Another Nitrate Thread

[earman88]

I'm having mysterious nitrate issues. They have been around 15ppm since last Thursday. I have been doing 1.5g water changes daily since then, but I'm still getting nitrates.

All other parameters read well. The only culprit I know of is my little blenny, he's probably rotted away by now so he can't be toxifying my water much anymore.

Also, my saltwater (which I get from my LFS already mixed), tested at 0ppm for nitrates. So I know the water changes are with clean water.

Any ideas of the real culprit? I plan on continuing the daily water changes until something changes...


edit: btw, 10g, with 1 young tomato clown, and CuC.. numerous coral frags

 

[Cheeser]

what kind of filtration are u running?

 

[bjohanson1234]

How much are you feeding?

Also, you are doing about a 15% water change
15% of 15ppm is 3ppm so if the fish are creating an equivalent amount of waste or there is left over food, it will be back up to 15ppm by the next day. You have reached an equilibrium. This is where fuges come in handy because they provide an additional source of nitrate reduction over the just water changes.

 

[earman88]

what kind of filtration are u running?

Just a HOB filter with the sponge, carbon sack, and pellets on top (these 3 components are the same ones for a few months now). 100gph I think on the filter. I also stuck some shells and rock down in the filter.

 

[bjohanson1234]

How often do you clean that filter sponge? If you don't clean it every few days, waste builds up and will start releasing nitrates as the waste breaks down.

 

[earman88]

How much are you feeding?

Also, you are doing about a 15% water change
15% of 15ppm is 3ppm so if the fish are creating an equivalent amount of waste or there is left over food, it will be back up to 15ppm by the next day. You have reached an equilibrium. This is where fuges come in handy because they provide an additional source of nitrate reduction over the just water changes.

Feeding very little, just some mysis shrimp every 4-5 days.

Hmm.. should I up it to 2.5g or so each water change? The thing is, it's a 10g aquarium but with sand + LR you really only have about 6-7 gallons of water in there it seems.

 

[earman88]

How often do you clean that filter sponge? If you don't clean it every few days, waste builds up and will start releasing nitrates as the waste breaks down.

Ahh ok. Not near as often as I should. I will clean it out this evening. I need to try the cheato method again....

 

[chichimom79]

In my HOB filter in my ten gallon, I am using the sponge with some chaeto on top of that. I rinse the sponge in tank water every time I do a WC. I keep the cover off of the filter so that the chaeto receives the same light as my tank which is a hanging PAR 38.
This seems to be working out very well.

 

[earman88]

In my HOB filter in my ten gallon, I am using the sponge with some chaeto on top of that. I rinse the sponge in tank water every time I do a WC. I keep the cover off of the filter so that the chaeto receives the same light as my tank which is a hanging PAR 38.
This seems to be working out very well.

Interesting. I will consider trying the same.

 

[Salty B]

And wear gloves when cleaning the sponge. Mine was always crawling with bristleworms.