Nitrates?!

[timrandlerv10]

I have a 55 that is about 2/3 full, with 200# of rock and sand only...its all live stuff that i bought two months ago that will be the beginning of my 75 that i was supposed to start last month.

it had been 0-0-0 8.3 78 1.025 degrees for weeks.

yesterday we put in 4 turbos and six hermits...today it was 0-0-30 8.1 and 78 degrees and 1.025.

can just those snails and crabs put the nitrates to 30 in less than 24 hours?!

will the bacteria catch up in time for them to be ok?? i cant do a water change until tomorrow night...what can/should i do?

thanks!

tim

 

[Nitroq2]

Nobody else bit, so I will. As for the snails and hermits raising your nitrates, I wouldn't think that could be a cause. Maybe something else is happening. What else is in the tank other than rock those few snails and hermits? Also how often are you doing water changes.

 

[8BALL_99]

Retest your nitrates.. Maybe even get another test kit to confirm.. If it is that high you need to do a water change. With 200lbs of rock in a 55 with no live stock I dont see the NO3 being that high. A few snails and crabs would not raise it that much that fast inless you tried to feed them ALOT... The only other thing could be massive die off from your live rock.. Due to maybe tempture lack of water flow or something getting into the water.. I'd start with a new test kit if it were me though.HTH

 

[twkenny]

Are you certain the tank has cycled? Still, the few inverts should not have made any difference unless one died...even then, the trates would not have shown up that quickly I don't think.

Where did the rock come from? Was it from an established tank? What about the sand? How did you get 200 pounds of rock in a 55 and not fill it up? That's a lot of rock!

I'd retest, but you have probably already done that.

The fact that you did not detect Ammonia or Nitrites leads me to believe that the trates may have been there already.

Hope it all works out.

 

[timrandlerv10]

in no particular order:

1) yeah, its a LOT of rock and sand. its just about completely full...i tried to build it so there would be current channels. you can see the water rush around--it actually undercuts the sand from the rock in two places, and every few weeks i have to push the sand back.
2) it was fully cycled months ago. there hasnt been anything in it for about two months, so did i all die off? should i have been feeding my live rock?!
3) nothing is dead (that i can find). all the things we put in were all still moving last night when i went to bed (which means they were moving when the n-ates were that high).

i havent retested with another kit because i dont have one. i can/will get another one tomorrow...but i did use this kit on my other tank, which is always around 10. it tested 10 today.

i'll post what my same kit/today's results are in a few hours...i am bringing salt home, so i'll be able to change some water at least. i'm guessing there is about 15 gallons of water above the sand, and i hope to change 5 tonight.