High Nitrate and other issues

[saturn13]

I need some advice. My tank has high nitrate at 50ppm plus and I don't know why. It's a 45 gallon frag tank, glass bottom. I've had the tank up over a year and a half. Also my ph is high today 8.6, lots of rain over night and I have an airline outside as this tank is in ny basement. Normally the ph is steady at 8.2. The nitrate has been high for a few weeks, at least 5 -5 gallon water changes and it won't drop. I'm hardly feeding, even prior once a week, otherwise supplement witb TP Marin plus-np because this system was very low with phos sometimes reading 0.00 on hanna LR and lucky if i'd get 10 ppm nitrate on salifert test when looking through sideways.

One possibility - I have sodium nitrate sitting around on and my daughter may have put some into my sump I honestly don't see any other cause.

At this point a few lps frags lost.

I've ordered some additioal bio bricks to get in the sump with some live bacteria, when I did 10 gallons at once I got cloudy water for a day.

any other suggestions/thoughts?

10-4-21
salinity 1.024, 31 ppt
temp 79
calclium 440
alkalinity 7.8
phosphate 0.10
ph 8.6?
nitrate 50ppm
magnesium 1200

Thanks

 

[blaxsun]

A larger water change maybe?

 

[Art2249]

If you have a strong skimmer use NOPOX. It keeps me between 1-2 ppm nitrate and almost zero phosphate.

 

[ZoWhat]

You can drop your no3 to 10ppm in a matter of a week dosing 80 proof vodka at a rate of 1ml daily per 10-20gals.

You WILL have a bacteria bloom (white cloudy water) and that bloom will absorb a lot of oxygen out of the water BUT if you aerate the main display with surface bubbles until bloom clears up, fish will be fine. No suffocations.

BTW, I just did this in my own tank 2 weeks ago. Nothing was lost due to O2 depletion during bloom. Tank MUCH MUCH happier at 5ppm rather than 50.

Water crystal clear now. No3 back under control.

Hth