High nitrates

[Spaceshrimp]

My tank is 7 months old and my nitrates are very high 80ppm and i feed half a cube of mysis with some pellets once a day and how can i lower them i can do a 20% water channge and ill cut the pellets out of the diet what else should i do

 

[Justfebreezeit]

What else is in your setup? Skimmer? Filter socks? Refugium? ATS?

 

[Spaceshrimp]

All i am running right now is chemi pure blue and filter floss

 

[Justfebreezeit]

What size tank is it? Do you have a sump? or is it an AiO?

 

[Spaceshrimp]

What size tank is it? Do you have a sump? or is it an AiO?

Its a 29 gallon aio

 

[Florida Sunshine]

What critters do you have in the tank?
Doing water changes to reduce nitrates is a numbers game.
If your nitrates are 80 and you do a 20% water change your nitrates will go to 64 (assuming there is not a source to add nitrates.) then you do another 20% and this time you remove 20% of 64 leaving your nitrates at 51.2. If you do one 50% water change you have dropped them by 50% leaving you with nitrates of 40.
Short version, larger changes will make larger adjustments.

 

[Spaceshrimp]

What critters do you have in the tank?
Doing water changes to reduce nitrates is a numbers game.
If your nitrates are 80 and you do a 20% water change your nitrates will go to 64 (assuming there is not a source to add nitrates.) then you do another 20% and this time you remove 20% of 64 leaving your nitrates at 51.2. If you do one 50% water change you have dropped them by 50% leaving you with nitrates of 40.
Short version, larger changes will make larger adjustments.

I have to clowns , a firefish and a yellow clowngody
I also have 4 hermits a shrimp and an emerald crab

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Besides changing out the filter floss every few days, water changes are your only export method. So i'd just do a couple large water changes and keep testing. If you nitrates are rising faster than water changes can export them you need to either.

A. Feed less, stock less, etc...

B. Add another export method. Its tough on a biocube though, the skimmers aren't great and something like a reactor is a hassle on smaller tanks imo.

 

[Spaceshrimp]

Besides changing out the filter floss every few days, water changes are your only export method. So i'd just do a couple large water changes and keep testing. If you nitrates are rising faster than water changes can export them you need to either.

A. Feed less, stock less, etc...

B. Add another export method. Its tough on a biocube though, the skimmers aren't great and something like a reactor is a hassle on smaller tanks imo.

Ive been thinking about making a 10 gallon sump but im not sure how to go about that

 

[Dom]

My tank is 7 months old and my nitrates are very high 80ppm and i feed half a cube of mysis with some pellets once a day and how can i lower them i can do a 20% water channge and ill cut the pellets out of the diet what else should i do

Dry foods, such as flakes and pellets are a source of Phosphates (PO4), so I don't know that eliminating it will be of much help.

Water changes will help, but they have to be FAITHFUL. My water changes are weekly (Sunday is water change day) and 20%. How often do you do water changes?

 

[Dom]

All i am running right now is chemi pure blue and filter floss

In my opinion, you have inadequate filtration which could be contributing to the elevated nitrates. You might consider a HOB protein skimmer. You could also add a HOB refugium to help with nutrient export.