nitrites and nitrates

[ckfazz]

First, let me start by saying that this site is great for information. Now, on to my question. I have been in the reef hobby for about 6 years and have never run into this problem. I recently set up a 12g nano tank, roughly on 1/01/06. I have 15lbs of fiji LR, 10lbs of LS and 65 watts of PC lighting with one damsel in the tank. My problem is that my ammonia spiked and dropped to zero about 2 weeks ago but my nitrites and nitrates have spiked but never come back down. Right now, after testing my water last night, my nitrites are at 5ppm and my nitrates are at 80 ppm. I have changed the water about every 4 days since the ammonia dropped but it does not seem to be helping any with the Nitrites and Nitrates. My current parameters are as follows

Temp 80
pH 8.3
Amm 0
Nitrite 5 ppm
Nitrate 80 ppm
Phos 0
Calcium 400
Alk 9 dkh
SG 1.23

Any suggestions? Currently, I dose kalk at night every other evening to replace the evaporation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The nitrate may not actually be that high if the nitrite value is correct. A little nitrite can show up as a lot of nitrate in many kits (like Salifert).

I've never heard of nitrite pegged that high, and I'm suspicious that it is a testing error if it stays that high for a long time. If it lasts a few weeks, try another kit. But I'd wait longer to conclude it is a problem. Some folks do find the cycle takes several weeks.

Was the rock cured before you added it?

This article has info on nitrite:

Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.htm

and this one on nitrate:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

 

[ckfazz]

I cured the rock for about a month and a half in a 20 gal tub with 2 MJ1200 for circulation, 36 watts of PC lighting using a 10k bulb and changed about 50% of the water once a week. About the beginning of January, I placed live sand into the tank and let it run for a few days to settle out any particulate matter from the LS and then slowly added the LR that was in the 20 gal tub. I saw a slight spike in the ammonia from .25 ppm to 1 ppm and then back down to 0. The tank was following the typical cycle of the ammonia dropping and the nitrite rising as well as the nitrate but that is where this issue arises. The lowest that my nitrite has read once the cycle started was 2ppm but for the last 2 weeks it has not dropped below 4ppm and the nitrates have not dropped below 60ppm even with water changes. I currently am testing the main parameters with the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit and the Salifert test kits for the Alk, Calcium and Phosphorous. I think that the test kit may have expired but I am not totally sure as I can't seem to find any expiration dates. The water in the tank looks very clean, does not have any odor of decaying material and the one damsel is not showing any signs of stress. This is one of the things that confuses me. With the high nitrite and nitrate readngs, shouldn't the damsel be exhibiting some sort of signs of stress?

 

[bertoni]

Nitrite and nitrate aren't harmful to fish in those quantities, so the fish should be fine even if the results are correct.

I think that doublechecking the test kits for nitrite and nitrate is a good idea. Perhaps a local store could run a test for you? I've had trouble with test kits. If that won't work, I've had good luck with Salifert and FasTest-SeaTest nitrite and nitrate test kits.

 

[ckfazz]

Thanks guys. Now I don't know if the tests are wrong because when I came home from work today, it seems that I am having a brown diatom outbreak that is starting on a few rocks. This is only a 12g nano tank so I thought I might be able to get away without protein skimming by doing weekly water changes but now I think I need to get a skimmer. What do you think?

 

[bertoni]

You can keep the tank without a skimmer. That's what I do with my 12g. What animals do you want to keep? I only have a few soft corals, snails, and macroalgae in my 12g.

 

[ckfazz]

I would like to keep one clownfish, some zoas, mushrooms and maybe a few LPS. I will also add some snails once the parameters get down to where they should be. Will weekly water changes be enough to keep the tank healthy with this kind of bio load?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This is only a 12g nano tank so I thought I might be able to get away without protein skimming by doing weekly water changes but now I think I need to get a skimmer. What do you think?

Going through a diatom outbreak is not an unusual step for a new tank. Sometimes it resolves on its own.