Help! High nitrates

vinnyvin · Mar 31, 2017

Hi all need some help iv done water test and the ones that are concerning me are as follows. Everything else is within range.

PH 8.0
Nitrate 50-100ppm (salifert) 80ppm (api)
Dkh is 5.7

My tank is 30 gallon
2 chromis
1 tang
1 Fire fish
1 Cardinal
1 gramma
1 scooter blenny
7 hermits
3 turbos
Clown Goby

chris124 · Mar 31, 2017

Are you using Rodi water?

morpheas · Mar 31, 2017

You can't have pH of 8.0 and carbonate hardness of 5.7 dkH. How sure are you of that reading? What is the problem you are seeing with your tank? What kind of corals do you keep? Water volume?

The nitrates are not necessarily bad but the hardness is weird.

vinnyvin · Mar 31, 2017

chris124 said:
Are you using Rodi water?

Yes

vinnyvin · Mar 31, 2017

morpheas said:
You can't have pH of 8.0 and carbonate hardness of 5.7 dkH. How sure are you of that reading? What is the problem you are seeing with your tank? What kind of corals do you keep? Water volume?

The nitrates are not necessarily bad but the hardness is weird.

Il have to do a retest on that then. Iv using salifert test kits just arrived today. I'm actully not seeing any problems mostly soft with some lps and 2 sps coals I have a 30 gallon tank.

vinnyvin · Mar 31, 2017

morpheas said:
You can't have pH of 8.0 and carbonate hardness of 5.7 dkH. How sure are you of that reading? What is the problem you are seeing with your tank? What kind of corals do you keep? Water volume?

The nitrates are not necessarily bad but the hardness is weird.

Right so I have done the kh test again. I think I have read the syringe wrong I'm getting a reading of 7.3 Does this sound inline with my ph?
The instructions say read the upper end of the black piece on the piston which would tell me a reading of 0.65 but the fluid is at 0.52.

MmmmBalf · Mar 31, 2017

You read the piston level, not the fluid. The fluid starts lower as it doesn't draw all the way up to the piston. If the piston starts at the 1.00 mark, and you finish with the piston at 0.65, then you have titrated 0.35ml of fluid.

Your nitrates will be high because the tank is overstocked. You should at least remove the Tang, as there are no Tangs suitable for 30g. How old is the tank?

beaslbob · Mar 31, 2017

first I recommend you measure pH just before lights and kH for that matter.

pH is a function of co2 and kh. Low pH means high(er) co2.

I would try macro algae in a refugium or an algae turf scrubber which will consume co2, ammonia first then nitrates, phosphate and return oxygen and fish food.

my .02

vinnyvin · Mar 31, 2017

Right ok so then my dkh is around 5.4 5.7... above was said my ph and dkh don't make sense pretty much? My tank is coming up to 2 years. The ph was measured before lights out and I am cheato algea in a chamber and im running a reactor with rowaphos. My phos is around 0 - 0.3ppm. I'm feeding one cube a day of mysis have done this for a long while. I cant remeber the last time i had high nitrate other than my cycle when I began. And if my tank was overstocked why is it only now I'm getting these reading of nitrates. Few weeks ago they were around 0 according to the api test kit

morpheas · Mar 31, 2017

vinnyvin said:
I'm actully not seeing any problems mostly soft with some lps and 2 sps coals I have a 30 gallon tank.

If it ain't broke don't fix it

If everything is good why chase the nitrates? Are you aiming for something (make it more SPS heavy maybe)? If the tank is doing well I would not touch it.

vinnyvin said:
Right ok so then my dkh is around 5.4 5.7... above was said my ph and dkh don't make sense pretty much?

Yes, that was my comment. Having a carbonate hardness of 5.4 and a pH of 8.0 would have been wonky regardless of CO2 level. Now that your correct reading is 7.3 it makes more sense. Actually, I would raise that up a little (say 8-8.5) since you have the nutrients to support it. It might do good in calcification rates. Of course any change you make do it slowly and always "listen" to your animals.

vinnyvin · Mar 31, 2017

morpheas said:
If it ain't broke don't fix it If everything is good why chase the nitrates? Are you aiming for something (make it more SPS heavy maybe)? If the tank is doing well I would not touch it.

Yes, that was my comment. Having a carbonate hardness of 5.4 and a pH of 8.0 would have been wonky regardless of CO2 level. Now that your correct reading is 7.3 it makes more sense. Actually, I would raise that up a little (say 8-8.5) since you have the nutrients to support it. It might do good in calcification rates. Of course any change you make do it slowly and always "listen" to your animals.

