another wicked high nitrates post...

[mrjoe]

so I read many of the previous posts (really, I did) but i must've not understood what the cause is.. So I bought my tank that was up and running for 3 months.. took most of the water out and live rock and transported it home (2hrs) I did keep the live rock covered in its water.. fast forward I have the tank up for a month (IM 25 lagoon) with 4 small clowns (put them in after 2 weeks). I added Dr. Tims at the initial install.. at present my readings are:
PH-8.0
Ammonia-negligible to 0
Nitrite-0.5
Nitrate-100 or higher
temp-78*

I have done 3 20% water changes to date but still can't get my nitrates down.. I'm using Salifert test kits with expiration dates of 11/24.. My fish are doing fine and my crabs and fighting conch are as well.. when i first out my fish in the LFS said my nitrates were 5 so not sure why they went so high.. I also have a nano skimmer running.. I will confess that I tend to be heavy handed when feeding my fish (2x day) tho... Is this my problem or are there other issues unknown to me? I will have my lfs test my water again tho in the event the nitrate test kit is ng.. Thoughts???

thanks,
/jc

 

[vetteguy53081]

so I read many of the previous posts (really, I did) but i must've not understood what the cause is.. So I bought my tank that was up and running for 3 months.. took most of the water out and live rock and transported it home (2hrs) I did keep the live rock covered in its water.. fast forward I have the tank up for a month (IM 25 lagoon) with 4 small clowns (put them in after 2 weeks). I added Dr. Tims at the initial install.. at present my readings are:
PH-8.0
Ammonia-negligible to 0
Nitrite-0.5
Nitrate-100 or higher
temp-78*

I have done 3 20% water changes to date but still can't get my nitrates down.. I'm using Salifert test kits with expiration dates of 11/24.. My fish are doing fine and my crabs and fighting conch are as well.. when i first out my fish in the LFS said my nitrates were 5 so not sure why they went so high.. I also have a nano skimmer running.. I will confess that I tend to be heavy handed when feeding my fish (2x day) tho... Is this my problem or are there other issues unknown to me? I will have my lfs test my water again tho in the event the nitrate test kit is ng.. Thoughts???

thanks,
/jc

Don’t worry about nitrite and I can assume your using api test kits and may have false readings
Please take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does Not use API test kits and see what readings they come up with and to compare with yours

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Are you using rodi water for water changes? If yes, I would do a 80%-90% water change and then test, then you'll have an idea if your tester is good or not. After such a large water change, nitrate should be very low. Then you can track if it builds up quickly again.

 

[Pkunk35]

Hey dude!

so I read many of the previous posts (really, I did) but i must've not understood what the cause is.. So I bought my tank that was up and running for 3 months.. took most of the water out and live rock and transported it home (2hrs) I did keep the live rock covered in its water.. fast forward I have the tank up for a month (IM 25 lagoon) with 4 small clowns (put them in after 2 weeks). I added Dr. Tims at the initial install.. at present my readings are:
PH-8.0
Ammonia-negligible to 0
Nitrite-0.5
Nitrate-100 or higher
temp-78*

I have done 3 20% water changes to date but still can't get my nitrates down.. I'm using Salifert test kits with expiration dates of 11/24.. My fish are doing fine and my crabs and fighting conch are as well.. when i first out my fish in the LFS said my nitrates were 5 so not sure why they went so high.. I also have a nano skimmer running.. I will confess that I tend to be heavy handed when feeding my fish (2x day) tho... Is this my problem or are there other issues unknown to me? I will have my lfs test my water again tho in the event the nitrate test kit is ng.. Thoughts???

thanks,
/jc

was also gonna say the test seems suspect to go from 5 to 100, def go to LFS.

I am curious tho, what do you feed or what are your feed habits? Do you have major algae growth which would also indicate higher nutrient load being eaten by the algae and growing. Any corals?

 

[G Santana]

I recently had high nitrates with all other parameters being good, I have a skimmer and a scrubber running 24/7 a light bio load and I only feed once a day.
I resorted to dosing Vodka and in 12 weeks, without doing any water changes it went from 80ish to 3.
Dosing small quantities of Vodka is the way to go IMO if nothing else works.

 

[Dburr1014]

You can always do 90% Rodi 10% your water and test that. See if you can get a reading off of that.

