Lost my Brain.....

[fastzorro]

My recent spike in N03 has cost my brain his life. Tank still over 80PPM after 1 1/2 weeks now. Have done everything I can do. How long do you think will it last??

P.S. Have some little critters that look like brine shrimp running all over the place. Digging into the sand sometimes. What are they, are they ok?

 

[fastrd400]

What is everything you can do? Are you running chaeto? How much water have you changed out? What are you using for top offs? The shrimp like critters are pods, they are good.

 

[fastzorro]

Whats Chaeto? Changed 50% 4 days ago, Top off's? Using "stresszym" rinsed out all filters, using "Algegon".....

 

[fastzorro]

Ok, know what it now. Running out right now to get some...

 

[little_fish]

You should be doing water changes daily to get those nitrates down

Cheato is also a macro algae that removes nitrates from the water column as it grows.

Top off are the water you replace from evaporation, you should only be using distilled or RO/DI water (and when you make up your saltwater for water changes, never use tap)

Also stresszyme isnt going to help anything, its just putting more chemicals into the water that dont need to be there. It doesnt do anything anyways, just a freshwater idea that they tried to copy and doesnt work in salt.

Algegon is also not helping anything. Its killing the algae in your tank, which is decaying and releasing nitrates back into the water column. It is also damaging the symbiotic algae living in your corals - that is how they get food from light.

Also, most filters need to be more than rinsed. They need to be completely changed out every 3 or 4 days.

Other things you should get going to get those nitrates down - skimmer + fuge with cheato or algae scrubber.

What are you feeding and how often? How many fish do you have in what size tank?

 

[Smitty]

Sorry to hear that...but I'm agreeing with little fish...and wondering what caused your nitrates to rise.

 

[fastzorro]

Wow, I was told by other fish guys that changing the water to often would stress out the tank & make things worse. Filter change 3 or 4 days!!?? Ok, there seems to be quite a difference in peoples opinion. I was told only rinse, that way the bacteira eating the nitrates stays in.

 

[little_fish]

Ya, the nitrates are causing great stress than frequently changing the water.

Also, you dont want to kill the bacteria, but rinsing isnt going to get rid of the particles that are in there decaying, causing the nitrates to rise. I personally would get rid of that filter all together. Let the bacteria grow in your main tank where its suppose to be.

 

[Bifferwine]

In an emergency situation (and I would say nitrates that high are considered an emergency), it is fine to do daily water changes of up to 50%. You can do more, but I personally wouldn't do more than 50%.

Water changes are the only way you are going to be able to get those nitrates down quickly.