I have not long had my first sps so I'm wanting to try get into them a little more and I purchased a chalice frag the other day. So u can kinda see where I'm going lol.

morpheas · Mar 31, 2017

OK then do you have a skimmer? If so, I would look into carbon dosing, specifically (if I were to choose) NOPOX. I have the same size tank and use that product for nitrate control. Start small and monitor your nitrates. Don't starve your tank.

vinnyvin · Mar 31, 2017

morpheas said:
OK then do you have a skimmer? If so, I would look into carbon dosing, specifically (if I were to choose) NOPOX. I have the same size tank and use that product for nitrate control. Start small and monitor your nitrates. Don't starve your tank.

Yes got a skimmer I will look into getting some nopox tomorrow.

McMullen · Mar 31, 2017

Why now are you having a problem?

Growing fish=larger poop. Though you stated feeding has not changed?
Only feeding one cube? No nori or vegetable for tang?

That IS a large bioload.

morpheas · Mar 31, 2017

He wants to move towards sps that's why he's concerned.

vinnyvin · Apr 1, 2017

McMullen said:
Why now are you having a problem?

Growing fish=larger poop. Though you stated feeding has not changed?
Only feeding one cube? No nori or vegetable for tang?

That IS a large bioload.

Sorry I forgot to mention the nori. Yes one cube and half a strip of nori seaweed.

Iv got some nopox now so I'm gonna start dosing that I will start with 1ml a day for the first week this sound ok and move up to 2, Testing params in between?

teller · Apr 1, 2017

Hi @vinnyvin
For a 30g tank you have too many fishes. People in general would recommend 3/4 small fishes in a 30g tank.
You have 5 small fishes and a big fish, the tang which is by the way completely forbidden for such tank size. You may see young small tangs in small tanks in lfs and quarantine tanks but these are temporary places. You should return it to lfs or sell/offer it to other reefer which compatible size tank.
To control the nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) you still have to choose an export method: skimmer and water changes, skimmer and carbon dosing (and water changes), macro algae, micro algae scrubber, biopellets, etc, etc. OR a combination of two or more export methods if required.

vinnyvin · Apr 1, 2017

teller said:
Hi @vinnyvin
For a 30g tank you have too many fishes. People in general would recommend 3/4 small fishes in a 30g tank.
You have 5 small fishes and a big fish, the tang which is by the way completely forbidden for such tank size. You may see young small tangs in small tanks in lfs and quarantine tanks but these are temporary places. You should return it to lfs or sell/offer it to other reefer which compatible size tank.
To control the nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) you still have to choose an export method: skimmer and water changes, skimmer and carbon dosing (and water changes), macro algae, micro algae scrubber, biopellets, etc, etc. OR a combination of two or more export methods if required.

3/4 fishes! Sorry but iv had much success and my tank will be 2 years old in june it took about 10/11 months into the hobby before i had this amount of fish, i concentrated on my corals firslty.
Ok the tang shouldnt be in their, Fair enough. I will work on moving him today even tho I don't see him to be a problem tho he's happy eating well and doesn't bother any other fish nor do fish bother him.
Iv seen steady growth in all my corals and I do not dose. I do weekly water changes of 10% so I am exporting nutrients. I run rowaphos and you could say I over skim my skimmer is compatable for a tank up to 130 gallons.
I had a spike in phosphate a few weeks ago but I found the problem. I went to a lfs I don't normally go to for water and it was off the chart on phosphate. I think they sold me tap water for my ato luckily, I caught it early. This is now under control. However I started mixing my own salt since then I lost trust. Even with my usual lfs who I can trust but after that episode I am not taking the risk.

Zack K · Apr 1, 2017

How big is this tang? I know they say "Too small of a tank" and I agree to some extent. IME all my fish (if I got them small) grew to the size of their environment. I have never had/seen a fish (fresh and salt) outgrow their tank. I've had upwards of 12 tanks in my house at one point. So if the tang is little I would say he is okay for the time being. As for your question. Some will say your tank is overstocked, this may be so BUT many reefers have overstocked tanks. A "overstocked" tank just requires more husbandry than others. With that being said, I like to run a BioPellet reactor and refugium. Both are great NO3 and PO4 removal and cost effective. I set up my BioPellet reactor for $57. Regardless I had a pump laying around. I have both a 20g tall in the early stages of a full anemone tank and a 65 Corner reef. Both have very good levels and will be tied together within the near future thanks to those 2 nutrients exports.