Nitrate problems!!

[natefizzle8675]

Sorry for posting a new thread so soon but I replaced the bio balls in the back of my biocube with liverock, a mesh bag of purigen, and some micro algae. My nitrates i cant seem to get down ....even with a 25% water change.....any suggestions?

 

[lpslover]

Do you carbon dose? I run high grade carbon and siporax type ceramic rings, both changed monthly. I also do daily liquid carbon dosing. That is what has worked with my biocube. I'm not a huge fan of purigen. It works, but not well enough in my opinion to be worth the cost.

 

[Bigdaddy]

I had a huge nitrate problem also . Turned out the water i was storing for water changes had higher nitrates than my tank did . i just assumed that since it was rodi water it was good , but turned out i had some kind of slime in my storage container that was causing it . i hope you can figure out your problem

 

[slugwall]

You could go to the extreme and do a major water change... I have done this after seeing someone else do it on the internet. you do a 90% to 100% water change. Don't add water in until all the water is out, I set up a water station using HD/Lowes 5gl buckets premixed ready to fill my tank, If you still have issues you can dose with VODKA!!!
I didn't pull any thing out of my Tank either I left about an inch of water for the one fish I had... I am sure I will get some flak for this on the site but it works and everything is fine. I was like you I just couldn't get it down no matter what I did... My problem was that I had gone away for a month for work and I wasn't tending to the tanks needs... BAd HUSBANDRY

 

[lpslover]

I had a huge nitrate problem also . Turned out the water i was storing for water changes had higher nitrates than my tank did . i just assumed that since it was rodi water it was good , but turned out i had some kind of slime in my storage container that was causing it . i hope you can figure out your problem

That is a thought. Some salts have high nitrate levels, and some RO/DI units may not be functioning optimally. It is at least an easy thing to rule out.

 

[lpslover]

You could go to the extreme and do a major water change... I have done this after seeing someone else do it on the internet. you do a 90% to 100% water change. Don't add water in until all the water is out, I set up a water station using HD/Lowes 5gl buckets premixed ready to fill my tank, If you still have issues you can dose with VODKA!!!
I didn't pull any thing out of my Tank either I left about an inch of water for the one fish I had... I am sure I will get some flak for this on the site but it works and everything is fine. I was like you I just couldn't get it down no matter what I did... My problem was that I had gone away for a month for work and I wasn't tending to the tanks needs... BAd HUSBANDRY

Did you have corals or other inverts in the tank when you did such a drastic water change? If so what kind?