45 gallon nitrates very high.. Powerful skimmer not working properly?

[roper512]

Hey all.. Question..

I have a 45 gallon tank that's about 1.5 years old now.. Fish and inverts seem good, coraline growth is good.. I was lazy for awhile testing nitrates so I did it today and right as it started to mix I saw the color changing rapidly.. Needless to say I was on "oh crap" mode.

It ended up being off the charts..

I have a Deltec MCE600 skimmer that should be more than adequate for a tank my size yet I don't ever see it pulling much skimmate, and never very smelly.. Unless I push the cup down a ways which usually ends up in overflowing cup the next morning that's mostly watery..

Anyways...

I have not done a full skimmer cleaning in awhile, could this be part of the problem? could there be gunk laying on the inside of teh skimmer causing nitrate problems? I've done about 5-6 water changes over the past 3-4 weeks (5 gallons each water change) and I still have very high nitrates.

Is my skimmer just performing poorly? And if so is there a solution?

Also, I drip selcon on the food I feed each day.. I know this impacts skimmer performance but should it impact it all the time?

Thank you!

[RobinsonFam1]

if youre feeding every day that is a major cause of the problem.....have you tried adjusting the skimmer to work better? do you have the right pump on it?

check the test with another. test kits do expire and not all tests are the same either.

[Kiel'thalin]

With this skimmer you need to take a small drill bit and clean the venturi inlet on the pump. Make sure the air valve is clean also, it usually builds up with lint or dust, I usually clean mine when I empty the collection cup. You should be pulling out about a 3-4 to 1 cup of gunk every few days such as this:

Here our the instructions from Doug (owner of Deltec USA):
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=799430

[Reef Sponger]

You need more than just a good working skimmer to keep nitrates low. The skimmer removes as much waste as it can get before it goes through the nitrification process and you need a way to remove nitrates once they form. Most reefers use a refugium to export nitrates, but since your have a small tank with a hob skimmer, just do weekly water changes along with routine maintenance every quarter on your skimmer. You should be getting at least one collection cup full every 3-4 days based on what you mentioned your feedings are like.