Nitrates went out the wazoo !!!!!

[RAYRAY]

Well like I thought might happen, did. My nitrates went through the roof !! About 2 weeks back I posted a thread about my water parameters changing. My ammonia went up along with the Nitrites. So I guess I did have a mini cycle for some odd reason... All I have in the tank is 4 fish, 10 snails. the NItrates are around 80 ppm right now after doing a 5 gallon water change. The fish and snails seem to be ok. Is there anything other then water changes that will keep the nitrates in check besides a refugium ???? And will the fish be ok until I do another water change which will be about 9 gallons????? thanks in advanced ! As of right now ... Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Ph 8.4, Nitrates 80 ppm,Salinity 1.024, temp 77.8f

 

[Bifferwine]

Nothing much you can do. SeaChem and Kent Marine both sell denitrifying media (that you would run just like carbon), but both take several weeks to start working. If you get your nitrates down quickly, it shouldn't do any damage to the fish, but your snails might be in jeopardy. Sorry to hear about the troubles.

 

[reeffreak]

Remove or clean any mechanical filtration you have may help reduce those nitrate levels.A skimmer(if you don't have one)and a refugium would help even more so.

Sorry Ray,small old shape tanks are difficult.

 

[RAYRAY]

Thank You ! ,.. Yeah, I Know My Tank Is A Pain In The But... Reef, I Did Remove The Media And I Dont Run The Normal Media For The Emperor, I Run Regular Filter Pads That I Cut To Size, I Replace Them Now Every Week, I Just Added Black Carbon Again On Tuesday, I Will Rinse That Tonight Before I Do The 10 Gallon Water Change. Thanks Again. Skimmer Is Right After My Lights.. Maybe Before Them.

 

[UnderwaterWorld]

Go buy some Seachem Prime and use it to get it down. A dose takes out like 20 ppm of nitrate or something

 

[Viscount]

So running carbon can cause your nitrates to go up?

 

[RAYRAY]

It Shouldnt ?????

 

[bjohanson1234]

When running carbon, after a while, the granules get colonized by bacteria that turn nitrite into nitrate. So if the carbon isnt changed regularly, it will start creating nitrate problems.

Brian