Help. Big Nitrate Spike. One missing fish.

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 22, 2020

Got up this morning. Cannot find my prized Mystery Wrasse. Kole tang is gaping a little bit, Anthias and Clowns look ok.

Tested water, Nitrates at 25. Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0.

Did a 25% water change. It’s all I had made up. Nitrates down to 20.

Just added a jar of seacham de-nitrate. What should I do next ? Make up another back of water?

#reefsqaud

laverda · Mar 22, 2020

Nitrate is not toxic to fish at even 120 or higher. What else has changed in your tank recently?

Intense37754 · Mar 22, 2020

I’m going with my norm, but add an airstone and agitate water surface to get some oxygen in there and gas exchange. Check the PH

almost every time I have had an issue it has been after a major cleaning or moving rock and the ph dropped

artieg1 · Mar 22, 2020

Definitely not nitrate. I would aerate and observe. Carbon to pull out any substance that snuck in?

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 22, 2020

I added a Bonsai Acro yesterday. Bathed that in Polyp Lab reef shot like I always do, a tiny amount in a jug then placed the coral in. Did exactly the same thing with a coral for my cube. No issues with the cube.

Ok so the de-nitrafer is not gonna hurt? Hope my corals will be good. I’ll add Carbon and test again for Ammonia

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 22, 2020

Intense37754 said:
I’m going with my norm, but add an airstone and agitate water surface to get some oxygen in there and gas exchange. Check the PH

almost every time I have had an issue it has been after a major cleaning or moving rock and the ph dropped

My ORP is 400

Intense37754 · Mar 22, 2020

Definitely paying attention now to this thread as I have never measured ORP but it’s my understanding that ORP goes down when PH rises.

what’s a normal ORP range ?

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 22, 2020

Intense37754 said:
Definitely paying attention now to this thread as I have never measured ORP but it’s my understanding that ORP goes down when PH rises.

what’s a normal ORP range ?

ORP is normally 400. My ph stays around 8.15 and drops to 8 maybe 7.97 at night

Intense37754 · Mar 22, 2020

Thanks. Fancy Apex stuff haha
I was just reading an article and now my head hurts

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 22, 2020

Intense37754 said:
Thanks. Fancy Apex stuff haha
I was just reading an article and now my head hurts

Well the Wrasse showed up and the corals are looking fine. But something not right. I added Chemi pure elite and a bunch of carbon

Wolf89 · Mar 22, 2020

Waaaaaaaay over reacting. Nitrate is not toxic to fish even at very high levels. I used to run my reef at over 200 and not issues. People nowadays make nitrate out to be something it isnt. You're fine.

SPR1968 · Mar 22, 2020

There’s nothing wrong with your nitrate level, and the Seachem DeNitrate will probably take weeks before it’s colonised with bacteria to make any difference to the nitrate level.

I would sit back and think of what’s actually a problem, if there is one, and then only add things to the system that’s needed. Otherwise things could go bad very quickly.

You found the missing fish, the others are all ok, and you have tested for ammonia and it’s 0.

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 22, 2020

I overreact react to everything ! I care about my little reef mates

thanks for the help guys. So I went out and got a new Nitrate kit, sell by date on the one I have was 2022. The new kits reads nitrate of 10. Where it should be !

BullyBee · Mar 22, 2020

Seachem de-nitrate (I believe) needs a low flow rate to work.

laverda · Mar 22, 2020

Stop worrying about your nitrates. 10 is fine. I would not try to change them. Your more likely to create a problem then doing so in your rush to fix something that is not a problem.

You say something is not right. Can you tell us why you feel that way? Are the fish behaving strangely? If so describe their behavior or symptoms. A photo may help. Your other parameters would also.

Crustaceon · Mar 22, 2020

I wouldn’t worry too much about quickly lowering nitrates as some have mentioned. It can be more detrimental to do so than to just leave it as is, that includes doing large water changes. If it were me, I would add a tiny amount of vinegar each day and let the bacteria and skimmer sort that out. I’m not sure how large your system is, but for a 100 gallon tank, I’d add no more than 1ml of vinegar until nitrates end up where you want them, especially with a ph around 8. It seems like you need more aeration in your system and could benefit from running an airline tube from an open window to your skimmer’s inlet.

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 23, 2020

Crustaceon said:
I wouldn’t worry too much about quickly lowering nitrates as some have mentioned. It can be more detrimental to do so than to just leave it as is, that includes doing large water changes. If it were me, I would add a tiny amount of vinegar each day and let the bacteria and skimmer sort that out. I’m not sure how large your system is, but for a 100 gallon tank, I’d add no more than 1ml of vinegar until nitrates end up where you want them, especially with a ph around 8. It seems like you need more aeration in your system and could benefit from running an airline tube from an open window to your skimmer’s inlet.

I'm curious why you think I need aeration? My ORP is 400

Crustaceon · Mar 23, 2020

ShaggyRS6 said:
I'm curious why you think I need aeration? My ORP is 400

If I’m seeing fish gaping, i’m going to assume they’re trying to take in more oxygen regardless of what an apex probe is saying and especially with a ph that dips below 8. I’d try pointing a powerhead towards the surface if you haven’t already and see if you get a ph increase after an hour or so. If you do, you need more aeration.

Infidel · Mar 27, 2020

Crustaceon said:
If I’m seeing fish gaping, i’m going to assume they’re trying to take in more oxygen regardless of what an apex probe is saying and especially with a ph that dips below 8. I’d try pointing a powerhead towards the surface if you haven’t already and see if you get a ph increase after an hour or so. If you do, you need more aeration.

His pH isn't an issue, natural sea water is 8.1 on average and ranges from 7.5-8.4. He's running a Waterbox 100.3 and has plenty of flow and surface agitation for gas exchange.

@ShaggyRS6 I wouldn't resort to a chemical solution for a NO3 of 25; just increase your water change % a bit during your normal schedule until it's around 5-10. A NO3 of 25 is nothing to necessitate rapid reduction efforts.

Can you elaborate a little in regard to the gaping tang's behavior?

ShaggyRS6 · Mar 28, 2020

I maybe just reading into something that's not an issue. But I noticed the Tang just opens her mouth a bit more than normal. Maybe I never noticed it before until now. She is still doing it, is absolutely fine and eating like a pig! The tank looks fine on 25ppm Nitrates, even the Nem is huge, in fact I just took the Nem out as its becoming a pain in the butt. I am loathed to change anything, even the high Nitrates because everything looks fine! Tank yesterday below.