Can't get the nitrates out of my tank

[Adam1987]

Hi everyone I bought a 10 gallon nano tank from Marine Depot I've had the tank setup now for almost 2 years and from the start I've had a nitrate problem they're off the charts I can't get them to go down after a year of having a tank setup I broke it all down but all new sand and life Rock and I still have extremely high nitrates does anybody have any idea what to do

 

[GoVols]

Hi everyone I bought a 10 gallon nano tank from Marine Depot I've had the tank setup now for almost 2 years and from the start I've had a nitrate problem they're off the charts I can't get them to go down after a year of having a tank setup I broke it all down but all new sand and life Rock and I still have extremely high nitrates does anybody have any idea what to do

After it's been fully cycled:

Make weekly water changes and use pure RO/DI water for everything that you do.

Take it nice and slow, so that your nitrates don't zero out.

Highly recommend using the Salifert nitrate test kit.

 

[Adam1987]

After it's been fully cycled:

Make weekly water changes and use pure RO/DI water for everything that you do.

Take it nice and slow, so that your nitrates don't zero out.

Highly recommend using the Salifert nitrate test kit.

Hi I done the weekly water changes I add the live bacteria you name it I done it and nothing changes the nitrates in the tank could there be something with the glass or the sealant

 

[Adam1987]

Hi I done the weekly water changes I add the live bacteria you name it I done it and nothing changes the nitrates in the tank could there be something with the glass or the sealant

And by the way the nitrite have always been zeroed out the nitrate are off the scale and the ammonia is slightly elevated but that will go away with water change it's just a night traits stay off the scale no matter what I do after about a year I bought new live rock new live sand all new water I pretty much restarted the whole tank and I still have the same problem

 

[motortrendz]

You forgot to say, shew, nitrate shew, geeet.. lol

But seriously, what test kit are you using? Have you tried using another kit to verify the reading? What type of filtration, fish, feedings are you doing?

 

[Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef]

And by the way the nitrite have always been zeroed out the nitrate are off the scale and the ammonia is slightly elevated but that will go away with water change it's just a night traits stay off the scale no matter what I do after about a year I bought new live rock new live sand all new water I pretty much restarted the whole tank and I still have the same problem

Vodka dosing! 10 gals is small so it will be difficult. Would also help if you had a fuge but again small tank.

 

[GoVols]

You forgot to say, shew, nitrate shew, geeet.. lol

But seriously, what test kit are you using? Have you tried using another kit to verify the reading? What type of filtration, fish, feedings are you doing?

Well,
It's not a fair comparison because my reef is bigger a very mature.

If your corals look good, then don't chase nitrates.

18% weekly water changes / Protein skimmer and GFO for phosphate control / lots of healthy live rock.

If your using bio-balls slowly get rid of those, they can't denitrify and spew nitrates over over a reef's water column.

Fish:
Royal Gramma
Regal Angelfish
Purple Tang
Achilles Tang


Heavy Feeder
LRS Reef Frenzy / Red Sea Reef Energy and sally's seaweed salad for tang health.

Yeah,
Salifert (nitrate kit) has always been known as pretty accurate and fairly user friendly as well.

I've also used Red Sea / API / Elos and so on, but really like Salifet for Nitrates and Magnesium.

API is pretty spot on for calcium and Alkalinity, but it stops there.

If your using "testing strips", well (lol).. they should be outlawed for reef keeping.

 

[GoVols]

Vodka dosing! 10 gals is small so it will be difficult. Would also help if you had a fuge but again small tank.

+1

 

[RocketEngineer]

Before you start exotic solutions, have you tested your RODI water for nitrates? What does your fresh SW measure? One last check, how old is the test kit? Instead of guessing, let’s begin at the beginning.

 

[mib86]

I also have a question. In your small cube do you have live rock or some cement build make by someone? In my opinion, your bacteria don't have anaerobic zones. We all know that nitrates can only be eaten by anaerobic bacteria during the nitrification process where it will be converted to pure N.

 

[Super Fly]

what is ur livestock list and how much are u feeding?... if overfeeding, NO3 will be hard to lower.

 

[beaslbob]

FWIW I would add macro algae in a refugium (which can just be a simple egg crate partition).

Actually some nitrates can actually be a good thing. If you live rock is covered with algae it very could be that algae is consuming ammonia instead of nitrates for nitrogen. Which algae prefers for nitrogen. Then as aerobic bacteria expand and consume more and more ammonia, the algae switches to using nitrates for nitrogen.

Which is a good thing helping to balance out and stabilize tank operations.

Still that's just me and my .02

 

[Adam1987]

You forgot to say, shew, nitrate shew, geeet.. lol

But seriously, what test kit are you using? Have you tried using another kit to verify the reading? What type of filtration, fish, feedings are you doing?

I'm using pure chemi blue filter media and filter sponge for small debris in whatnot I have a protein skimmer and I only have 1 blue damsel

 

[Adam1987]

what is ur livestock list and how much are u feeding?... if overfeeding, NO3 will be hard to lower.

I feed very little cause it's only one fish and I have the purple live rock the man made kind and one small rock of natural Live Rock

 

[cCRAWLINS]

Is there any bio media in the filtration?

 

[Tahoe61]

Growing any algae in the display?

Have you thought about chaeto?

 

[Adam1987]

And I'm using the API reef Master test kit my first kit was bad so I went and bought another one and it's testing hi and also testing hi at my local reef store

 

[Adam1987]

Growing any algae in the display?

Have you thought about chaeto?

There's a little bit of algae growing in the tank

 

[Adam1987]

There's a little bit of algae growing in the tank

And I'm kinda new to saltwater tanks so I don't know everything