Nitrate issues

[mmkeeper]

Cut back on feeding.
are you using ro/di water?
How much water did you change?
How long has your tank been setup?
Live Rock?
Are the fish the only live things you have? No Live rock? No corals?
If so you should be ok.
How are you filtering your water?
Skimmer?

 

[chrisprkh]

no live rock. how often should i feed? i do 20-25% water changes the tank has been going i'd say well over a month. I know it's early in the nitrification game but i used some "seasoned" gravel and filter wheels n stuff. I have no idea what RO water is..

 

[Reeferdude]

Chris.Your Nitrites are up because your Ammonia is probably up. Cut back on feeding. Continue water changes and don't put anything else in there until you educate yourself about water chemistry, husbandry, lighting, circulation, flow/tank turnover etc, etc ,etc.

 

[chrisprkh]

my ammonia is at zero i know a little about water chemistry and i know that im a noob at reef keeping give me a break we all had our start.
No skimmer witha single biowheel filter. I thought a skimmer wouldn't be a must seeing that i'm only putting an eel and a porc. puffer. No live rock no corals. just a puffer and an eel. that's it... well 3 damzels but i'm kinda hopin this eel will get to em soon.

 

[jedimike]

180 nitrates and your doing daily water changes in a 30G!?!?... it has to be from the the die-off of your inhabitants or your RO/DI unit is not functining properly. You have a nitrate factory somewhere. Maybe old filters or something.

This won't help your nitrates, but I would try to change up your food a bit. Brine shrimp are very low in nutritional value. I prefer to use the mysis cubes, but I also use other foods like cyclopleeze, tigger pods, and flake.

 

[Reeferdude]

Chris. "My ammonia is at zero" would have sufficed.. Sorry my response failed to make you feel warm and fuzzy. I'll try again. Since you "think" you're overfeeding you probably are. so try cutting back the frequency or the amount and monitor your fish's health to make sure they're getting enough and not starving. This feeding reduction in combination with water changes should reduce your Nitrite. Now, having said that, my remarks were not meant to be taken as criticism so don't get offended. You don't know what RO water is so it's obvious you need to educate yourself more. The nitrification process starts with Ammonia and ends with Nitrate. So to have Nitrite with no Ammonia is a little unusual. I would re-test, reduce feeding, and keep up on the water changes. I would not jeopardize any more livestock until you get a handle on the system. Then you'll be off to a good start...Better?

PS. Sorry for hijacking

 

[NC2WA]

Chris,

I would suggest you read the following articles. This should give you a better idea of what RO water is:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/dirosetup/

Any questions, let me know
Kirk

 

[chrisprkh]

People at the lfs tell me to change only water and that i should not gravel vac as well? Should i test every day and water change every day according to nitrites?

 

[mmkeeper]

You are running a fish only correct?
What kind of gravel?
What kind of water are you using to mix your salt in? tap? ro? Ro/di?
Have you tested this water for nitrates?

Instead of vaccuming your gravel stir it up as you siphon out you r water for the water change.

 

[chrisprkh]

fishonly with crushed coral and tap water with instant ocean and gimme a second for the testing

 

[mmkeeper]

Ok.

With the way you are doing things you have several things against getting your nitrates down. Tap Water, Biowheel, no skimmer, chrushed coral, no live rock. Everyone of these will fight you on getting lower nitrates. A fish only does not need to be zero when it comes to nitrates. I am not sure but I believe you want to be under 100. You could try putting some algae like chaeto in your tank to use up some nitrate and harvest it from time to time to export the nitrates.

 

[chrisprkh]

ok don't freak out but the lfs said nitrites at 10 nitrates at 40, ph 8.0, alkilinity above 300

 

[DonW]

ok don't freak out but the lfs said nitrites at 10 nitrates at 40, ph 8.0, alkilinity above 300

I think they need to stay off the dope. There should be no nitrites fo or not. Alk above 300? 300 what? If its ppm thats over 16dkh which is way to high.

Don

 

[mmkeeper]

Like I said I wasn't sure of the number for fish only. When keeping sps corals we want zero. I would make sure anytime you change your water you stir up the sanded. It is almost impossible to get low nitrates with a bio wheel. It is designed to change ammonia into nitrites and nitrites to nitrates. If you put some algae (seaweed) in it will takeup some of your nitrates. You want your nitrites at zero they are alot more toxic to your fish than the nitrates.

 

[chrisprkh]

is there something else i should do besides water changes? Should i avoid amquel cause i heard it can "stunt" the nitrification cycle as it temporarily nuetralizes N02/N03.

 

[mmkeeper]

Ro/di water, less food, skimmer. Are you getting any algae on your gravel or glass, non living things?

 

[DonW]

is there something else i should do besides water changes?

You need something to get the nitrites to 0. It doesnt look like the bio filter is keeping up. Maybe another biofilter and water changes unless your concidering adding LR. I would have your numbers checked before doing anything.

Don

 

[chrisprkh]

cool I'll get on that and let you know how it goes, thanks.

 

[mmkeeper]

If you are getting live rock becareful. It needs to cycled or you will start your cycling all over.

 

[chrisprkh]

so this is what i plan to do
1. go to the lfs get some di or ro water
2. clean out my gravel pretty well changing 20-25% of tank volume
3.pre mix 5 gal buckets, hydro reading 1.022-3, dechlor and add...
should i hold off on the live rock until i change most of the water to di/or RO ?