High Nitrates

jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
I can't seem to keep my nitrates below 20ppm. I have a 20 gallon tank with about 20 pounds of live sand, 30 pounds of live rock, 1 royal gramma and 1 scooter blenny. 3 Nassarius snails and 2 astraeas. I do a 5 gallon water change every week and clean out my filter sponge every few days. Am I just overfeeding? I feed approximately 1/3 of a mysis cube and a small chunk of brine shrimp once a day. What gives?!
 
Gina

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
Have you tested your top off water or the water you use to make fresh saltwater?
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
I have not...should I just use the water I use, and take a nitrate test?? Or should I take the test after salt is added?
 
Snelly40

Snelly40

Well-Known Member
it does sound like u might be overfeeding, i have more fish and more corals that eat that shrimp and i only do 1/4 a cube and not even every day. i usually feed mysis everyother day and maybe fome flake or pelet everyday. id cut back a little bit especially since ur scooter will eat algea and pods too so u really just need to worry about the gramma. Good luck
 
Gina

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
Test the water coming out of your faucet.
Also, cut back a little on your feeding until you get your nitrates under control.
Also, how old is your test kit? Is it accurate?
 
Cougra

Cougra

Well-Known Member
Another thing, how old is your tank? Newer tanks need time to build up a suitable bacteria population to combat nitrates.

And like Gina said, test the water from the source before adding salt and test it after adding the salt. This way you know which process if any may be contributing to the nitrates. Test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

When you feed the fish, how do you do it? Do you pre-thaw the food,soak it in water or just dump the food in the tank for the fish to eat? The best method of feeding is to thaw and presoak the food in some RO water to remove all the liquids that come out of the food. These liquids (also known as DOM's - disolved organic matter) can be high in phosphates and will contribute to the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates in a tank since the particles are too small for the fish to eat. A good protein skimmer can help remove them however it's best not to put them in the tank to begin with.
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
I will test the faucet water and see what I come up with. My tank is approx. 5 months old, so may just not be established as well. When I feed the fish I get a cup of water from my tank and add the brine/mysis to it to thaw, then I put the contents back into the tank. I don't exactly presoak (what's the best method for presoaking?)

I'm not yet up to skimmer status yet. Working on better lights first. I'll let you all know my test results and maybe together we can figure something out.

Thanks so much for the help.
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
Ok, just tested for ammonia, trate and trite...all come back negative. I'm using aquarium pharmaceuticals kits (I know they aren't the best and will switch to Salifert once they are spent).

Here's what I'm confused about now. I thought that my scooter would only eat "live foods or copepods" (he was my mistake buy, that's why I have him in a 20 gallon non-established tank) - He DOES fortunately eat my mysis/brine mix. I think I'm figuring that I need to feed him more so that he'll survive. I didn't know he'd eat algae as well. I may try to just feed them once every other day...I just don't want the little guys to starve!!!
 
Cougra

Cougra

Well-Known Member
When you thaw your food don't poor the water used to thaw the food into the tank. You are introducing a lot of DOM's into the tank that will quickly polute the water, especially in a small tank. Drain the food out and rince again with your tank water then feed the fish.

Dragonet's (Scooter Blenny) can occassionally accept prepared foods however it's a hit and mostly miss process. Even if it picks at the frozen foods it may not be getting enough or will spit them out again later. Keep an eye on it to see if it Starts to lose weight, if it does you really need to find someone with a large enough tank to keep it in or get a supply of live foods going. It's possible to cultivate copepods but from what I understand it can be labour intensive, especially for the amounts needed for Dragonets.
 
