Nitrates out of control

V

vinnycuz

New member
Hello guys/gals, this is my first post :thumbsup: (I do alot of searching and reading). I have the following tank setup for almost 9 months now:

Red Sea Max 130D/34g
45lbs LR
Live Sand
NO Corals yet
Tunze 9002 Skimmer
InTank Media Basket with Filter Floss/Purigen/Chemi-Pure Elite
Hydor Circulation Pump (right side)
Stock COD empty (No Bio Filter/No Carbon Bag)

Before I did the above mods I totally cleaned, suctioned and wiped down the rear chambers as if the tank was brand new again.

So this is what happened:

I purchased a Juv. Emperor Angel and put him in after aclamating correctly. I noticed he was swiming fine but then my Tuxedo Damsel came out of the LR and started attacking him. I tried luring him into a bowl, net, my hand, etc but he fled everytime. I ended up breaking down the tank by removing all my live rock, I wanted to scape it anyway so I figured I would do everything now and clean the tank completely.

I took out all of the LR, vaccumed the sand, removed all old shells from snails and hermits and did a 5 gallon WC after settling all the LR back in the tank. The water was cloudy but not that much that the fish could not be seen swiming.

After turning on the skimmer, pumps, etc, the water cleared up in less than an hour. I then changed the filter floss with a clean one.

After removing the two Tuxedo Damsels, I was left with the following:

2 Clowns
1 Leopard Puffer
1 Juv. Emperor
1 Yellow Faced Goby
Some snails and hermits running around also

The Goby sadly was floating around so I removed him and tried to put him in a dark bucket but a few minutes later he passed on. :mad:

The next day, I tested the water, my Nitrate readings were RED. I immediately performed another 5 gallon water change. Waited an hour or two, Nitrates still RED reading 160+ on a API kit. I even tried another kit which showed the same. Tested a fresh batch of RO Water with PH at 8.2 and the Nitrates were 0.

After the water change, no changes to Nitrate were observed, still at 160+.

I did a 5 gallon water change for the next week everyday. Low and behold, here we are still 160+ on the chart!

Here are my test results as of yesterday evening:

Ph 8.2-8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 80-160? Still RED!
Nitrite 0
Phosphate 0.5-1.0
Calcium 660
KH Alkalinity 13 dkh 232.7ppm/kh
Salinity 1.0245

I use Coral Life Salt which has 0 Nitrates and 0 Phosphates along with Proper PH 8.2 and RO water.

I am at a loss of what is going on here. I just purchased an LED kit from RapidLED and a HestSink from HeatSinkUSA. I plan to upgrade my lighting this week and then proceed to building my little piece of reef. However, I need to get these Nitrates under control.

I have ZERO Algae in the tank and I leave my light on for 10 hours. Sand is sparkly white and clean as a whistle.

One problem was my Fiance was feeding the fish and I noticed it was like a blizzard of Mysis shrimp in there and she was doing this DAILY. I stopped the over feeding and did another two 5 gallon water changes. My above test still show the same epecially the HIGH RED Nitrates.

Well thats my story, feel free to help me out LOL.

TIA,

Vinny
 
hi Vinny, 5% water change of nitrates reading 160ppm is only reducing the nitrates by 8ppm (152ppm) 5% again = (144ppm) 5% again = (136.78)....and so on. doing 5% water changes when your nitrates are so high is a wast of time, a 50% water change x 4 will bring you to 10ppm. good luck
 
Actually, the OP said 5 gallon not 5 percent. If the tank is big enough for an emp angel, then 5 gallons isn't even close to 5%.
 
So basically my 5 gallon water changes did absolutely nothing. Damn it! LOL

FYI a 5 gallon water change in a 34 gallon is about 15%.

I will try a 50% water change, going to have to get another bucket to hold more water. I am going to do a 15 Gallon water change and report back my results.

disc1, the emperor is a little guy hes about an inch maybe smaller, I will hold on to him until her gets bigger than transfer to a 90 gallon, which I am building after I put the LEDs in this 34.
 
You have a lot of fish(7) for a 34 gallon. Stirring things up and removing the rock probably upset the biofilter and caused some die off. I think it will have trouble keeping up with the bioload. A series of 5 gallon water changes should help bring the nitrates down but they'll go right back up unless the biofilter and bioload are balanced.
 
The emperor angel has no business in a 34g tank. You should take him back and get something more appropriate for your tank.
 
Aside from the fact that you have way too much in that tank, much less an angel....

Fast reduction in nitrates = water changes

Slow reduction in nitrates = organic supplements
 
A while back i had the same problem, huge bioload, high nitrates. I added activated carbon, daily 15% water changes with RODI water, and cut down on feedings. none of it worked. it dropped from 80-60...

A bit help was rearranging the rocks to kick the dead zones in the tank were gunk used to build up.

The best thing i did for the tank was restock some of the fish. It was a newbie mistake to stock so heavily in my case. Thankfully nothing died. I would take some of the fish back to the LFS. Now in my 35g i have a chromis, perc, and a firefish. Nitrates down to zero. finally.

Also, cross examine your tests against another branded test. Sometimes they are wrong.
 
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