Water Changes & still have nitrates

K

kmanbig

Reefing newb
Hi guys,
I did a 20% water change last week and after testing the water a few days ago, found I had 40ppm Nitrates, Yikes! I did another 20% water change yesterday and tested my water again today. Again, 40ppm Nitrates.
I never had any Nitrate issues before. The only recent change was I added a small cleanup crew of probably 10 hermit crabes and 10-15 snails (Wilks as we call them locally.) The local fish store does not sell clean up crews so I had to find them locally. Any ideas as to whats happening?
The stats. 70 gallon FOLR tank, 2 clowns, a lionfish, Blue Tang, Flame Angel, long nose Hawk Fish, Coral Banded shrimp.
About 30 pounds live rock, live sand (about 2 inches) I should have gone deeper. Marineland Sump with bio wheel, carbon bag, and blue & white mesh filters, Seaclone 150 skimmer and 9w turbo twist UV Steralizer.
Using RO water preixed from the fish store, I'm NOT stirring my sand bed during water changes. Feeding twice a day (pellets in the morning and a mix of Carnivore & Herbivore frozen cubes in the evening, Lionfish gets a mix of raw table shrimp or squid every 2-3 days.
Salinity at 1.024, temp at 79-80f, PH 8.4, 0 Amonia and Nitrite. Aside from 1 hermit crab casualty, the tank looks great. Any suggestions or ideas are much appreciated.
Larry.
 
Sorry, forgot to mention...I tested the new water from the LFS prior to the water change and it was 0PPM Nitrates. I installed a RODI system at my house recently but I just use that water for evaporation loss. Man, I am losing a ton more water ever since I installed the UV Steralizer, probably 1/4 per day.
 
What is the upper limit of your nitrate test kit?
It is possible that your tank had more than 40ppm to begin with and the test kit is topping out at the 40ppm reading.
If that is the case you would not get any lower readings until the actual nitrate levels fall below 40ppm.

With large fish and predator fish in a 70gallon tank, you might need to change the water more frequently as they tend to produce more waste due to the large amounts of food that they consume.

I would recommend upgrading your skimmer to... well... anything else.
The company has repackaged and rebranded that skimmer to death and it still had not addressed critical design flaws.
Realistically, the Seaclone 150 is only effective up to a lightly stocked 50 gallon tank.
An under-performing skimmer means that more organics are getting fed into the nitrogen cycle.
 
+1 to the boys, I would also say you need a lot more rock. The general rule of thumb is 1-2 lbs per gallon. You can buy dry rock, which is much cheaper, it will become live in a few short weeks.
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

The Nitrate test kit has a higher reading. I am at work now so I don't have it handy, but 40ppm is the middle of the color chart, 4th color down out of 8 colors.

I am in the Cayman Islands so the LFS is VERY limited in what they stock. The Sea Clone 150 was all they had, and I paid almost $200 for it. High way robbery I know, but that's the price you pay for living on an island. I am actually quite pleased with its performance based on the reviews I read, I clean it every 5-6 days with a half cup of dark ice tea and a coating of slime around the edges, but I plan to pickup a better unit next time I travel to the US.

No live rock at the fish store, what I have I actually pulled out of the ocean myself. I have a large coral reef insert from Instant Reef in the tank, so I don't have a ton more room to put in more live rock. Plenty for the angel fish to graze on, and lots of hiding spaces for the fish though.

Anything else you can suggest to lower the Nitrates? How about the pellets or someone suggested Nitrate absorbers... whatever that is. Any opinions and advise are appreciated.
 
Bio wheel?
That may be your problem right there. Can be a nitrate factory. And if you clean them regularly you are defeating the purpose. You would be much better of removing that and getting a lot more live rock instead. You'll get the benefits of the bio wheel without the negatives.
 
Here is a link to the filter system I have. It wasn't my "first choice" but this was a package deal that came with the tank from the LFS.

Aquarium Wet-Dry Filters: Marineland High Capacity Acrylic Sump Filtration Systems

So what you are saying is remove the bio-wheel and place live rock in that area instead? The space is not that large so it probably would not hold a lot of live rock. There is no "water current" in the sump either aside from what the pump draws in. If I did put live rock in that area, would I need to install a small power head also to increase water flow?
Sorry with the 20 questions. I appreciate the advice.
 
You dont "need" live rock in that area. If you have some leftover rubble though, you can certainly do that, effectively turning it into a fuge with some cheatomorpha which will also help with nitrates. Although typically you see a fuge in the middle section of a sump. What you should do though is add more to your tank if you have the room. Filters like shown in the link above are not needed with saltwater reefs where you have a good amount of live rock, live sand, and protein skimmer.
 
Thanks D2. I will go for a snorkel this weekend and see if I can get some more live rock for the tank. I will have to do some "redecorating" but maybe I can squeeze some more in there. I'll look to upgrade the skimmer in a couple of weeks also.
Back to the original question though, in the meantime, is there anything I can do to lower the Nitrates without a water change everyday?
 
Take the biowheel out and continue water changes. I wouldn't want to put any chemicals in but if you can maybe find some kind of nitrate sponge or something at your lfs try that. But i have a feeling once you get rid of the biowheel they will start to drop.
 
kmanbig said:
Thanks for the comments guys.

The Nitrate test kit has a higher reading. I am at work now so I don't have it handy, but 40ppm is the middle of the color chart, 4th color down out of 8 colors.

I am in the Cayman Islands so the LFS is VERY limited in what they stock. The Sea Clone 150 was all they had, and I paid almost $200 for it. High way robbery I know, but that's the price you pay for living on an island. I am actually quite pleased with its performance based on the reviews I read, I clean it every 5-6 days with a half cup of dark ice tea and a coating of slime around the edges, but I plan to pickup a better unit next time I travel to the US.

No live rock at the fish store, what I have I actually pulled out of the ocean myself. I have a large coral reef insert from Instant Reef in the tank, so I don't have a ton more room to put in more live rock. Plenty for the angel fish to graze on, and lots of hiding spaces for the fish though.

Anything else you can suggest to lower the Nitrates? How about the pellets or someone suggested Nitrate absorbers... whatever that is. Any opinions and advise are appreciated.
Click to expand...
I have high nitrate and are currently trying Red Sea No3:Po4-X and achieving good results in 4 days dosing with the reccomendations my nitrate has dropped from 40ppm to 15ppm, worth a try:Cheers:
 
One thing that may help is reducing the number of times you are feeding. You said twice per day , I would move to maybe every other day until you get your levels down and then maybe start slowly increasing and keep an eye on your numbers.

Remove Bio-wheel like mentioned before

Increase your water changes a bit

Reduce feedings

That will probably get you moving in the right direction pretty quick
 

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