Dead nassarius snails and High Nitrates

[BlueBuddha]

Hi all !!

I'm fighting high nitrates in my tank right now. I did a full water test yesterday and the only thing that was out of range was the nitrates about 40ppm ;Sorry Phosphates are a little elevated .05, but everything else is in check. My corals and fish look good, so I was surprised to see it that high.

Its a smaller tank and I do a 10-15% water change every ten days, give or take a few days. I couldn't think of a source until my with mentioned about the nassarius snails.

I bought three huge nassarius snails about two months ago. I mean these guys were a little smaller than a golf ball. Didn't expect that when I got them. I tried to feed them meaty foods when I could, and they would pop up and eat it up.

My thought is they may have starved to death because I have not seen them in awhile even when I feed heavey. I feel there dead in my sand bed. My sand bed ranged from 2-3 inches in spots.

So I guess my question is can that cause high nitrates? Also, should I go digging for them ?? I'm thinking not and just keep battling the nitrates until they go back down?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

You did a "full" water change? Do you mean a 100% water change, where you changed all the water? Were your nitrates 40 ppm before or after the water change?

 

[Bayareareefer18]

You did a "full" water change? Do you mean a 100% water change, where you changed all the water? Were your nitrates 40 ppm before or after the water change?

Think the OP said it was a full water "test"

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Think the OP said it was a full water "test"

Ah, so they did. My mistake, thanks for pointing that out.

The snails could be the source of the nitrates if they died. The sand bed could also be the source if you're not cleaning it regularly.

It's also worth pointing out that a 10% water change will only reduce your nitrates by 10%. If your nitrates are 40 ppm, that means nitrates will only be reduced by 4 ppm by your water change, meaning your end value after the change will be 36 ppm. It's entirely possible that normal biological processes would produce 4 ppm of nitrates between your water changes, which means that the values may never drop just by using water changes. Try changing more water more frequently, or doing one large change (50% or so) and see where the nitrates go from there.

 

[BlueBuddha]

yes a full water test

I do about 10-15% change every 10 days or so. I did a test before and after the change and the results nitrate results didn't move.
My plan of attack is to continue to do water changes maybe every 3rd day. I slowed up on feeding and just ordered some Red Sea NO3 PO4 X to help.

 

[BlueBuddha]

It's also worth pointing out that a 10% water change will only reduce your nitrates by 10%. If your nitrates are 40 ppm, that means nitrates will only be reduced by 4 ppm by your water change, meaning your end value after the change will be 36 ppm

Thank you for this!! how you described the water changes and how the nitrates are impacted makes sense!
ill do a large one this weekend and take it from there

 

[BlueBuddha]

So after weeks of being on top of my tank I can say I got my nitrates down to 10-05 supper happy. I feel it was a combo of things but over feeding may have been a large chunk of it.

The kicker is that I saw all three of my snails last week so there still alive and kicking haha. Thank for all the info guys !