parameters are out of whack

[CaptD103]

Hello everyone, I have a 65 gal tank with 20 gal sump. So about 80 gal overall in the system. Tank is 8 months old with about 50 lbs of live rock. stocked with a small flame angel, a mocha clown, and a azure damsel, all small fish. I also have a snowflake eel, about 18 inches long whom I assume is the problem with my nitrates issue. I was using reef crystals, and my parameters were good except nitrates were high (50s). Recently I switched to Fritz's Reef Pro Mix. The last few weeks, my corals haven't been doing well. Not as colorful and my rastas haven't opened at all in weeks. Sat down tonight and tested all that I could.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
Phospate .1
Calcium 500
alkalinity 5.5
Magnesium 1320
SG 1.026
pH 8.0
temp 79.5

I read something about Fritz's RPM having low alk as a problem. Is this what happening? And what is driving my Calcium up. New at this, please help!
Thanks

 

[CaptD103]

Hello everyone, I have a 65 gal tank with 20 gal sump. So about 80 gal overall in the system. Tank is 8 months old with about 50 lbs of live rock. stocked with a small flame angel, a mocha clown, and a azure damsel, all small fish. I also have a snowflake eel, about 18 inches long whom I assume is the problem with my nitrates issue. I was using reef crystals, and my parameters were good except nitrates were high (50s). Recently I switched to Fritz's Reef Pro Mix. The last few weeks, my corals haven't been doing well. Not as colorful and my rastas haven't opened at all in weeks. Sat down tonight and tested all that I could.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
Phospate .1
Calcium 500
alkalinity 5.5
Magnesium 1320
SG 1.026
pH 8.0
temp 79.5

I read something about Fritz's RPM having low alk as a problem. Is this what happening? And what is driving my Calcium up. New at this, please help!
Thanks

I have been running 1.5 cups of biopellets in a reactor to help with the nitrates with some success. Nitrates are half of what I was dealing with but expected better results. Running GFO and Carbon in another reactor which seems to be keeping phosphates in check (They were 3).

 

[mcgyvr]

corals need stable parameters..
your alk is too low.. should be 7-11 dKH
and yes your nitrate is too high for most corals ..
Don't worry about the cal its high but not really an issue.

 

[Ron Reefman]

+1 to what mcgyvr said

Your alk is too low. It's probably one of the most volatile chemicals in our tanks (i.e. it goes up and down quite easily) and it is one of the chemicals that have a quick and serious effect on corals. Movement in the 7dKH to 12dKH range is less harmful. but dropping below 6dKH and some corals are at risk. Drop below 5dKH and lots of corals are at risk and can die quickly. I lost a big monti colony when mine fell to 5.0dKH one time.

You stated that you think the eel is the reason for the high nitrates... why?

Have you ever tested the water you make for doing a water change? That will tell you if the new salt is pushing the Ca level up. But like mcgyvr said, it's not a serious issue. I run mine at 440 most of the time.

Are you dosing Ca and alk or just doing enough water changes to keep parameters in line?

 

[RobZilla04]

Nitrates are way high.
Alk is low.

The rest look fine. You need to get nitrates down, water changes will help that. Also need to find the root cause otherwise they will just rise again. Check your salt mix parameters for Cal, Alk, & Mag. Simplest method is to get a salt mix with those values within the suggested ranges above.

 

[CaptD103]

Thanks. I attribute the high nitrates to the eel purely because I cant find any other source. He's fairly large so I imagine he creates a lot of waste. I tested everything that goes into the tank and nothing has any nitrates. What do I do about the alk? I don't do any dosing at all.

 

[RobZilla04]

Check you filtration. How often do you change your media or sock filter. Those can be nitrate traps. Do you have a sump or canister? How much do you feed your eel? It might be worth trying to cut back on feeding a little.

A large water change with a salt mix at higher Alk (any brand at this point) will help to raise the Alkalinity. It will also help with reducing the nitrates.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Dosing alk is so easy. Just use pure 100% baking soda. Mix up 1 1/8 cup with 1 gallon of RO/DI water and you have Randy's recipe 2. Then go here:
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Enter your data (total gallons, current dHK, desired dHK and pick Randy's recipe 2 from the menu. Best if you only try to go about halfway to the final desired level with the first try. Then go the rest of the way the next day.