Nitrates

[RaymondSassu]

Hi could someone please assist me, I recently purchased a Red Sea Max 170, with in cabinet sump I am running a Deltec 1455 skimmer and a Vortech MP40 at low speed. I have gone through the nitrite cycle and my Red Sea test kit shows 0 nitrite, however my Nitrate is through the roof it is way over 64 ppm on the high range chart, I don't have any livestock at the moment, I also have a Marine Pure Block in the sump and balls in the rear filtration system.
What could the problem be?
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

 

[mcgyvr]

There is no problem..
Thats 100% normal..

You should perform water changes to reduce nitrates to acceptable levels based on your needs.. After that then you can start stocking the tank and moving on with the process..

Tanks can take months to "mature" and after that time your tank "may" be able to manage nitrates on its own or it may not.. At that time you will need to investigate the cause of the nitrates and see what changes you can do to solve the issue.. That may be via other export methods (macro algae exports, reduce feeding, less bioload or via carbon dosing and many others..)

To this date there is really no "magic" and while many products/methods can "help" with nitrate reduction there is NO proven/guaranteed 100% works all the time method..

But as I said for the first few months or longer a tank (and its bacterial population) is maturing/growing,etc... and it can take a while for enough bacteria to be established in the rock/sand/marine pure block,etc... to complete the nitrification process and turn that nitrate into nitrogen gas so it will "float" out of the tank on its own.. Also corals,etc.. consume that nitrate too..

So to put it in basic terms.. Your tank is new.. And there is simply not enough life in the tank to fully process nitrate..

 

[RaymondSassu]

Thank you so much for the information I was in panic mode, I have the Red Sea NO3-PO4-X should I dose with this product?

 

[mcgyvr]

Thank you so much for the information I was in panic mode, I have the Red Sea NO3-PO4-X should I dose with this product?

yes you can use that as the carbon source..

 

[RaymondSassu]

Thank you very much for the help.

 

[RaymondSassu]

I was wondering what advice you have for placement of my VorTech Mp40 in my Red Sea 170 , should I place it in the middle of the Tank or more towards the top, I do have a lot of surface movement even with it off.

 

[mcgyvr]

I'd recommend it be placed in the spot that seems to cause the least amount of dead spots and provides good flow for your corals,etc...

Surface movement is only one piece of the puzzle

So basically we cannot answer that question over the internet without seeing the exact placement of your rocks and corals and even then its FAR better to be there in person to see how the water/debris is flowing around in the tank..

 

[daninflipflops]

i would hold off on any kind of dosing, no need to make it more complicated than it needs to be, especially when starting off. wait for your system to be up and running before thinking about dosing, etc. It might not be needed. since the tank is empty, do a large water change to cut the nitrates down

I would also remove the balls from the filtration system, your live rock will provide all the surface area you need for your bacteria to break down nitrite and ammonia.