Nitrate 10ppm after water change.

[nawt2tawl1221]

Really confused about a couple things. First I did a water change in my 45 gallon tank after I notice I have no nitrite ammonia Is .25ppm which I read means 0 since it’s an ati test kit. My issue is the nitrate is light orange so in between 10-20ppm. Second day I checked and still hasn’t really come down. I have my protein skimmer going and the water is filled with micro bubbles as well. No skimate either. It’s a new skimmer so I think it’s still breaking in. I have some hermits, snails, a blenny and royal gramma. They all are eating and look healthy. I was going to get a couple clowns in the next day or so. I can’t tell if it’s safe to get a couple clowns or it might kill them. Any help would be great with the chemistry as well as protein skimmer. Thanks in advance.

 

[andiesreef]

10-20ppm is totally fine for fish. it's more of an issue for corals. i would add new fish every 2 weeks. for example blenny, wait two weeks, add clowns. see how your parameters change.

 

[Pistondog]

Nitrates OK. What kind of skimmer, search for YouTube video.

 

[painfullycurious88]

I can't keep nitrates I have to spend money to have them I'd trade. btw corals need nitrates no reason to consider 10ppm a problem.

 

[Addictedreefer87]

How old Is the tank?

 

[nawt2tawl1221]

Take is a little over a month old. Skimmer is cpr bakpak. I got it used for $50 seemed like a good deal. Good to know about nitrates I thought those were deadly for fish.

 

[Tired]

Nitrates are deadly at extremely high levels. That's not an extremely high level. That's a perfectly fine level for plenty of corals.

You want phosphate at 0.03ppm or higher, and nitrates at 5ppm or higher, otherwise photosynthetic organisms (like beneficial algae and corals) will suffer and die.

 

[nawt2tawl1221]

Ok good to know thank you. I’m not doing corals anytime soon. Want to just focus on fish. Need better lighting anyways. Does anybody know why my skimmer hasn’t picked any skim mate up yet? Maybe I need more bioload?

 

[Tired]

Skimmers remove organic matter from the water. No skimmate means not much organic matter.

You may not actually want that- corals need some organic matter, and the skimmer can strip out their food. Skimmers are better for tanks that are meant to be fish-only, or tanks that are really heavily fed.

 

[nawt2tawl1221]

Interesting. I was told if you want to do corals to do a protein skimmer. Lol. I do eventually want to do corals. But probably next year if I do.

 

[nawt2tawl1221]

Skimmers remove organic matter from the water. No skimmate means not much organic matter.

You may not actually want that- corals need some organic matter, and the skimmer can strip out their food. Skimmers are better for tanks that are meant to be fish-only, or tanks that are really heavily fed.

So would you say the reason I have so many micro bubbles is because there’s not enough organic waste in this tank to produce skim mate?

 

[andiesreef]

Interesting. I was told if you want to do corals to do a protein skimmer.

That isn't necessarily true. Corals need some nutrient control and a protein skimmer is one way of doing that. Other options are refugiums, hang on back filters, various chemical methods, and more. Skimmers are just the most popular way of removing some of those nutrients :D

 

[rsusi]

Really confused about a couple things. First I did a water change in my 45 gallon tank after I notice I have no nitrite ammonia Is .25ppm which I read means 0 since it’s an ati test kit. My issue is the nitrate is light orange so in between 10-20ppm. Second day I checked and still hasn’t really come down. I have my protein skimmer going and the water is filled with micro bubbles as well. No skimate either. It’s a new skimmer so I think it’s still breaking in. I have some hermits, snails, a blenny and royal gramma. They all are eating and look healthy. I was going to get a couple clowns in the next day or so. I can’t tell if it’s safe to get a couple clowns or it might kill them. Any help would be great with the chemistry as well as protein skimmer. Thanks in advance.

You are good bro, I know people that have been feeding for years that run their entire reef tank at 50ppm nitrate, LPs and softies will be fine up to like 60ppm can even get away with 80, sps like it low but I’ve had mine up to 40 with sps and saw no ill effects, if it’s fish only there have been tests done with 500ppm with no ill effects and they had to artificially create that much nitrate because they couldent produced it under normal conditions. You really want to just keep 10:1 ratio between that and phosphate or else you will get algae and stuff. Under perfect conditions I like to keep mine at 20ppm I find my LPs live it around there but some other people swear by 50 ppm and others want to keep it at 10. Really just want to be stable that’s all no quick changes.