Nitrate spike

[Lowe]

Hey guys! So I have a question I notice with my tank the one problem I seem to be having is my nitrates everything else stays leveled out around 0 except for my nitrates I thought I was over feeding so I cut back on that to once a day and then sometimes I skip a day I have to hang on the back filters one of them has charcoal infused pads along with about pound and a half of rubble and the other one just has nothing but trouble probably close to 2 pounds I also have about 70 pounds of rock 40 pounds of sand why do I keep having nitrate spikes? Now I took out the pads on one of my filters so it just contains the rock I have three small clown fish one small damsel all of those are an inch and a half or less I have one cleaner wrasse about 2 inches and one yellow tang about 2 inches... I have for snails 7 hermit crabs to peppermint shrimp and one fire shrimp can anyone offer suggestions

 

[reefer77]

Water change? How big is the tank ?how long has it been up?

 

[Lowe]

It's 75g and I do water changes every two weeks .. should I do them once a week? Why the spike tho is this normal?

 

[reefer77]

How long has it been up? What is your no3 at?

 

[reefer77]

How much water do u change?

 

[inetjnky]

When was the last time you cleaned out the hob filter? When was the last time you blew off your rock work with a turkey baster or power head?

 

[Whatnow]

Do you have a protein skimmer? If not you it will help greatly.

 

[Lowe]

Ok let's see... no skimmer yet...I change about 15 gallons every two weeks ... yes I have blasted my rock with the power head ... and no I haven't clean out my hobs... (filters) should i? And how often

 

[Lowe]

No3 around 20-40 so I am going to do water change today...

 

[Whatnow]

I love my skimmer! I still can't believe how much crap It gets out of perfectly clear water LOL......

 

[inetjnky]

Clean out your hob every time you do a water change. Detritus will build up in your rubble which can cause a spike in your nitrates.

 

[reefer77]

+1 on the skimmer best investment in this hobby. try changing 25 gal. like 3 time about 4 days apart this should get u back to a manageable no3 lvl. also if u do not have corals you can have some no3 in your system. also macro algae removes no3 and po4.

 

[twilliard]

No3 is part of the needs of the zooxanthellae of coral.

 

[reefer77]

Correct no3 at low levels is good. here we are trying to get to that lvl

 

[Lowe]

So when I clean out my hang on the back filter should I rinse my level rock out in reverse osmosis water? Certainly not tap water correct? And that doesn't hurt any of the bacteria that I need the help take out the nitrites nitrates?

 

[Lowe]

My tank

 

[reefer77]

Use tank water when u do a water change.