Help me and my nitrates!

Mr._Bond · 02-08-2005, 07:45 PM

Hello all. I seem to need help. I have had a problem with nitrate levels and algae in my tank as of late. The tank is only 6 months old, so it may just be the "norm" for a tank it's age, but I'm concerned that it's something else. I had a very high peak of nitrate early on, that I got under control, then everything was fine for a couple months, then it spiked again, not as bad, but still high. I did a couple water changes, and changed out the filters and cleaned things and it went down for a couple weeks and now is back up again. The algae in my tank is going crazy too with a fair amount of the red "slime" algae too, which may just be because of the nitrates or vice versus. In any case, here's what I know:
1. Nothing has changed since the tank began as far as water, or salt or filter system or that type of thing.
2. I have not introduced any new live stock for 3 months and nothing has died off (except for a snail that was quickly devoured).
3. I have checked my water and the nitrate levels in it are low (in the order of 10 to 20 ppm)
4. I had a poor light source (40 watt light for a 55 gal tank) with an old bulb that was giving out, but have upgraded to 260 watt system, with new bulbs.
5. The lights run, on average (not on a timer) for about 10 hours a day. I have had a few "storm days" where they did not come on at all.

Does anyone have any ideas about why my nitrates and/or algae would continue to keep creeping up? Is it just a normal thing for a tank my age? Should I try and remove as much of the algae as I can off the substrate? Help!! Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
You guys here are the best!

Scoffer · 02-08-2005, 07:54 PM

Nitrates are 10 to 20 ppm in new water, or your tank water??

That seems way too high for new water...mine read 0 nitrates...

I would suck out all the loose algae I could when I did my next water change...take a new turkey baster (?) and blow off the rock or whatever you have the stuff could settle on....
...

and could use some Prime to lower nitrates......that helps mine from time to time....

GL

Scoffer

Mr._Bond · 02-08-2005, 08:10 PM

scoffer, let me clarify: That's 10 to 20 ppm in the new water and I usually add prime to bring it down. But even with a 10 to 20 at most, I've had levels that low or lower in my tank for weeks at a time, so still doesn't explain why now, it's up to 100 or so in the tank.
Also, I do use the turkey baster on the rocks and bed to get it off there what I can. The rocks for the most part only have the red slime on them.

Scoffer · 02-08-2005, 09:52 PM

wow, that is high...I'm not sure. I've never hit that high...I overfeed, I think thats my main culprit....

hopefully one of the big wigs here will itch in and offer some help...

JohnO · 02-08-2005, 11:27 PM

Mr Bond,

I suggest a bit of caution and consideration before action at this stage. 100ppm Nitrate is certain a high reading and one that needs to be confirmed, as is the 10-20ppm in your new water.

IMO you need to first make sure that your measurements are correct by taking a sample of your tank water to a LFS and have them check it. If that is not possible then try getting some water from a neighbour and make it up as you normally would and test that, at a pinch, get a Salifert test kit and measure with that to confirm the readings.

Something seems wrong to me and I don't think it is with the water, well, not yet anyway :-)

John

Mr._Bond · 02-09-2005, 10:11 AM

JohnO,
I'll try and get a sample in there tonight - I'll take a sample of both the new water and water from my tank and see what they come up with. However, my nitrate test does register different amounts as it has been showing lower levels up until this past week. That all being said, you have any initial thoughts about what might be wrong if it's not the water? If it weren't for the high nitrate levels, I'd assume it were just a normal algae bloom for a "young" tank, but I don't think the nitrate levels are supposed to come along with that... Would die off of that algae cause nitrates to go up that high? I tried once to remove the algae from the substrate as it was almost completely covering it, so I'm sure I didn't get it all out and there was some die off in the tank, but wouldn't expect it to be that much.

JohnO · 02-09-2005, 04:43 PM

Just a question, the 10-20ppm Nitrate reading you wrote about is for fresh tap water? Before adding salt? If that is correct you had better read this

http://www.uwsp.edu/water/portage/undrstnd/no3wtr.htm

Algae dying off certainly will cause an increase, particularly if the dead algae is left in the water column for any length of time. You list a wet/dry filter as being part of your equipment, is that like a cannister filter? And if so how often would you clean it?

John

Mr._Bond · 02-10-2005, 08:03 AM

OK, so I took a sample of both new water (with salt already mixed) and water from the tank to LFS and had them test both. They found that my test just measured things a little high consistently, so it showed that the new water had nitrates at 0 and the tank with nitrates were around 80 ppm. I did a 10% water change last night and cleaned the filter in the hang on box. The filter in the wet dry was changed just 3 weeks ago, and was the first time it was changed and I wasn't having problems before. I tried to vacuum out as much of the algae as I could when I did the water change. I'll post the test results today when I get to them. Any thoughts with that information?

Scoffer · 02-10-2005, 03:06 PM

Is the filter in the wet/dry a piece of removeable media?? Mines the white/blue media filter. If so, take it out every couple of days and rinse it thoroughly in the sink. In 2 or 3 days mines a bit brown on the white side, so I feel like I get a bunch of goop out when I rinse the filter media.

If your fresh water is 0 nitrates, hopefully things will normal out soon. Be carefull of your feedings! They're my worst habit. But they love it sooo much!!!!

Good Luck!

Scoffer

dx7fd2 · 02-10-2005, 04:37 PM

From the posts in this thread I would say that your high nitrates are caused by the fact that you are letting the filters build up bacteria and not allowing the live rock to do the bacterial filtration. The wet/dry can cause these sorts of readings if it is used as the primary biological filter. If you have bio balls take them out, rinse the filter at least weekly, watch your feeding, and let skimmer do most of your filtering. The wet/dry should only do mechanical filtering. I would even consider not using it for the time being, but that is just me.

The algae/red cyano will run its course (it sounds like cyanobacteria to me) and the skimmer will remove most of the slime from the water column. By all means remove as much of the slime as you physically can. And as always be patient.

The more you tinker with stuff the more it can change and not necessarily for the good.

At six months this is to be expected, some tanks go through this in the first month or so, some tanks take longer.

Keep us posted as to your progress!! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Drew