saltyfishtanks

saltyfishtanks

Member
i only feed maybe twice a week and i think thats all that is needed

ps: your nitrates are really not all that high and if ur not keeping any sensitive critters i would not worry about 20 ppm if your fish are healthy and your tank looks good than why change now lower nitrates will come as your tank matures

if ur really concerned than test your tap water for nitrates you could
increase water water flow and do an extra water change here and there
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Rinsing the food can make a huge difference. At least it did for me. I now rinse all food thoroughly in r/o water. I am battling a phosphate issue even now partially caused by not rinsing the food and partially caused by the overfeeding of my seahorse tank.
It is always more difficult to keep a small tank in line so be extra careful and test often and do lots of water changes.
What are you using for filtration? If you are using bio-balls they may well be the culprit or at least a contributing factor.
I agree that 20 is not a critical level particularly with ap tests. Mine always show high on that test. As an example I used 3 nitrate tests last week before my waterchange. Hagen said 5, Red Sea said 0-2.5 and AP said 60. Somehow I'm sure the AP is the wrong one. (That's why I have all 3. Grin) Every time I have ever used it, I get a high reading.
As for the scooter, I too bought one without investigating. He was one of my very first fish in the tank and has grown and thrived throughout all of my mistakes. He cheerfully eats about anything I feed the tank (except the nori). Also he has survived nitrate levels I won't even mention here (back when I had bio-balls and was doing everything wrong).
Finally, get a skimmer as soon as you can. I am so sold on them. My husband insisted while I was unconvinced. He bought one and the first time I saw the skimmate I had to tell him he was right. (hate when that happens. grin) The stuff they pull out is nasty in a big way.
Anyway, good luck. Get a new test kit and let us know what it says or take your water to your lfs and let them test it for you. I suspect you may have more of a testing problem than a water problem. Hope so anyway since that is easy to fix.
 
mempho reefer

mempho reefer

Member
JK don't use the tap water!!! It's high in phophate and other organic compounds that are contributing to your nitrate problem. I was using it when I started and my trates were high and i had major algae problems. I now buy my water from Bob's Tropicals or Something Fishy. It's 40 cents a gallon and worth every penny. I got a couple of plastic gas cans from Home Depot and use those to keep the water in.
Also as Michelle and others have mentioned, your sand bed probably needs more time to cycle. It takes about three months to establish. Rinsing your food will also help. I've just started doing that myself. If you don't have any corals yet, you should seriously consider getting a skimmer before the light kit. It too will make a huge huge difference. Get the water right then upgrade your lighting and go from there.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Well, really panic mode when I thought they were 180 (based on the AP test). Everybody was doing fine but water always tested 180 so I had to look for some other cause. LOL
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
Again...you all are lifesavers! As far as Lenny the Blenny goes...he's never looked too skinny :dance: So I'm just crossing my fingers with him. Both fish seem very happy and the tank looks great. Even though I'm starting to see my first bit of hair algae since the tanks been up and still have a visible brown diatom bloom on the surface of my sand.

Mempho Reefer, if anyone here knows what my tap water holds, it's you. And it's great that I can buy some at Bob's Tropicals for .2/gallon. Not even close to being able to splurge on a RO/DI or a skimmer or lights for that matter. Any other alternatives to lower phosphates?

Lynn, I've read nothing but negative things about the AP test kits. In fact, my ammonia and ph color strips are SOOO close that I'm basically guessing every time, and that can't be good! I don't have bioballs, only a power filter and have been cleaning the sponge every 2-3 days. Looks like I'll be going back to the LFS to spend some more moolah. They LOVE me already and I'm not even a high roller yet!:bugout:

Full tank shot:

fs.jpg


Lenny the Blennie
lenn.jpg


Lenny trying to intimidate a snail!
lennpuff.jpg

:
 
Snelly40

Snelly40

Well-Known Member
haha, i like lenny. good luck with the trates, its always a hassle but u;ll get them under control
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
If you'll notice in the Full Tank shot, the two right topmost rocks are new additions (added on Saturday). Now I'm getting a pretty noticeable brown algae bloom. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do about it?
 
Snelly40

Snelly40

Well-Known Member
brown algea bloom is pretty normal, moreso in a newer tank, but once everything levels out that usually does go away
 
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