Help please

[Jilly92]

so I bought some krill the other day and I put it in the ninja to make my fish food and completely forgot how much a small amount of that will feed. Well i overfed and my nitrates are 80 ppm from api test kit. My questyion is how much of a water change should i do right now for a 55 gal? I dont want to shock the fish but really need to get those nitrates down.

 

[dedragon]

I expect a false reading from api, ugh those kits. A water change never hurts though, 10-20% water change

 

[Arabyps]

Do 50% water change now. I would also suggest a new test kit - Nyos seems to work best. Measure again after a day or 2 and another water change will probably be needed.

 

[redfishbluefish]

My preference on an up and running tank is no more than 50%. Granted over feeding will cause for an increase in nitrates, but I've got this sneaky feeling your nitrates were already high and not caused by one or two feedings from the krill. The other consideration is that you don't want to drop it like a rock. Slow and steady is always the way to go.

 

[Jilly92]

I expect a false reading from api, ugh those kits. A water change never hurts though, 10-20% water change

i do expect it to be high because of the food and I had diatoms yesterday starting up and this morning a thin film all over glass

 

[ScottR]

In an established tank, that amount of food (how much krill?) shouldn’t wreck your tank at 55 gal. I’d also not trust API. What were your nitrates before?

 

[Jilly92]

Do 50% water change now. I would also suggest a new test kit - Nyos seems to work best. Measure again after a day or 2 and another water change will probably be needed.

it will takek me all day to do 50%. Will that not shock the fish??

 

[redfishbluefish]

Others replies while I was typing....didn't even think about a funky number from testing. That's an excellent point. Have a friend or LFS test your water to see what number they get. And agree, not crazy about API test kits.

 

[dedragon]

What was the nitrate like before and when was the last time you tested?

 

[ScottR]

I’d also ask what’s in your tank. If truly that high, and fish are ok, don’t worry. If you have softies and LPS and they are happy, don’t freak out. But again, don’t trust API. Like @redfishbluefish said, ask a friend or a LFS to help test if possible.

 

[Jilly92]

In an established tank, that amount of food (how much krill?) shouldn’t wreck your tank at 55 gal. I’d also not trust API. What were your nitrates before?

nitrates hover around 15. I just did a 25% water change like 3 days ago. Fed the krill 2 days ago. Nothing is showing signs of distress, just the diatom bloom so checked nitrates. it looked like a dime size probably and when it went in it looked like snow everywhere.

 

[Jilly92]

What was the nitrate like before and when was the last time you tested?

tested a week prior at 15ppm

 

[ScottR]

nitrates hover around 15. I just did a 25% water change like 3 days ago. Fed the krill 2 days ago. Nothing is showing signs of distress, just the diatom bloom so checked nitrates. it looked like a dime size probably and when it went in it looked like snow everywhere.

What’s in your tank currently? Sounds like your tank is new so I guess it’s not heavily stocked.

 

[Arabyps]

it will takek me all day to do 50%. Will that not shock the fish??

Elevated Nitrates in the short term are not particularity harmful (unlike ammonia and nitrite - you should closely monitor these as well given your situation). Prolonged exposure to elevated nitrate will have negative effects.

"While ammonia and nitrite are highly toxic to fish, nitrate is much less so. However, as nitrate accumulates, fish will eventually be affected. ... An algae bloom usually indicates high nitrate levels, though algae is able to grow in newly set-up tanks with nitrate levels as low as 10 ppm.

 

[dedragon]

Yea, unless you put in like 20 krill, and have no filter media, i highly suspect that it wasnt the issue. Probably another api false reading, time to buy a better test

 

[Jilly92]

Others replies while I was typing....didn't even think about a funky number from testing. That's an excellent point. Have a friend or LFS test your water to see what number they get. And agree, not crazy about API test kits.

lfs always matches my numbers

 

[Jilly92]

What’s in your tank currently? Sounds like your tank is new so I guess it’s not heavily stocked.

Pretty established here. 3 clowns different breeds, 1 false lemonpeel angel

 

[Jilly92]

Yea, unless you put in like 20 krill, and have no filter media, i highly suspect that it wasnt the issue. Probably another api false reading, time to buy a better test

haha the way it looked like a blizzard in there it might've been 20 LOL ya i prob need a better test kit

 

[dedragon]

first thing though replace the hob filter pad, any leftover krill will just break down. do you have a refractometer or are you using a swing arm hydrometer inside of the tank? hydrometers are also notoriously inaccurate

 

[Jilly92]

first thing though replace the hob filter pad, any leftover krill will just break down. do you have a refractometer or are you using a swing arm hydrometer inside of the tank? hydrometers are also notoriously inaccurate

I have canister. I just bought the swing arm a couple days ago, ive only ever used refractometer just wanted to try one out. My canister will sound an alarm if the filter needs changed, it doesnt have filter pads its like tubes with mesh screens and stuff. im sure the copepods wouldve took the krill out in no time or the anthropods. I have a very large colony of them after having a fishless tank for a couple of months. Theyre huge and ate a baby clown in 2 days, little beasties.