made much progress. I have a pretty healthy population of fish (10), too many hermits to count, some emeralds, shrimp and a few snails. I think I've got about 55 pounds of live rock...maybe 60, along with roughly 50 pounds of live sand. Do I need more to provide more live rock for breaking down the nitrate? Are there any other suggestions out there, besides massive water change?
Nitrates are between 50 and 100 ppm
Nitrites = 0
Ammonia = 0
Phosphate = trace
pH - 8.3

 

[redfishsc]

No, don't add any more live rock, it won't solve the problem.

In most tanks, and most likely with yours (from what you said above) the culprit is long-term neglect or overfeeding. It happens to us all sometimes, especially when life gets us too tangled to care for the things we've taken into our care like we should.

Most likely if you are having a hard time getting the nitrates down, you are simply drawing nitrates back out of the rock you have (and sand) as it slowly reaches equilibrium with your tank water.

Give it time, and if you have a skimmer, skim wet while dosing a vodka/sugar/vinegar type carbon. Don't do it without a skimmer (not sure if you had one so I thought I'd mention it).



Lastly, cut back on your feeding. A hungry fish is a happy fish. I'd cut back to one feeding per day, perhaps 4-5 feedings total per week. There are often times I don't feed my fish for a couple days (I don't have a heavy fish load either so there's always grazing stuff for them in the tank).

 

[WhiteLightsaber]

...Lastly, cut back on your feeding. A hungry fish is a happy fish. I'd cut back to one feeding per day, perhaps 4-5 feedings total per week. There are often times I don't feed my fish for a couple days (I don't have a heavy fish load either so there's always grazing stuff for them in the tank). [/B]

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with you on this one. A hungry fish is a very desperate fish that will fight any competitor.

To the OP... did you use all new sand when you transferred tanks? What about new rocks? Live rock does not break down nitrate. The best method for you should be water changes and lots of them. I would do approx. 25% a week until your nitrates drop. Now, your sand bed can be a sponge, so I would be vacuuming about a quarter of it every month. A little can be locked up in the live rock, but not a lot. I don't advocate vodka dosing, but I have seen success with it. I think water changes should solve your problem. Good Luck!

 

[rlemke]

Thanks...I did not use new sand when I transferred the tanks, but I added a little more live sand about six months ago. I added about ten pounds of rock shortly after tank set-up.
Yes, I have a skimmer...a Euroreef, and it seems to be working well.

 

[WhiteLightsaber]

I did that when I upgraded to my 125. I used the sand bed that I had in my 29 that I moved to my 50 that got moved to my 125. I started having problems with nitrates right afterward. Plus, I never vacuumed my bed. I have since relocated everything to a 50 gal whilst I rebuild my 125 from the ground up.

Oh, and you didn't mention what fish you have. That might help, as well.

 

[Toddrtrex]

You stated that you have 10 fish, but what are they? Depending on the fish, you might have big issues bringing down your nitrates unless you reduce your bio-load.

 

[rlemke]

Pajama Cardinal
Copperband Butterfly
Foxface
Flame Angel
False Percula Clown
Tomato Clown
Blue Hippo Tang
Solar Fairy Wrasse
Green Chromis
Royal Gramma

 

[WhiteLightsaber]

A 70 is a bit small for a hippo tang. I'm thinking you may have too many fish in that tank. The foxface, flame angel, and hippo are a fairly large fish, and contribute a lot to your bio-load.