very high nitrates

[beermutz123]

I need some help on my nitrates they are off the charts I have tried sugar dosing tsp and half to 135gal system do water changes weekly 15 gals and I just cant get it to come done change socks every three days feed very little any advice would be great

 

[Clowning_Around]

Is this a new issue or just part of your cycling. Have you tried a large vol water change, say 30%

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[hegeh]

How many fish do you have? How/what do you fees them? Barebottom or Sandbed? What is the reading for nitrate and phosphate? Like clowning_around said, have you tried 30% water change? There is alot of thing contributes to high no3.. sorry for the log questions.. lol

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[beermutz123]

I have about 10 fish I feed them twice a day memise shrimp sand bottom my tester goes to 4ppm and its above that my tank is about 4 yrs old and my rock is full of short green algae the amount of food we give is about tspb worth no I'm fighting this for about year and a half I got a new skimmer because I just could not get my other one to skim

 

[beermutz123]

no I have not tried a large water change I'm going to a 25 gal water tank so I can make more water at one time I've have been doing it in 5gal buckets and its kind of a pain the wife just measured the food and its 1/2 tbps twice a day

 

[mcgyvr]

What is 4ppm? phosphate level?
Please avoid not adding numbers to parameters (aka don't say "high" or "good",etc..) and be clear about each one to avoid confusion..

4ppm is low for nitrates... but a sure sign of overfeeding if thats phosphate and that would be very elevated..

Try vinegar dosing now that you have a better skimmer..(google images search for "vinegar dosing chart" for the levels to use) But for your tank start at about 4ml a day and work up to about 40ml in 8 weeks and see how it goes..

How long were you doing the sugar dosing? It takes time and even more so with a sky high nitrates..

cut feedings back to once a day too..

 

[beermutz123]

I've been doing sugar dosing for about 4 months when I first started the algae started to die off but now its not doing anything and protein skimmer was producing a real heavy dark skim know it more like a tea yellow one of my nitrate tester only goes to 4ppm and its way beyond that that one is a red sea pro. and my other tester is a nyos test and it reads 40 my phosphate are normal low like .02 or lower the ammonia is zero and the nitrites .3 ill switch to the vinegar dosing and see what happens plus a big water change

 

[outssider]

red sea nitrate test kit will go much higher than 4 ppm. you have to dilute the sample with ro/di water...read the directions....

 

[NaturalReef]

You have to be very precise and on top of things for carbon dosing, otherwise coral will suffer(ask me how I know) I read a post a little while ago by Jda to keep it simple and I have to agree. Nitrates/phosphates can naturally be reduced via refugium/chaetomorpha reactor/water changes. No sudden spikes or reductions= no stress on inhabitants.

Chaeto grows when nutrients are high and slows when they are low. Every tank I have had where chaeto was a part of it was highly successful. I just purchased a chaeto reactor since I had no space for a refugium and going back to simple. Hth's

 

[beermutz123]

thanks I see that know its on the other side of the card for a different test range thks