Nitrate issue

[fishn49ers]

65g reef 30ish gallon sump

Live rock in main with about 25 hermits and 15 margarita snails. Tank has been cycling for aprox 2.5 weeks.

Sump has my skimmer and a handful of cheato under a 120w cf flood bulb

Readings:
Ph 7.8-8
Temp 78
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrates -20/40 hard to tell color so I'm guessing 30


Only recent changes I have made are I finally got a wave maker going 2 days ago. Last time I tested my nitrates were high as well. I have small dust/deitrus/junk in the overflow at the bottom and a layer on the floor of my sump.

I'm not sure what's causing my high nitrates I'm not feeding just running lights aprox 8 hours a day. Ony good news is I have a small amount of coralline growing and I have yet to have an algae bloom just a bit on the glass I wipe off.

Any help or suggestions appreciated

 

[brizhound]

Hey Michael, this is a normal part of the cycling process. There are many good threads on here regarding the cycle process. First you will have Ammonia, then Nitrite and the last part of the cycle is Nitrate. If you have already gone thru this process then water changes are going to be the best way to remove the Nitrates. Do a few large water changes over a couple of days and you'll see it drop. Once you get them to zero you'll be ready for fish etc.
What did you use to start your cycle?

 

[Adrock]

well with Nitrate showing up I would say tank has cycled kinda a large cuc for a new and med size tank but I would do a water change to bring down nitrate and add a fish or two not more than two then wait a week or so and add another fish adding animals slowly to the systems helps the bio load be matched with bacteria count so the tank can grow and mature with having to go through ammonia spikes especially with a new tank keep in min pm me if you have any question would be more than glad to help, also the animals in the tank hermits and snails poop and pee too so the bacteria is breaking down their waste the diatom and or dust algae are part of the cycle you will go through a few stages of algae as the tank matures

 

[fishn49ers]

Awesome thanks guys really trying to take my time and do things slow and steady I'll let you know how it goes

 

[MaiDia]

This graph may help a little..

 

[phish96]

Since he has no fish yet and the bacteria is established what do you guys think of a 100% WC to dial back the no3 to 0?

 

[Adrock]

no way on the 100% wc his nitrates are not that high

 

[Adrock]

he is probably going to start off with softy corals and lps which like nitrate and po4 so I would do a 15 g w/c every other week on it and if he was going to add fish do the w/c before you add the fish here is the catch check with your lfs and ask about their parameters on their fish system and try to match it (except salinity) get your nitrates down and add a fish or two but no more than two , every two weeks or so ad a fish u should be fine

 

[brizhound]

Since he has no fish yet and the bacteria is established what do you guys think of a 100% WC to dial back the no3 to 0?

I guess you could do that, but I like 2 - 50% water changes a couple days apart. He does have a cleanup crew in there. And unless the water's were spot on, they may not like it too much. I mean the PH, Temp etc. If the tank was just sand and rock I'd say go for it but I personally think it will be less of the risk and headache to split it up. just my thought

 

[Tangwich]

he is probably going to start off with softy corals and lps which like nitrate and po4 so I would do a 15 g w/c every other week on it and if he was going to add fish do the w/c before you add the fish here is the catch check with your lfs and ask about their parameters on their fish system and try to match it (except salinity) get your nitrates down and add a fish or two but no more than two , every two weeks or so ad a fish u should be fine

^^^ great advice right here....and that would lead us to the next question...what is your planned fish stocking list? Asking because there is of course a huge difference between the op following roberts great advice and adding a couple gobies or blennies or running wild and adding 2 tangs which would not be a good idea for the size and newness of the tank imo.

 

[TheBluefish]

Have you added any bacteria during the cycle,? If not just go to your LFS and ask for bacteria that will help cycle your tank, they sell it in a bottle and pouch. Also, as Adrock said a water change would be good to bring it down, 15%-25%. I would say you are right on track.

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

Slow and steady wins the race... I'd agree with adrock...no good will come of a large wc... whAt if his new h2o actually is the source of nitrate? ???

 

[Adrock]

Have you added any bacteria during the cycle,? If not just go to your LFS and ask for bacteria that will help cycle your tank, they sell it in a bottle and pouch. Also, as Adrock said a water change would be good to bring it down, 15%-25%. I would say you are right on track.

he does not need bacteria he has it that what the nitrate reading means if he had no bacteria there would be no nitrate test showing nitrate is basically the end result of you cycling your tank no need to add more that would just cause a bacteria bloom and cloud the tank and he would have to address that by doing a large water change

 

[phish96]

All very sound advice! Luckily I dnt have such problem. How bad is a 100% wc though? Will it create a new small cycle? I have done numerous 100% wc before with good results back in the 90s and it was fowlr tanks.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[Adrock]

I good rule of thumb ,any eco / biotope would be to make the changes to it in small amount so not to have a negative impact on the eco system I think the cuc is producing waste as that waste decomposes it produces ammonia as bacteria eat the ammonia that bacteria produces a waste that is nitrite another bacteria eats the nitrite and produces nitrate so that is where I feel the nitrate is coming from im not a big believer in a large cuc I feel that is a way to get money out of your pocket when the lfs know they cant sell you fish keep that in mind for a 60 g I would have 5 snails and 5 to 8 hermits and 3 to 4 sand sifting snails max but that is just me I don't want the cuc to start competing and killing each other over not enough food or starving because there isn't enough food to go around especially when the tank is new keep that in mind

 

[fishn49ers]

Thank for the responses im feeling the love, lots of good points made.

Im going to take it slow, 10g water changes every 5-7 days, keep testing.

Corals yes im going to start with LPS and softies and once i get a doser and everything has stabilized for 2 months with out any big variance i will introduce a SPS frag but who knows how long till i can get my tank to stay stable for 2 months straight.

Fish is going to be the hard part for me, and i still havent decided on any fish besides a pair of clowns. I like mystery wrasse, sand sifters, mandarins, tang, other reef specific safe fish i need to do more research and ask people questions

Am i jumping the gun thinking about gfo and biopellets?

 

[Adrock]

yeah bio pellets not a good choice for lps and softy's they like more nitrate and phosphate than sps so save your money buying water Is cheaper stay away from tangs need a larger system but that's just my opinion good luck pm me with any questions u may have!

 

[Anarez]

On the fishes I would stay away from any damsels

 

[fishn49ers]

10g change done last night and good suction of sand. All reading pretty much the same except looks like nitrates are down to 20 now, im going to continue with the 5-7 day 10g water changes till nitrates are all the way down. Also going to get water tested at LFS to make sure there is no user error.

On a side note i was wondering with aptisia being such a problem for people what about not getting a wrasse and going with the peppermint shrimp for helping keep the tank clean, is this a viable option or hit or miss?

 

[fishn49ers]

another water change and nitrates still holding around 20, removed some snails that were getting murdered by the hermits and some good suctioning of deitrus off the bottom, added a gfo reactor to help with some of the algae growth i have been getting on the rocks and will continue with the water changes till i get rid of these damm nitrates. Hopefully can add a fish in a couple of weeks and go from there. just put my first coral in the tank a little candy cane frag hope he lives!