High Nitrates in new tank

IAReefer · Mar 6, 2019

Thanks everyone, this is definitely a learning curve. I followed the directions for the ammonium dosing, and added just enough to bring it to 2ppm by their instructions.

If the Nitrite reading is say “.1”, even if I multiply that reading times 100 for the Nitrate (false?) reading, it should only read around 10. I would have to multiply Nitrite reading of .1 by 1,000 to reach the 100+ Nitrate reading.

Maybe I’ll just do the full water change and see what happens, as long as it shouldn’t hurt anything. The dry rock wasn’t cured, so that might be the problem

OutsideBrian · Mar 6, 2019

Doing a water change won’t hurt but IMO neither will leaving it alone for a few days to see what happens. It’s a cycle, let it do its thing. You don’t have any livestock that some high nitrates are going hurt

Lasse · Mar 7, 2019

Once again I miss the most important question - which type of test do you use for NH3/NH4, NO2 and NO3? It looks like Salifert for the NO3 test. To be honest - that test have never worked out for me in my home aquaria but I use it in aquariums at work - and is normally works well there. Do not know why it is this way.

Sincerely Lasse

IslandLifeReef · Mar 7, 2019

IAReefer said:
Thanks everyone, this is definitely a learning curve. I followed the directions for the ammonium dosing, and added just enough to bring it to 2ppm by their instructions.

If the Nitrite reading is say “.1”, even if I multiply that reading times 100 for the Nitrate (false?) reading, it should only read around 10. I would have to multiply Nitrite reading of .1 by 1,000 to reach the 100+ Nitrate reading.

Maybe I’ll just do the full water change and see what happens, as long as it shouldn’t hurt anything. The dry rock wasn’t cured, so that might be the problem

When you say dry rock, what do you mean? Was it live rock that was dried, or was it man made rock like the carrib reef rock?

The harm in doing a full water change is that you will remove the nitrite that is in your tank, also removing the food source for the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate. You will then need to add more ammonium chloride to feed the bacteria and may find yourself exactly where you are now. IMO, I would wait until your nitrite goes to 0 ppm before doing anything. Once that happens, see what your tests say. If I did the molar conversions properly, 4 ppm of ammonia should equate to 14.5 ppm of nitrate. Once nitrite reaches 0 ppm, if nitrate is significantly higher than 15 ppm, you know there is another issue.

IAReefer · Mar 7, 2019

Lasse said:
Once again I miss the most important question - which type of test do you use for NH3/NH4, NO2 and NO3? It looks like Salifert for the NO3 test. To be honest - that test have never worked out for me in my home aquaria but I use it in aquariums at work - and is normally works well there. Do not know why it is this way.

Sincerely Lasse

I used Salifert for all 3 tests.

IAReefer · Mar 7, 2019

IslandLifeReef said:
When you say dry rock, what do you mean? Was it live rock that was dried, or was it man made rock like the carrib reef rock?

The harm in doing a full water change is that you will remove the nitrite that is in your tank, also removing the food source for the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate. You will then need to add more ammonium chloride to feed the bacteria and may find yourself exactly where you are now. IMO, I would wait until your nitrite goes to 0 ppm before doing anything. Once that happens, see what your tests say. If I did the molar conversions properly, 4 ppm of ammonia should equate to 14.5 ppm of nitrate. Once nitrite reaches 0 ppm, if nitrate is significantly higher than 15 ppm, you know there is another issue.

I used dry rock from an inland Florida mine. It’s apparently from an ancient reef.

paul barker · Mar 10, 2019

I have had a reef tanks for going on 20 years nitrate cycle is a good thing on a new tank i would not and anything and do 20% water changes weekly till it comes down to 10 than I would start add thing slowly and keep testing and to small water charge to keep it in check my no3 is about 8 po is .04 thing are looking good on the new

Courtney Aldrich · Feb 14, 2021

Just curious, did you ever figure out the source of nitrates? How did you resolve the problem? I'm using Dr. Tim's method exactly as you have done and also have 100 ppm nitrates.

William Morris · Feb 14, 2021

Courtney Aldrich said:
Just curious, did you ever figure out the source of nitrates? How did you resolve the problem? I'm using Dr. Tim's method exactly as you have done and also have 100 ppm nitrates.

Have you emailed Dr. Tim? That's where I would start.