Help removing nitrates

[mgoesma]

I have a 90g with a 30g sump. My ammonia and nitrites are both 0 but my nitrates are staying around 20. I have no fish. I have several corals that I feed twice a week. I have a refugium with chato, protein skimmer.Filte, sick, and bag of carbon. I have quight a bit of live rock and rubble in the refugium. I have about 1-2 in sand bed. The tank has been set up for a couple months now. I do a 10g water change weekly and a 20g once a month. What am I doing wrong? I got some chato a while back that died after being cooked in the mail. I tried to get most of it out.

 

[sbash]

Is your chaeto growing? What are you using to feed the corals? What do you have for a clean up crew?

I would cut the feeding back until something changed, either coral growth or nitrates. I would bet the nitrates will drop before the corals show any effect.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Large water changes is the fastest way to reduce no3.

 

[mgoesma]

Yes the chaeto has tripled in size but it was small to start with. It's about a baseball size ball now. It started smaller than a golf ball. I have 10 snales different types and 3 hurrmet crabs. I feed the corel phytoplankton, baby mysis shrimp, and red seas coral food.

 

[mgoesma]

I keep trying to do water changes but I only have a 10g can to mix up new water. I guess I will just start doing them every other day. But how do I keep it down? Any suggestions please.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Your water changes aren't big enough to keep up with the feeding you're doing.

 

[mgoesma]

10g water chance isn't big enough for 5ml of food 2x a week.how big of water change do you do and how much do u feed?

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Was your no3 ever lower than 20ppm after the cycle completed? Was the rock new? it's possible there's no3 bound up in the rock or even the sand it it was previously used.

 

[mgoesma]

I did a 30g change after the cycle. It's was about 20 when I did that.

 

[mgoesma]

The rock was 50% dry and 50% line. I also used live sand new.

 

[mcarroll]

Fast growing corals will consume loads of nitrates.....you have to stop with the other feedings though.

Do you have detectable phosphates in the water? Zero phosphates can also hinder nitrate uptake.

Further, high nitrates won't hurt anything. If you're not also having an algae outbreak, there is no problem in my opinion. Just the excessive feeding on your part.

BTW, why no fish? I'm a huge coral fan....and think more people ought to start with coral-only tanks!! Especially hard coral!

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

If you really want to keep it lower then you'll need to do some large water changes. then you'll have a base target. it sounds as if feeding might not be the factor since you really didn't get it lower after the cycle completed.

 

[RushReefer2112]

Add a day to your feeding interval (just to make sure) and throw in a xenia. Xenia will consume A LOT of your excess nutrients quickly! Just make sure you isolate it in your sand so it doesn't take over, unless you want it to. And if you do want it to, you'll realize soon why most people call xenia a pest or a weed.

 

[mgoesma]

I don't have a phosphate test. I'll have to get one. I'll get a Xenia and add some phosguard. I will also try to bump up the water change also.

 

[jsker]

@mcarroll has the best advice so far. My question is how old is s the tank?
large water change is only going to strip any good Bactria in the system and and water changes are only temporary.

You can also run different types of carbon dosing.

I myself feed heavy and I use bio pellets to keep my nitrates under control between 3 and 5 ppm. What teat are you using?

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Beneficial bacteria live in substrate and other porous materials, hardly any in the water at all. however, large water changes can throw off parameters so you have to be smart about it.

 

[mgoesma]

The tank has been set up about 2 months.

 

[mgoesma]

I do not have fish simply due to a quarantine time. My first 2 fish are almost ready a little over a week to go. I only have a 10g quarantine so I can only do 2 small fish at a time.

 

[brandon429]

since we are tossing out ideas this is something to consider-

take a portion of your lowest sandbed access you can siphon out with a tube and put it in a cup like brown mud water, and test that for nitrate and phosphate after it sits two hours

imagine the impact to your water column as it reads much higher than 20, consider the rebounding nature of changing out that water column only for it to come back due the diapering below funny analogy but its true. rarely is a sandbed in a reef tank not the source of most nitrate we measure. high fish bioloading can be another, not applic here so the nutrient sink seems easy to guess at.

no pox, ats, carbon dosing, all due to diapering effects of the sandbed that tests much higher for wastes than the water column that catches its exudate.

the source for nitrate in the coral only tank is usually found right about there, in the sand, but tests can confirm or deny

 

[mcarroll]

The tank has been set up about 2 months.

In that case, worrying may be your only fault.

Keep taking your time, don't go overboard on feeding anything....give up feeding the corals directly until you A) feel like you have a handle on the tank and B) you can be positive they need direct feeding at all.