Nitrates are over 100, can't get them down.

[John3]

I think your problem is that you removed 2 basketballs in size worth of nitrate eating coral. That large coral was part of your tanks balance in consuming nitrates. Now that it’s gone your tank is out of balance.

I’ve seen this first hand in my smaller 29g tank. I had some huge colonies of zoas that I removed and my nitrates jumped. I think a lot of us forget that corals are part of nitrate export.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Hmmm... the plot thickens. Regular stirring of the sand is great husbandry. But the rotten egg smell is a dead giveaway for H2S. It must have been trapped under the rock that was moved.

How equipped are you for some significant and repeatable WCs? Like 75G a shot?

I'll note the egg smell was for just one day, currently there is no smell to the water other than my extra large protein skimmer cup fills up with thick brown sludge.

I just tested for ammonia, it's 0 and my pH sits at 8.3-8.0(night).

Here are my other params:

Calc 400
Mag 1290
Alk 7.5
Temps 79-81 (T5/LED hybrid)
pH 8.3-8.0
po4 0.01
no3 100 or so? Hard to tell, very dark pink test kits

Algae isn't too bad, the purple cyano is very strong right now. Rocks are fairly clean up the intricate rock work allows detritus buildup in certain places. My pest xenia is growing well, as are my aiptasia are also holding on strong despite my nudibranchs on the attack. I'd say nutrients are def a plenty in this tank.

No fish death. Very small cuc that i have is also still alive.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I think your problem is that you removed 2 basketballs in size worth of nitrate eating coral. That large coral was part of your tanks balance in consuming nitrates. Now that it’s gone your tank is out of balance.

I’ve seen this first hand in my smaller 29g tank. I had some huge colonies of zoas that I removed and my nitrates jumped. I think a lot of us forget that corals are part of nitrate export.

I was definitely wondering about this, I figured it had an effect but I just didn't realize how much it did. Sadly I was wanting to remove about another few buckets worth as I re-scaped my tank over the next three months. I'll look into either a sulfur denitrator or turn an extra vertex reactor chamber into a quick DIY cheato reactor as I currently do not run any right now.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Also, to be safe I tested my source water and no3 is 0. My RO membranes are over 3 years old but I was always told by some very smart filtration techs when i worked for GE water that the only time you want to replace them is when pressure starts changing and to focus on changing my 3 stage filters and DI resin which I do religiously. TDS going into my salt tanks has never not been 0, if it's 1 I discard and stop making water until DI is replaced.

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Here are my other params:

Calc 400
Mag 1290
Alk 7.5
Temps 79-81 (T5/LED hybrid)
pH 8.3-8.0
po4 0.01
no3 100 or so? Hard to tell, very dark pink test kits

to help assess your nitrate you can dilute your sea water solution. E.g if the test kit calls for 5ml of saltwater use 1ml saltwater and 4ml of RODI. Then times the result by 5. E.g when you get 20ppm it is actually representative of 100ppm. If you get 25 it’s 125 etc.

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

Well, I don't know much but the best advice I can give is to follow the other's advice in this thread! Redundant I know. Maybe if you get the worst bit out of the way to prevent problems in the future you could invest in a really good clean up crew. Macroalgae is also awesome to have. I bet you could try adding more birdsnest in later to see if the problem goes down a little. Like others have pointed out corals do play a part in the nutrient cycle or whatever it's called. I hope it works out for you! Good luck!