 

[Chortanator]

I also had insanely high nitrates. I did 50% water changes 2x a week for about a month before I got them down. I also used GFO, chaeto, and a skimmer. My big issue was that I had a layer of detritus about an inch thick in my sump, as well as the bottom of my overflow. Once I siphoned all that out, the nitrates stopped going up from week to week. I keep a bag of old GFO in my tank and that + chaeto is now currently bottoming out my nitrates and I'm trying to find a happy medium.

Just make sure you don't take out 100% of your nitrates or you'll get a brown film on your glass, plus a higher chance for dinoflagellates.

 

[G Santana]

A Hanna nitrate high range and phosphate are the two must have test kits to have, I wouldn't trust API

 

[mrjoe]

so, no I am not using RODI.. I buy my saltwater from my LFS.. Using Instant Ocean reef crystals... Also using Salifert test kits.. feed 2x a day. no algae growth at this point, but a little of the dirty stage .. food is flakes, tdo chrome boost and roe..

 

[Dburr1014]

so, no I am not using RODI.. I buy my saltwater from my LFS.. Using Instant Ocean reef crystals... Also using Salifert test kits.. feed 2x a day. no algae growth at this point, but a little of the dirty stage .. food is flakes, tdo chrome boost and roe..

Test their water as is.

Edit: You buy there saltwater and they use io or you buy their Rodi water and use your io? Just for clarification.

 

[sixty_reefer]

so, no I am not using RODI.. I buy my saltwater from my LFS.. Using Instant Ocean reef crystals... Also using Salifert test kits.. feed 2x a day. no algae growth at this point, but a little of the dirty stage .. food is flakes, tdo chrome boost and roe..

Have you got a po4 value also? A picture of the tank could also help.

 

[nereefpat]

If that nitrite value is real, then that is part of why your nitrate kit is reading so high. Any nitrite will make nitrate kit read falsely high.

 

[mrjoe]

Have you got a po4 value also? A picture of the tank could also help.

I don't have a PO4 test yet... will have to go to lfs (wwc) for that..

 

[mrjoe]

Test their water as is.

Edit: You buy there saltwater and they use io or you buy their Rodi water and use your io? Just for clarification.

good point I will do that.. I use there mixed saltwater

 

[Dburr1014]

good point I will do that.. I use there mixed saltwater

I'm interested in the reading of there water.

 

[mrjoe]

Have you got a po4 value also? A picture of the tank could also help.

ok so I had my water tested and here are the results..

sg-1.025
dKh-10.5
Ca-300
Mg-1550
NO3-3-
P04-0.25

Also the do use RODI when the mix their salt.. Those numbers check perfect.. At this point this is a FOWLR tank but will want to add some zoa's and a acan or favia in a few months... Thanks!
/jc

 

[BZOFIQ]

I recently had high nitrates with all other parameters being good, I have a skimmer and a scrubber running 24/7 a light bio load and I only feed once a day.
I resorted to dosing Vodka and in 12 weeks, without doing any water changes it went from 80ish to 3.
Dosing small quantities of Vodka is the way to go IMO if nothing else works.

Did you go by the chart or did you do less - if so how much did you dose?

 

[mrjoe]

Did you go by the chart or did you do less - if so how much did you dose?

I have not started that yet.. I want to see tomorrow what I nitrates are at then will take the necessary actions.. I'll report back.. I also ordered another test kit from amazon and will be returning this one... it's obviously off from what I saw at my lfs..

 

[sixty_reefer]

ok so I had my water tested and here are the results..

sg-1.025
dKh-10.5
Ca-300
Mg-1550
NO3-3-
P04-0.25

Also the do use RODI when the mix their salt.. Those numbers check perfect.. At this point this is a FOWLR tank but will want to add some zoa's and a acan or favia in a few months... Thanks!
/jc

Everything seems fine, it could be that you may be reading the test kit wrong or the test kit you use may be flawed

 

[BZOFIQ]

I have not started that yet.. I want to see tomorrow what I nitrates are at then will take the necessary actions.. I'll report back.. I also ordered another test kit from amazon and will be returning this one... it's obviously off from what I saw at my lfs..

Do let us know but I was curious what @G Santana did.