Nitrate

My Nitrate is getting on my nerves. It seems like whatever I do they just increase. I know this is part of the natural process. But why do some people not detect them at all?

They are always in the 20-30 range. I added 2 more mangroves last week to help. And Im running the amonia/nitrifying media in my 70/Aquaclear filter.

Do I need to increase my sand bed? Its about 1-2" high...This setup has been running for almost two years...

 

You are not the only one. Mine was at 0 for over a year and I just noticed my skimmer broke. Here is the thread http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/20ppm-nitrate-62436.html . Check your skimmer may need to be adjusted. Also what type of food do you feed, how much and how often?

What type of fish do you have?

 

No, do not increase the sand bed.
What size tank, and what is the stocking situation? How much rock? What kind of skimmer? What, how much, and how often are you feeding?
If you want to reduce nitrates, I would suggest something other than mangroves in the fuge, as they are pointless for nitrate reduction.

 

The plants are directly in the tank, The tank size is 30gallons..The skimmer I have is a nano rio I feed once or twice a day..Not sure on the lb of rock.. But I have several pieces

I have 3 clowns in the tank with a bubble tip sea anenome... 4 turbo snails..2 emerald crabs 1 cleaner shrimp

 

Probably overfeeding. I would say you are underskimmed as well, and probably under rocked You should be shooting for around sixty pounds of rock in the tank. All of those factors will add up to nitrates

 

I too have a high nitrate prob... Mine however is greater than 160ppm. The color chart doesn't even have that deep of a red for me to compare and read. Nothing is working for me. I've tried vigorous water changes, not feeding at all and even a so-called nitrate absorbing pad from Azoo.
My tank is a 75gal Qt. No live rock, not much bio filtration and a DIY Skimmer with only one queen Angel. I recon that my lack of popper filtration is what is causing my nitrate spike

 

So jack up the skimming? Throw in some more rock... If I'm overfeeding then what do you suggest?

 

make sure both of you are using at least RO water. Preferable RO/DI. you should only be feeding every other day or so. Do NOT use tap water. I know my tap water has > 100 ppm nitrate.

 

also increase your water changes.

 

I guess RO/DI water with frequent water changes will help the situation. Unfortunately I don't have a RO/DI unit but I'll get one soon.
I just checked the nitrate of my tap water and it read 0ppm.
I think dead sponges contributed to my high nitrates tho.