Nitrates help!!!

I just did my first water change today before i went to work and i got home and tested the water and the ph is 8.2 the ammonia and nitrites are at 0 but the nitrate is at 20. what can i do to lower the nitrates?

 

20 is not horrible.
Do you have a skimmer?
If not, you should get one. When I first started, my nitrates were 30ppm+ consistently.
I added a skimmer (Octopus HOB style) and within 2 weeks my nitrates were at zero, where they have remained ever since.

Also, what is your livestock load & how much are you feeding.

Too much livestock and overfeeding lead to high nitrates.

 

yeah i have a skimmer but since its a new tank theres not much the skimmer is doing...and i meant 30 sorry didnt see that...i have a clown, hawkfish, starfish, snails, hermits, and a carpet anonome..i feed them about an 1/8 of a cube of frozen brine shrimp about twice to three times a day

 

cut down your feeding and it will drop

 

ok thanks

 

You can feed a small bit once a day or once every OTHER day.
I feed my 29g (4 fish) tank as follows :
MON-WED-FRI = small bit of frozen mysis, nearly a cube.
TUE-THUR = frozen Cyclopeze spotted to corals & add a small bit of live phytoplankton.

SAT - SUN = no feeding.

Fish are fat & healthy. They pick at the rocks and are very happy.

 

You have stocked your tank way too quickly. The anemone will probably die, no offense but you need atleast a 10 month old tank to have an anemone. They require a well established tank. Rule of thumb is you add a fish and wait alteast 3 weeks to get another so you dont increase the bioload too quickly.

Thats just my :twocents:

But water changes will help decrease the nitrates.

 

Yeah, cut back to feeding once a day, that will help.

Also, keep up with weekly water changes. If you are using tap water, stop. Use only RODI water. Tap water usually contains high nitrates, so if you are doing water changes with bad water, you're not helping anything.

 

A fuge with Cheato will also help. I added a fuge with a deep sand bed and it brought the nitrates to just about zero. Plus you get pods so you don't have to feed nearly as much.