Can't get below 10ppm nitrates in 12g nano.

[1Clown]

Between the 28th of January last month and today the 5th of February I've had my nitrates at 10ppm and also done 2 x 50% water changes with no effect to the nitrates, I did get my nitrites to 0 in this time however, phosphates at 0.03.

I run a protein skimmer which works great, I have about 5-6kg of live rock in the display and another 0.6-0.7kg in the back chamber.

I also use rowaphos and rowa carbon in media bags.

Do I use a product to lower the nitrates or follow a strict water change routine?

Thanks

 

[brandon429]

Ignore the readings that's a fine level and the readings are fully suspect anyway for showing nitrite in the presence of cycled live rock. Do you have any pics so we can see the cycle status of the rock (certain growths indicate cycle status without any test kits per the description)

The most curious detail in the post was the nitrite readings, there's likely live sand in this tank unstated which further calls the nitrite reading into question. The presence of any nitrate also backs up either the lr or ls or both being cycled already, how nitrite was there w be neat to pinpoint.

 

[AcroNem]

People may tell you to use some magic liquid or a bottle of this or that but just keep up with water changes (20% weekly) and vacuum the top half of the sand bed every other week and you'll be fine. If it's 10 or under you shouldn't have any problems. The "control" in nutrient control is there for a reason. Also your phosphates are fine too, same thing there. Don't feed too much and kept up with WC's

 

[1Clown]

I started with live sand taken from my other system along, I honestly cannot remember if I even used some old tank water or not. I cycled the tank using ATM colony and my live rock was some dry real reef rock I had lying around. I do have a healthy amount of green film building on my glass, I clean it every other day at the very least. My worry now is that I've done 2 x 50% water changes within the last 8 days and nitrates remained at 10. If I now extend this water change to a full week I worry they may get out of control, thoughts?

 

[rock_lobster]

place some algae in it like chaeto

 

[brandon429]

A reading of ten is ok and the reading may be lower or higher until things are verified with another kit. For a general range ten is fine. What is your ammonia source added to the tank, the nitrate comes from breaking down of proteins already in the system, or various modes of ammonia we add to the system during cycle.

can you post tank shots so we can see bioloading in the tank (where their feed command and waste levels set the nitrate potential)

In online articles about nitrate the water change is the least helpful...it's getting at waste stores, assessing bioloading and most importantly knowing about export schemes for the tank are how reefers control nitrate in larger tanks.

 

[1Clown]

Forgot to mention I'm using salifert test kit and my latest test was with a brand new one. What tank shots are you after, like the filtration chamber?

 

[rtparty]

10 nitrates and .03 phosphates is a great place to be. Corals need food to thrive and look their best. I wouldn't start chasing numbers. Keep up with standard maintenance and let everything do its thing

 

[brandon429]

No just the regular tank shot. Was going to look at sandbed setup, fish bioloading but since the tank is rather new I bet they check out fine just curious. I've seen pics before of higher nitrate tanks with blackened spots in the sandbed and super large fish...yours is likely due to whatever initial ammonia was input to begin the cycle

 

[1Clown]

No just the regular tank shot. Was going to look at sandbed setup, fish bioloading but since the tank is rather new I bet they check out fine just curious. I've seen pics before of higher nitrate tanks with blackened spots in the sandbed and super large fish...yours is likely due to whatever initial ammonia was input to begin the cycle

Ah right, I don't think you'd get much from looking at my tank as I like to keep my sand bed clean and stir it up every now and then to let any detritus get in the water column and hopefully exported through the skimmer or filter floss. The tank is fairly new, only been running for 23 days.

 

[rock_lobster]

23 days lol.. thats just the regular nitrogen cycle.. No telling where you caught it on the upswing or downswing.. It could be on its way up to 50 or 100 if the nitrate conversion is just starting.

 

[AcroNem]

Nevermind, your system probably isn't finished cycling yet. Don't add anything yet and keep testing.

 

[Bdog4u2]

I don't even test nitrates and as long as my acro's don't turn Brown I probably won't again. worrying about nitrates I think is an old school thing that just won't go away. using old sand can also give you issues since a lot of the stuff in dies during transfer and if you didn't stir it up you might even see black spots forming