Sudden Nitrate Spike

[FSOL]

Hey guys,

I've had my tank for 8 months now and for the first time I'm having a nitrate issue. I used to feed the fish once a day, and people kept insisting that I feed more because I have anthias in the tank (although w/ once a day feeding they were doing fine).
So I started to feed 2 - 3 times a day and larger amounts.

Now, at the same time I also increased the frequency of feeding corals (oyster eggs, phytoplankton, cyclopeeze) to twice a week.
AND at the same time I lost one angel fish in the tank that I can't find (it's just slowly decaying somewhere behind the rocks).

So right now I"m not sure what is the main culprit in raising nitrates to 10ppm. Do oyster eggs, phyto, and cyclopeeze cause significant nitrate increase in a tank, or is it the combo of added fish food and a dead angel?

I'm not sure if I should give it time and let the system catch up and remove the nitrates, or just do a few large water changes.

Thanks

 

[spoiledcats]

All of those things contribute to rising nitrates, and the fact that they all happened at the same time I'm sure is the reason for your increased nitrates. I would do a 20% water change maybe twice and then test the nitrates. I also would cut down on the feedings until you can get the trates back to 0. Then slowly increase, while testing for nitrates. If you have a good cleanup crew they will take care of the fish, but do water changes anyway.

 

[nmprisons]

I can't imagine it is the coral feedings that are doing this. If I had to guess I would say it is the increase in fish feedings (you seem to have tripled the amount of fish food you are putting in the tank). Try 2x daily fish feedings with the same amount you use to feed once a day.

 

[FSOL]

everything was fine w/ once a day. Although the fish weren't getting fat, they also weren't getting thin. And my anthias were doing fine. I hear of people feeding them 5 times a day and I don't understand why?

I think I will return to once a day feedings.


I've never really had luck w/ cleanup crew. I buy 100's of hermits and they are all dead within a few months. Right now all I have is two sand stars and three cucumbers to keep the sand clean and stirred up and maybe 4-5 turbo snails.

By the way, until I get the nitrates down to zero, will it have a big impact on my SPS corals?

 

[RichConley]

what are you running for a skimmer?


Nitrates wont bother your SPS. The phosphate levels that usually come with high nitrates will though. FWIW, commercial phyto mixes are like nitrate/phosphate soup.

 

[Sk8r]

And are you possibly running a filter? Filters are notorious for nitrates, and would react like that if feedings increased.

 

[spoiledcats]

Just a side note on the hermit situation. If you had lots of hermits at once, and not many shells for them to move into, they would have started killing each other for shells. I try to keep at least twice the amount of shells as hermits, that is if I could keep my stupid hippo tang from wedging them into the rocks. It's okay if he just drops them somewhere else, but he always manages to get them wedged into something, and the hermits aren't strong enough to get them out for use. So I probably have about 5 times the amount of needed shells in my tank.

 

[FSOL]

I run a ASM G4X skimmer on a 180. I also run carbon 24/7 and for 8 months had it perfect. Phosphates are still zero, nitrates at 10. Do flake and pellet foods have higher PO4 level than freeze dried ones? I ask this because I never fed flakes/pellets before, but lately my blonde naso tang only eats those, so I have to drop a good amount in the tank.