High Nitrates, Need Help Bring"em Down.......

[apbt217]

Can anyone give me some helpful advice I am trying to get my nitrates down they are at about 20 ppm right now i've been doing 2 gallon daily water changes on my 55 gallon tank for the past week....I am going to start mixing my own salt, will this help? I was purchasing the water at the local fish store but now i decided to mix my own......If anyone has some helpful advice please let me know...Thanx DRU

[MCsaxmaster]

At 2 gal a day in a 55 gal tank, you're going to be at it forever....

The best way to get the nitrates down quickly would be one or a few very large water changes. A 95% water change (leave enough so the fish aren't flopping) with well-aerated water that had been brought up to temp and matched for salinity and pH would reset things very well. Otherwise, a pair of 50% changes should be fairly effective. You'll also want to figure out why you have elevated nitrates in the first place....

cj

[drummereef]

Find the source of the issue. If you have wet/dry filtration, sponges, pads, socks, anthing that catches detritus that is probably causing the issue. Even crushed coral subtrates can be the source of the problem. The other area to look into is your water source. A lot of nitrate can be brought in from tap water.

[bertoni]

I wouldn't do a large water change on a tank with fish in it. That approach has been known to cause problems. If there's an underlying problem, the nitrate will bounce back rapidly, anyway.

How long has the tank been running? What animals are in it?

[Percula9]

Your nitrates are not terribly high. Is your tank a Fish only or reef? Don't do a big water change it will cause stress to the fish. Are there any algal blooms happening? Do a 5gal a week to see if that helps. 20ppm is well within normal for a fish only tank. Don't over feed, feed once a day or evey other day. Add more live rock. Make sure the rock is cured. Smell the rock before you buy it, it should have no foul odor. Don't just smell one spot, all over it. If it smells clean it's good to go. Uncured rock will shoot your nitrates up.

[Boomer]

I agree with jc

Although not for everybody I did 90 % WC /m for over 30 years on 3 tanks with no issues and many of those animals I kept for 8-15 years. One of my guys on FF, DonW, was doing it for months, on his SPS tank 95 % WC /wk with no problems. It is more of how you do it.

[apbt217]

It's a 55 Gallon fish and reef tank I don't have but a few corals in there now my fish i have in there now are:
1 yellow tang
1 blue tang
1 maroon gold striped clown
1 lawnmower blenny
1 spotted sand goby
3 damsels
I notcied that i cut back on the feeding to every other day and things seem to be clearing up the tangs are really eating that hair algae that was building up on the rocks. I have about 70-80 lbs of live rock in my tank and my tank has been up for about 2 1/2 months and there are some spots of coraline algae growth on the rocks. I really dont wanna add to much more until i get a hold of my nitrates......i'm hoping that once i start doin the water changes with the salt water that i make the nitrates will hopefully come down....

Thanx again DRU

[bertoni]

The tank is very overstocked, in my opinion. I wouldn't expect the nitrate level to be the major problem, in the end. Personally, I'd remove the tangs and the damsels, and work from there.

[apbt217]

I was thinking of removing the damsels how is the best way to catch them

[bertoni]

I haven't really heard of a good way to catch fish other than trying the fish trap. The damsels are not the major concern, though, the tangs grow far too large for that tanks, and are very active fish.

[Percula9]

With a tank that heavilly stocked for a 55g your nitrate levels are good. I suggest adding a refugium to deal with that high bioload.