NITRATES TOO HIGH!!

[jj.man]

I just got a nitrate tester and my nitrates are at 75.0. How do I lower it?? Plz help ASAP

 

[Lavey29]

I just got a nitrate tester and my nitrates are at 75.0. How do I lower it?? Plz help ASAP

Water changes and less feeding, wet skimming.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I just got a nitrate tester and my nitrates are at 75.0. How do I lower it?? Plz help ASAP

Question: how are your corals doing? If they’ve been in high nutrients for a long time it’s better to bring them down slowly.

How large a volume are you working with? For nitrates, water changes are usually best. But you’ll need to perform several continuous water changes to get them down enough. Carbon dosing is also a good way to go.

 

[apb03]

What is your water change schedule? Do you have a Refugium? How big is your tank and how many fish do you have?

I wouldn't stress too much about the nitrates. If you increase your water changes you should be able to lower it to a stable level. My tank is usually around 35 and mostly have acros.

 

[twentyleagues]

Size of tank? Maintenance schedule? What test did you use? Do you have a refugium or grow any type of macro? Is there lots of algae growth in the tank? How old is the tank? Stock? Others have asked this too.

Water changes are the best way to handle high nitrates. What caused this? Over stock? No maintenance? No exporters?

 

[ilikefish69]

I just got a nitrate tester and my nitrates are at 75.0. How do I lower it?? Plz help ASAP

maybe at the point in the hobby where you feel like you must test test test change change change. if that is the first time you tested your nitrate, do not trust the number at all because there are so many things that can give you a number that isnt your number. treat 75 as a baseline, don't change anything drastic and test at the same time every day and make sure you continually get a number that makes sense to what your tank is telling you. test you water, watch your nitrate rise as you feed and dirty the water, and with a proper testing regimine then you will be able to take valid data and properly make slow and well thought out decisions. Do not do anything drastic at all whatsoever because then and only then you might cause a big problem !

 

[lmfbs]

I agree with everyone else saying go slow. Let's figure out how they got so high first.

Tell us about your tank.

1. How big is your tank?
2. What stocking do you have?
3. What's your filtration situation?
4. What husbandry do you do?
5. How frequently do you do water changes? How big?
6. How much, how often, and what do you feed?
7. What do you test for regularly? When was the last time you tested?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There are many suitable ways to lower nitrate. I detail them here:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

Nitrate is an ion that has long dogged aquarists. It is typically formed in aquaria through the digestion of foods, and in many aquaria it builds up and can be difficult to keep at natural levels. In the past, many aquarists performed water changes with nitrate reduction as one of the primary...

www.reefedition.com