Nitrate are at ~80ppm

[Agiron86]

On Saturday I had a power outage, it lasted roughly 8 hours. So after the outage everything looked fine. Yesterday i noticed I had lost two emerald crabs and had a diamond goby jump. I tested the water on Friday before the outage and the nitrates were 0-5(comparative test) and tested again yesterday and the nitrates jumped to 20ppm. I changed the water last night and retested this morning, ph is ~8, ammonia ~0, nitrite ~0, and nitrate ~40. While testing the water, I noticed I lost a clown.

I just tested my ro water and it’s ~0. I made up another batch of saltwater to do another change, tested before and after adding salt, nitrates were still 0ppm. Tested the tank water after the water change, and the nitrates are even higher, my guess 60ppm. I need help...

Could to beneficial bacteria died during the power outage causing the nitrates to spike?
Is there anything that I can do to get this under control?
I am using purigen and phosguard for chemical, the tank came with filter sock that I take out and "rinse" in the washing machine every other day.

Luckily I’ve been able to get everything that died out of the tank so they don’t make the issue worse.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Awful to hear friend.

But yea, it’s pssible there was some dieoff that did it.

You are doing everything texboook perfect to fix it.

For the future ,
A thought would be to plug at least one of the powerheads into a standard battery backup.

 

[Agiron86]

Awful to hear friend.

But yea, it’s pssible there was some dieoff that did it.

You are doing everything texboook perfect to fix it.

For the future ,
A thought would be to plug at least one of the powerheads into a standard battery backup.

Why would water changes make the nitrates higher, I get if bacteria died off it would cause a rise, but water changes should dilute the tank water as its 0ppm...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Why would water changes make the nitrates higher, I get if bacteria died off it would cause a rise, but water changes should dilute the tank water as its 0ppm...

It shouldn’t no. And you’re correct.

Why it tested out that way I don’t know. And honestly I’ve been thorough so many of these I don’t bother testing when it does happen any more.

The worst probs I ever had the params were perfectly fine , and I even went to three lfs to compare the numbers once.

What I do know is , with good source water water changes are still the solution. As no matter the numbers when it happened , doing the wc abated the problem very quickly.

 

[saltyhog]

How are you testing ammonia? Nitrates of 80 should not kill fish. I suspect something else did that. O2 dropping without circulation?

 

[Agiron86]

It shouldn’t no. And you’re correct.

Why it tested out that way I don’t know. And honestly I’ve been thorough so many of these I don’t bother testing when it does happen any more.

The worst probs I ever had the params were perfectly fine , and I even went to three lfs to compare the numbers once.

What I do know is , with good source water water changes are still the solution. As no matter the numbers when it happened , doing the wc abated the problem very quickly.

How often should I do water changes if the nitrates stay this high?

 

[Agiron86]

How are you testing ammonia? Nitrates of 80 should not kill fish. I suspect something else did that. O2 dropping without circulation?

I have been testing ammonia with the api kit.

During the power outage it went about 3 hours before I got home and started using a picture and circulated the water. Everything survived that and started struggling after...

 

[Richard the Reefer]

Awful to hear friend.

But yea, it’s pssible there was some dieoff that did it.

You are doing everything texboook perfect to fix it.

For the future ,
A thought would be to plug at least one of the powerheads into a standard battery backup.

1 powerhead and a heater if possible sorry for your losses friend, that's horrible!!!

 

[Rakie]

Misread your post

Things happen for sure. It sucks.

1) Try to find a battery backup if you can
2) At the very least, keep battery powered bubblers around. The more the better.
3) Never panic. To work swiftly you must be calm.

I've come home to power being out for a LONG time without any knowledge from the power company -- Fish were all struggling, I basically did exactly what you did -- Immediately started churning up the water with a plastic tote lid for a few minutes, than grabbed my bubblers.

1 Bubbler is almost enough for upwards of a 60g cube -- But on my 40 gallon cube I had 3 ready and waiting for whenever I might need them.

They're also powerful enough that when power went off one night from 8pm to 9am, 3 little bubblers kept my whole tank just fine. Everything survived, nothing was looking stressed or struggling.

If heat is an issue, NOTHING will warm up a tank bags of hot water. Get 1 gallon ziplock bags, or just something with a solid seal, fill it with hot water from the sink, put it in the tank. It will raise the temperature FAST, so if water temp has cooled it's a good thing to use, but using it preemptively isn't gonna help you do anything but overheat your tank.