Nitrates Still High

[Bulldogger2008]

Ok, my Nitrates have been high the past week, around 30-40ppm, a red color. So I did a 20 gallon water change on my 125, added DeNitrate to one of my Magnum Canisters along with 1 cup of PhosGuard inside a panty hose. The Othe Canister I added my normal amount of carbon. To make a long story short, its been 6 hours and my Nitrates are still high. Should I expect to wait longer for the Nitrates to come down. I feed on mondays and fridays, so whats the deal here?

 

[graveyardworm]

The tank was just set up a month ago? What kind of livestock? There shouldnt be much at 1 month. I would concentrate on water changes to lower the nitrates.

 

[Bulldogger2008]

1 small yellow tang, a coral beauty and 4 very small damsels. The Tank is a 125. I have a good clean up crew taking care of that diatome algae. Just some turbo snails, some hermits and 2 sand sifting stars. The Tank was set up the 3rd week in February. I did mention that I did a 20 gallon water change today 28March09. There is about 200lb of live rock and around 140 lbs of live sand. So the water is displaced at around 30-40 gallons. So I'm assuming I have around 80-90 gallons of true water in the tank. I thought this water change would bring the Nitrates down along with adding the DeNitrate rocks to the canister filter, but no luck. I talk to other people who have salt water tanks and they say they always have Nitrates and their fish are fine.

 

[graveyardworm]

If you were at 40ppm then the 20g water change would've reduced them by a little more than 10. What test kit are you using. At 1 month the 125 Isnt finished cycling yet, and by adding a bunch of livestock you could easily overwhelm the tanks bio filter which is still trying to contend with the dieoff from the LR. Water changes are going to do more to reduce dissolved organics, and other organic material being produced fom the fish and other livestock than Phosguard and some nitrate removal media will.

 

[woogy]

yes fish could be fine with those nitrate levels but not if u decide on keeping corals. What are filtration are you running other than the canister filter? Canister filters are notorious for being nitrate traps if you don't clean them out on a regular basis.

 

[Bulldogger2008]

I'm running 2 Magnum 350's which are hooked to 2 sets of bio wheels. I have 2 power heads, One running low and one high. I have VHO lights, Four 4 footers. All other parameters are in check. Just high Nitrates.

 

[woogy]

also biowheels are a nitrate trap as well. I would just run carbon and some filter floss in the canister. Take off the biowheels if you can. I would look into a sump with a good quality protein skimmer.

 

[Bulldogger2008]

So take off the bio wheels and run the canisters and the power heads. So will i get enough oxygen in the water without the biowheels disturbing the water level? Is it ok to run one canister filter with the carbon and the other with the PreNitrate

 

[nikon187]

I would make sure you clean the canisters very regularly and continue to do water changes frequently. What de nitrate are you using? The one for freshwater? I don't believe they are meant for saltwater nor work very well in saltwater. The bio wheels are also known to be nitrate traps ( canisters too if not cleaned weekly)

 

[graveyardworm]

There's nothing really wrong with the bio wheels. They are just very efficient, but they dont finish the job. Not sure how many you have, but if you have more than one biowheel then I would space out their removal. They are a part of the biofilter, and removing too much at once can cause problems.

You can just remove the wheels correct, and keep the filter units running? You could do that atleast for now to keep the water moving. Eventually replace them with powerheads.

Can you get me a link so I can read about the prenitrate? I'm curious, and google isnt giving me much.

 

[Bulldogger2008]

I have 4 biowheels and they only have the wheels, no sponges/filters. I use the Saltwater Nitrate removal stones made by Seachem. I have one canister running the carbon media and the other running the Prenitrate removal and a bag of Phosguard to lower the Phosphate which has been steady at .5-1.0.

 

[bsmith22]

I put 2 small balls of chaeto in my sump area. Nitrates went from 40 to 0 in a short time. Confirmed my readings with my API test kit and "That Fish Place". My tank is 3 months old.

 

[Michael]

it will take a long time with water changes alone to reduce the level, keep the tank clean, dont allow detritus to settle behind the rocks, dont over feed, try a excessive nurient removing filter like a refugium or possibly reduce your livestock to managable levels, dont overstock too quickly, i like graveyard worms earlier comments about overwhelming the system, get a good skimmer going and use carbon, both help reduce organic waste which fuel nusience algaes and keep up the husbandry practices which is basically keeping your hand in the tank cleaning rocks etc with a turkey baster getting waste into the water stream, good luck