what's up with these nitrates????

[sjj80]

Last night my nitrates were 20 and I haven't done anything more than a 5g water change a week since the tank finished cycling. So I decided to go to the LFS, buy some RO/DI, and do a 15g water change, which I did earlier today. My nitrates are still 20!!!! I siphoned out all the detritus I could find, threw out my poly pad, and cleaned my powerheads and filter socks. 15g has always dropped nitrates on my 90g so I can't figure out why they are still high!!! I want to add an anemone soon followed by some corals once the nem settles in. Please give me suggestions as to why my nitrates are still the same.

Tank Info:

90g barebottom
90lbs live rock
Fuge with chaeto - lights on 24-7
Filter socks on both filter and skimmer returns
Euroreef RS135
2 Korallia 4s

Params:
sg 1.025
ph 8.2
temp 79
ca 420
dkh 10
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20

 

[stingythingy45]

20 nitrate is not really a big deal.
Is there any reason you went with a bare bottom vs. a DSB?
I hear bare bottom tanks almost always have nitrate problems.I would look into a refugium with a DSB.

*also why run your lights over your refugium 27/7?
Shouldn't you run that on a reverse light cycle from the display?

 

[DAKOOP]

How old is the test kit?

 

[downhillbiker]

the other thing that may have caused this is that you were testing the water before, and then when you did the water change you may have stirred up the detritus and caused it to read higher. i think that it is just that the stuff was at the bottom of the tank and not testing.

 

[o.c.d.]

Dakoop I also would first go that direction cross reference any test that seems suspect I'll do multiple test and take sample to friend or lfs to cross check..many different results have occured for me.

 

[sjj80]

Thanks for the responses!

To answer some of your questions I have a deep mud bed in my fuge and I run the fuge light 24-7 to keep from getting yellow water from the chaeto reproducing. The reason I went BB this time is that with a DSB I found it hard to have high flow and to remove detritus, Also after moving and having to remove the DSB I saw just how nasty the bottom layer was and decided on BB.

I just bought the test kit today, it's made by API. I think I'll take a sample to the LFS tuesday when they reopen to have them test it and see if there are any differences. They use the same test kit I'm using.

Also I didn't think about how stirring the detritus around while siphoning could cause an increase in nitrates. I'm thinking of doing a 30g water change tuesday and I'll probably use a powerhead to make sure I get every piece of detritus from under the rocks.

I want to lower my nitrates because I don't feel comfortable adding a nem and corals with Nitrates reading at 20.

 

[downhillbiker]

i would say that getting your nitrates down to 0 is a good idea. i think that patience is key and you will be glad you waited an extra week or so to add corals. i dont know about the anemone, how long has the tank been going? they are tempermental and IMO should only be added after 6 months.

 

[nate1414]

20 nitrate is not really a big deal.
Is there any reason you went with a bare bottom vs. a DSB?
I hear bare bottom tanks almost always have nitrate problems.I would look into a refugium with a DSB.

*also why run your lights over your refugium 27/7?
Shouldn't you run that on a reverse light cycle from the display?

20 is only ok if you dont have anything in the tank. otherwise i woluld do water changes.

 

[Toddrtrex]

sjj80 --- you mentioned getting anemone, have you decided on what type yet? You'll have to make sure that it is a rock dwelling one as opposed to a sand dwelling one, since you are going BB.

 

[useskaforevil]

20ppm nitrates isnt really anyting to worry about. mine got up to over 200 before i noticed any ill effects

 

[sjj80]

Well out I decided to test again (simply cause I find it hard to beleive that my nitrates didn't go down at all) and got a reading of 10! Maybe I tested too soon after the water change and the new water hadn't mixed fully with the old water, IDK.

I'm planning on getting a bubble tip nem, I've had one before and it did great until it met my AC70 powerhead. I only have korallia's now. I'm wanting to get a BTA before I get corals so that the bta has time to find his spot without me worrying about it coming into contact with any corals.

Nitrate @ 10 should be ok for a nem to live in for another week until I do another wc to reduce the nitrates, right?

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12374712#post12374712 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjj80
Well out I decided to test again (simply cause I find it hard to beleive that my nitrates didn't go down at all) and got a reading of 10! Maybe I tested too soon after the water change and the new water hadn't mixed fully with the old water, IDK.

I'm planning on getting a bubble tip nem, I've had one before and it did great until it met my AC70 powerhead. I only have korallia's now. I'm wanting to get a BTA before I get corals so that the bta has time to find his spot without me worrying about it coming into contact with any corals.

Nitrate @ 10 should be ok for a nem to live in for another week until I do another wc to reduce the nitrates, right?

Just wait until the BTA starts cloning itself. One of the reasons I got rid of all of mine.

Yea, it should be fine with 10, of course 0 would be better, but I don't see any issues.

 

[sjj80]

How often does the BTA clone itself? I'm wanting to get into aquaculture someday so cloning would be great for me! I plan on placing the BTA on a pretty large rock away from everything else, I just hope he stays there!

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12374753#post12374753 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjj80
How often does the BTA clone itself? I'm wanting to get into aquaculture someday so cloning would be great for me! I plan on placing the BTA on a pretty large rock away from everything else, I just hope he stays there!

Each one is different. I had some RBTAs that would split all the time, and some GBTAs that would only do it once in a while. The last GBTA I had was over 15" in size before it split, and was still the same size afterwards.

 

[sjj80]

15" whoooaaa :eek2: that's huge! I'm planning on getting a GBTA, I guess I need to go measure that rock .

 

[downhillbiker]

if you want a bta there is a guy that posted a thread that has hundreds that he is planning on feeding to some kind of fish to get rid of them. i would try to find this thread, it was recent, today, and see if you can work out a deal to get a few.

 

[IslandCrow]

Generally, you want to wait at least 6 months before adding an anemone. As you're seeing, a tank is generally not truly stable after only a couple months. It's not at all uncommon for nitrates to fluctuate for the first few months or so. 0 nitrates aren't necessarily critical to keep an anemone, but a stable system is. Do the anemone a favor and wait a bit longer.

As for the fuge, the 24/7 lighting method is meant for caulerpa to keep it from going sexual, not chaeto. You may very well be killing the chaeto by not giving it a night cycle, and that would release nitrates and phosphates back into the water. I'm not saying this is your issue, but you'll want to cut down on the lighting for your fuge. Reverse cycle lighting is always a good idea to help sabilize your PH between day and night.