High nitrates

[SeaCilla1212]

Does anyone know what I can do to get my nitrates down. They just keep staying between 20 and 40. I've had them down to 20 for a little while now but I can't seem to get it under 20. I recently have been dealing with a wicked high level of alkalinity so to get that down I have been doing a 5gal water change every other day. The alkalinity has come way down since I've been keeping up with the water changes but the nitrates haven't really budged at all. Any ideas on how to get it down?

 

[dannyp02908]

I would say with water changes they should come down. But, you could look in to carbon dosing or bio pellets. Just be careful with both. Or maybe try doing a larger water change. I don't know the size of your system or what percentage of total volume 5 gallons equates too.

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Water changes and less feeding is the best way to get nitrates down. Making sure your protein skimmer is working optimally too. But you should figure out the cause of why your nitrates are high first. Do you feed to much? To many fish? If that doesn't do the trick you could start some form of carbon dosing; vinegar, vodka or run bio pellets. If you decide to do some form of carbon dosing you have to start very slow and monitor the tank closely. You should also get your alkalinity down before you decide to carbon dose too.

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Carbon dosing shouldn't be attempted by someone new in the hobby either

 

[JohnK]

Have you checked to see if your source water has nitrate in it?

 

[phg1960]

If water changes are keeping the level stable, that shows that you are only changing enough to make up for the increase of nitrate between changes. So you can increase the amount/frequency of changes, decrease your bioload or find a way to increase the beneficial bacteria. If you are doing fish only, 20 really isn't all that bad.

 

[JohnK]

Ahh, I had to look at some of your other posts to get the context. You have some pretty hungry / messy fish, correct?

What do you have for nutrient export? (how good of a skimmer, any refugim, ATS, DSB, Carbon dosing of some sort) If you don't have any substantial means for nutrient export, you are going to need a whole lot of water changing or your levels will inevitably rise.

IIRC you have been doing lots of small water changes in the quest to bring high alk down, but not do so too rapidly. Once you get that alk in check, you may want to consider doing larger water changes to knock the nitrate level down. You need to be careful about rapidly changing the alk level, but as long as Alk, Ca, SG and temp are pretty close - large water changes are very much an option. As long as the levels are close, you can easily do 50% in one shot, and this will naturally cut your alk number in half.

 

[phg1960]

Ahh, I had to look at some of your other posts to get the context. You have some pretty hungry / messy fish, correct?

What do you have for nutrient export? (how good of a skimmer, any refugim, ATS, DSB, Carbon dosing of some sort) If you don't have any substantial means for nutrient export, you are going to need a whole lot of water changing or your levels will inevitably rise.

IIRC you have been doing lots of small water changes in the quest to bring high alk down, but not do so too rapidly. Once you get that alk in check, you may want to consider doing larger water changes to knock the nitrate level down. You need to be careful about rapidly changing the alk level, but as long as Alk, Ca, SG and temp are pretty close - large water changes are very much an option. As long as the levels are close, you can easily do 50% in one shot, and this will naturally cut your alk number in half.

I think John meant to say nitrate, not alk, here.

 

[SeaCilla1212]

Thanx guys. And I have been using chemi pure elite that's been helping with all my levels. Also I just purchased a new octopus skimmer bh1000 and got rid of my old skimmer. My friend helped me set it up yesterday.

 

[phg1960]

The chemi-pure won't do anything for your nitrates. The new skimmer might help.

 

[JohnK]

I think John meant to say nitrate, not alk, here.

Yes, exactly. Sorry about the typo. Cutting alk in half all at once would be bad.