Nitrate Problem

[DARKHOURS]

About 6 weeks ago we had a power outage here that lasted 5 1/2 days, up till that time all my water readings where right on the money. After though when we got the power back to normal all my water test where way out. With in a couple of days I have been able to get all but one back to normal.. I cant get my Nitrate down ! Its sitting at 160 and I'm getting real frustrated now.. I have been doing about a 20% water change every second day for 5 weeks changed all my filters in my RO unit, tested my make up water and its zero. Any suggestions or any ideas what I could do to get it down would be great..
Thanks
today 26/02/06 test was PH 8.4 Ammonia .25 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 160
24g nano cube DX
80lb plus LR
mss surface skimmer
1st chamber sponges,
2nd chamber activated carbon and ceramic rings
3rd chamber bio bale
UV filter
4 damsels 1 red feather star a few inverts. And mushrooms
Lost the 2 yellow tangs during power outage:tears:

 

[BHinAK]

With ammonia up and nitrate high but no nitrite I would say the bacteria is doing its job BUT there must be alot of dead matter still in the tank or the filter canister somewhere, maybe off of the rock if it got really cold.

5 days low O2 low light for photosyn to happen.
Macroalgea or plants will use the nitrates.
Use fresh materials in the filter chambers, I think replace the carbon with nitrate absorbing material, Kent calls it Nitrate sponge but its rocky material you put in a bag.


See what the pros here have to say in the morning, I've only been doing this for 1 year now.

 

[Woodstock]

When you change the 20% are you also vacuuming diterus out? Are you cleaning your sponges, ceramic rings and rinsing your carbon ATLEAST once a week (twice is better)? Those will have a large impact on nitrAtes! The bacteria living on them does a great job converting ammonia to nitrItes to nitrAtes, but they can not convert the nitrAtes to harmless nitrogen gas like your rocks and sand bed.

Have you cleaned your overflow and sump recently? How is your skimmer working? Adjust it to skim wet; that will make it pull out more dissolved solids. Also, using a power head, blow off your rocks to clean out hte pores; this will allow it to more efficently reduce nitrAtes to harmless gas (same as a sand bed). Check your tank thoroughly for dead snails, shrimp,corals, etc.. dieing animals will utimately spike your nitrAtes.

GL and keep us posted!

 

[cheeks69]

Which test kit are you using and how old is it ? Have you had it tested at the LFS ? It's hard to believe that anything survived for more than 5 days without power especially the starfish ! You obviously had alot of dieoff....I would do what Woodstock suggested and in time the nitrates will lower, just check that test kit to see if it's correct.

 

[DARKHOURS]

The test kit was bought last week as I felt maybe the test kit was old .. I was using a generator most all of the day and a 12v bilge pump and air bubbler at night as we couldn't keep filling the gen. With gas ,Every 2 to 3 hours at night.. My wife and I wrapped lots of blankets around tank at night to try to keep it warm. The temp outside that week was around -20 I guess I have to expect that when you live 200 miles north of Toronto eh. I Will clean the sump and over flow today two things I havent done in awhile. I did get allot of algae about a week after the power came back on.and its Just about all gone now! I vac every two days when I change the water. Here is a couple of pictures of my tank Not nearly as good looking as the others on this site..every thing seem to be growing so slow and to go and buy every thing i would like to have, is so expensive in Canada. Thanks again for helping me out.

 

[cheeks69]

Well I wish ya the best of luck
Just keep in mind that the bio-load in your tank is very high and with such a small volume of water it's very difficult to maintain good water quality, any sudden fluctuation can be disastrous.

 

[dragonladylea]

Do you have the Featherstar in the tank now with the high nitrates?? That particular type of star is hard for the advanced aquarist with excellent water parameters. I'm pretty sure that high nitrates aren't the best for it. I would ask some of the experts here on what to do with it.

 

[cheeks69]

I would ask some of the experts here on what to do with it

I ain't no expert but I can tell ya that wether you keep it or return it to the LFS it's gunna die. I don't know of anyone keeping it successfully long term.

 

[DARKHOURS]

Thanks every one for your great advice. Yesterday I took my sump apart and took all pumps out and gave them a good cleaning ... I couldn't be leave the slug that was in there.. The impellers where so caked with crap that I cant see how any water was passing! UV and skimmer pump where not much better.! Then I cleaned the sump walls and vac. out! After letting it all run for 24 hours I tested the tank .. Couldn't beleave my eyes nitrate went down to between 0 - 5. Ph did drop a little 7.8 but now back to normal
THANKS AGAIN great help.
PS: I have had the red feather star for maybe over 8 months now. Do you feel I should still take him back to LFS ? Is it gone to have a short life.? its so fantastic!

 

[Woodstock]

Yippie!! Good cleaning work!

Keep the nitrAtes down and it will be fine~

 

[cheeks69]

PS: I have had the red feather star for maybe over 8 months now. Do you feel I should still take him back to LFS ? Is it gone to have a short life.? its so fantastic!

Wow 8 months and it's still doing well after the problems you've had, that's impressive ! Starfish in general are very sensitive to sudden changes and develop bacterial infections and perish, so it's quite amazing that it's still alive. I don't think anybody really knows what it eats. I definitely WOULDN'T bring him back to the LFS it will surely die. Whatever you're doing keep it up