HELP Nitrates off the charts

[sharleen]

Im on day 9 of a crazy nitrate spike. Ive tried everything asked everyone I know posted on forums and no one really knows whats going on with my tank.

My tank has tested extremely high nitrates every day for 9 days. Im using a brand new Red Sea Test kit. Im getting 0 to very low readings on nitrites & ammonia.

I had a large tentacle nem move around my tank and die. I dont know if the tank had bad nitrates which caused his death or that the death of the nem caused the spike. But nothing Ive tried is helping to get them down.

What Ive done to date:
On Day 4 did a 50% WC
On day 7 did another 25% WC
Have added to sump
Pollyfill
Cheato
Carbon
Ammonia pads
Nitrate reducing pads
Allgone pouch
120 oz fritz nutrifying bacteria
8 oz One & Only dr Tims nutrifying bacteria

Testing daily nothing has changed the nitrate levels at all. Nothing.

Any ideas, help or possibilities of what is happening will be beyond appreciated.

 

[chris k.]

Maybe have your lfs do a nitrate check on your water. When my nitrates were high (50 +) i did a 75 % water change and cleaned the sump. That got them down to around 20.

 

[sharleen]

Maybe have your lfs do a nitrate check on your water. When my nitrates were high (50 +) i did a 75 % water change and cleaned the sump. That got them down to around 20.

I should have mentioned that the day I had the 50% WC I had it done by a professional from my LFS. Their test also revealed extremely high nitrates.

But Ill work on cleaning the sump tomorrow maybe thatll help.

 

[chris k.]

I dont know what caused it but the only way to reduce it quickly is with a large water change. However, is everything else doing ok? Or are your other corals showing some stress.

 

[tankstudy]

I should have mentioned that the day I had the 50% WC I had it done by a professional from my LFS. Their test also revealed extremely high nitrates.

But Ill work on cleaning the sump tomorrow maybe thatll help.

What was his/her recommendation for nitrate reduction?

 

[Gablami]

Can you tell us what "extremely high" is in terms of numbers?

 

[sharleen]

Its reading at 50 on the red sea max test kit i have. I bought a new kit because I thought the old one I had wasnt reading correctly because it was expired. But the new one shows the same readings.

The color is darker than the darkest color on the sheet. Its soo very purplish deep pink it looks like blood. And I test every morning and every night and its not changing at all.

Can you tell us what "extremely high" is in terms of numbers?[/QUO

 

[sharleen]

What was his/her recommendation for nitrate reduction?

They did a 50% WC and the nitrates didnt change. They said to continue to do WC every couple of days. But so far its not budging the nitrates at all.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

How old is your tank?
When your anemone died, did you take it out in time or did it mush up and spread?
I would stop dosing the bottle bacteria (your tank is cycled and this isn't helping)

Something is fueling this nitrate spike and finding the source is paramount along with continuing water changes to combat the issue for now.

 

[tankstudy]

How big is your tank?

Are you keeping fish as well? If so, how often are you feeding?

If you do a 50% water change every couple days and nitrates are not going down, its more than likely because you have a huge source of ammonia coming from somewhere.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I find it hard to believe if you made a 50% water change your nitrate did not go down - If they tested the same that means it went down to 25PPM and then came back up to 50PPM very quickly. How old is your tank and how large? You likely have ineffective nitrogen cycle and your tank is not up-taking nutrients. Even if their was a dead anemone your nutrient export should be strong enough to consume the nitrates. I have heavy bio load but my tank nitrates are kept at 0.02 using Mud with chaeto, Marinepure block, LR, Skimmer, Chemipure, and high turnover. Try to Identify the source, remove it and then do a waterchange. How is the lifestock? I've experienced bleaching and STN from nitrate spike so IMO this is as serious as an ALK spike..You may just need to look into you bacteria processing and get that balanced. Good luck

 

[Brian R Miller]

you are using RO/DI water for these water changes, yes?

 

[sharleen]

you are using RO/DI water for these water changes, yes?

Using LFS bought saltwater. Coming from 3 different LFSs depending on which one Im closest to at the time.

 

[sharleen]

How big is your tank?

Are you keeping fish as well? If so, how often are you feeding?

If you do a 50% water change every couple days and nitrates are not going down, its more than likely because you have a huge source of ammonia coming from somewhere.

Tank is a 110 Tall Peninsula. I upgrade from an established 60G cube to the 110G. I used live rock from my 300G tank to add to my already seeded rock from the 60 cube. This was all done about 2 months ago.

I do have fish in the tank. Small ones. A small Lt tang, a small bicolored angel, a hawknose, a fuzzy dwarf lion, a mellareous wrasse. And 2 eels 1 zebra, 1 snowflake. There are 2 mini-maxi nems and one very small rose bubble tip nem. There are about 4 patches of gsp and 1 patch of pallys and 2 small leathers. There are several crabs, snails, serpent stars, and an urchin in the tank. The sump has healthy cheato, 2 pepermint shrimps, 1 sand star, and a cucumber.

Ive had 4 fish losses 1 small Voliton lion, 2 Spotincus Clarcki clowns and 1 small lemon peel angel. And the evil long tentacle nem

 

[sharleen]

How old is your tank?
When your anemone died, did you take it out in time or did it mush up and spread?
I would stop dosing the bottle bacteria (your tank is cycled and this isn't helping)

Something is fueling this nitrate spike and finding the source is paramount along with continuing water changes to combat the issue for now.

This tank is about 2 months old however it was an upgrade from an established 1 year old 60G cube and live rock from my 300G tank.

The nem moved from the spot he was in on a Saturday couldnt be found for a couple days and was removed from the tank as a very stinky disgusting glob on Wed by the lfs professional I had come do the 50% WC.