Newbie and Nitrate

[ampthetex]

Hi Guys, My mates got a 160 litre tank, sand bed, fluval u4 filter, fluval ps1 skimmer, ocen free hydra pump with purigen inside it, some ornaments, and a newly added nitrate reactor running denitrate by seachem. He's had the tank for two years, and has only done an handful of water changes. Inside he has 2x small damsels, 2x small clowns, a shrimp, a snail, and crab, all are quite small. He originally had a puffer in there and all readings were 0 for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Since he put all the small fish in and removed the puffer, the readings are ammonia 0, nitrite o and nitrate 160ppm, Test kit is API and in date and has been shaken. He did a 30% water change last week and the nitrates seemed to be the same. Whats he doing wrong?

Any help appreciated, and will his fish die if they stay in 160ppm nitrate, look fine so far.

 

[Salt Creep]

160ppm is OK for fish only, but there is a cause of this and it definitely could be less. I personally would recommend taking the fluval filter off-line and any other mechanical filtration. The water change should have taken the nitrates down unless there are nitrates in the water he is changing it with. Has that been tested? How long ago did he remove the puffer and switch to the other fish?

 

[ampthetex]

Hi, Yes tested the new water as its from garden centre and its 0 nitrates. He done the swap the same day.

 

[cameronh]

Welcome to reef2reef!

 

[ampthetex]

He changed 50 litres of the 160 litres, and been testing and its still turning orange/red looking 160ppm

 

[Salt Creep]

Hi, Yes tested the new water as its from garden centre and its 0 nitrates. He done the swap the same day.

Have you tried using a different test kit? I know you say it is good, but how do you know? A 30% WC with 0 nitrate water theoretically should have brought them down to 112ppm.

 

[PatW]

You know the nitrates have to come from somewhere. The most common cause is putting too much food into the tank.

 

[Milkmanskid]

Then mine are practically zero then. I thought my 20 ppm was bad and was freaking out. I couldn't imagine 160. Based on what I know is mirroring what everyone else has said and get a better test kit and take a good hard look at what's going in the tank. Whenever mine has been high, I'd do a few water changes every few days to get it to a tolerable level and maintain after that.

 

[ampthetex]

He hasnt tried another test kit, as only one he has. Ive told him to feed minimal small, every few days, as overfeeding is bad.

 

[ampthetex]

Have you tried using a different test kit? I know you say it is good, but how do you know? A 30% WC with 0 nitrate water theoretically should have brought them down to 112ppm.

If the test kit was bad, then why would it be zero when we test the new water??

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Most people do not realize it, and manufacturers do not bother to tell people, but products like the Seachem denitrate media require organic compounds in the water to work. Perhaps you just do not have enough organic matter to deal with all of that nitrate. Adding some small amounts of organic carbon intentionally may be a fine plan.

This has more on nitrate and the many ways to reduce it:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium

 

[20LogR]

If he has only performed a handful of water changes in two years, there a good chance that the sand hasn’t been vacuumed in a while either. I would start by blowing off the rocks with a turkey baster and slowly cleaning the sand bed. Do a small portion of the sand bed at a time.

My guess is his new fish are pooping a lot more than his one puffer before.

 

[20LogR]

Also I’m a huge fan of UV when sized properly. I don’t think that UV4 is doing anything except wasting electricity.

 

[ampthetex]

Most people do not realize it, and manufacturers do not bother to tell people, but products like the Seachem denitrate media require organic compounds in the water to work. Perhaps you just do not have enough organic matter to deal with all of that nitrate. Adding some small amounts of organic carbon intentionally may be a fine plan.

This has more on nitrate and the many ways to reduce it:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium

We know the denitrate will take a few days before it has enough bacteria to start to do anything. We did try some sugar before anything else but cant seem to find anything about how much to dose a 160litre tank and for how long etc.

 

[ampthetex]

If he has only performed a handful of water changes in two years, there a good chance that the sand hasn’t been vacuumed in a while either. I would start by blowing off the rocks with a turkey baster and slowly cleaning the sand bed. Do a small portion of the sand bed at a time.

My guess is his new fish are pooping a lot more than his one puffer before.

He takes all rocks and ornaments out and rinses them. He usually stirs the sand bed, as hoovering seems to suck all the sand up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

We know the denitrate will take a few days before it has enough bacteria to start to do anything. We did try some sugar before anything else but cant seem to find anything about how much to dose a 160litre tank and for how long etc.

I'd avoid sugar, but if you want to consider organic carbon dosing, these will help:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index...ar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium

 

[ampthetex]

It was the test kit, we used the aquatic centre's kit and it was 5ppm nitrate, so panic over for now.