Nitrate levels high

Mr._Bond · 10-23-2004, 07:51 AM

I recently got the first fish into my tank and now my nitrate levels are pretty high. My nitrites and ammonia were both basically 0, Ph is 8.2 and SG was 1.023, but the nitrates were in the 150 ppm range. Do I just need to do water changes to bring this down or is there a better way (or is this really OK)?

hoodoo · 10-23-2004, 07:59 AM

no, that's far too high...

well, normally you should just do a water change. That's (pretty much) the only way to get nitrates down.
I guess you got the levels up because you went through the nitrogen cycle?
What kind of water do you use for your tank? Maybe you have nitrates in your water.

Mr._Bond · 10-23-2004, 09:19 AM

Actually just did a 10% water change 2 days earlier, so I wonder if it is the water I'm using. So maybe check my water that I'm filling with and see what it's nitrate levels are, huh? I've used conditioned tap water, so that may be it.

hoodoo · 10-23-2004, 09:37 AM

yeah, that may be it. RO-water is always better

Mr._Bond · 10-23-2004, 04:47 PM

I tested the tap water and it didn't show as high at all. I also started thinking about it, before I did the water change, my nitrates were perfectly fine too and it was all from the tap as well. Is my cycle perhaps not finished like I thought it was?

Mr._Bond · 10-24-2004, 02:46 PM

Also was wondering if the "wet/dry" filter might have something to do with it? i't using bio balls and I know some folks don't like those, but I haven't figured out why yet. Does this have anything to do with it?

Birdlady · 10-24-2004, 02:54 PM

Mr. Bond,

Wet Dry's are great at converting ammonia into nitrite, and nitrite into nitrate....but the buck stops there.

If you had a sump or refugium with a deep sand bed, that would be better IMO..

OR

You could build a coiled denitrator like in this thread...

http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/Ya...num=1092886808

OR

Do you need more Live Rock? That should handle some of that process as well.

I might have the water double checked with another test kit, perhaps the fish store will check it for you.

Just my two cents.

Mr._Bond · 10-25-2004, 03:39 PM

HELP!! Levels are still as high (if not higher). Is this killing my fish? Not sure what I should do, should I just do a major (like 25% or more) water change? If it's the tank still in it's cycle, isn't it bad to do water changes (in that it slows it down)? The fish seems perfectly fine though...

Matt Rogers · 10-25-2004, 07:29 PM

That reading is really high. Regardless of wet/dry.
How often are you feeding the fish?

Mr._Bond · 10-25-2004, 09:25 PM

Thanks for the responses... Don't mean to panic, just not sure what's going on.
Matt, I feed the 2 clowns a pinch of flakes in the morning and about an 1/8 of a cube of the frozen (thawed when I give it) Formula 1 cube. Is that too much? They have got a third small meal a couple times as well. Could a build up of the food be doing it? Didn't think about that.