NITRATES OVER 0.5---1.0 PLEASE HELP

reefer2000

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Hello and thanks for stoping by to see my problem. So i recently made some threads that my euphyllia were feeling really bad and i just could not find the problem. So just to get to the point, about a month ago i bought 3 different types of coral foods and i fed every other day the corals and i blasted them with this food, and by the way i did not have a refugium for stoping nitrate growth. So i kept on feeding them for a month and i saw insted of gaining color they all lost color and to my surprise my montis started to discolorate but my acros were perfectly fine. So i did not pay mich attention because i thought if the acropora was ok than nothing was wrong with my tank. Untill one day i scrubed the tank glass and woke up the other day and it was worse than the other day and the corals were **** to . This continued for a week and i got myself a new nitrate test and it showed over 0.5 to almost 1.0 i quickly build a refugium and did a 40% water change and did the next day another 40%. I know i know i stressed all tank inhabitants but they already suffered to much! So then i checked my nitrates and phosphates but they did not come down a bit!! So please help me to bring down my nitrates!!
 
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reefer2000

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It's not your nitrates, esp at those levels. ( I shoot for 5-10 on my nitrates) What's your Mag and P04 levels?
Its debinately my notrates i tested with salifert nitrates test and it was realy pink color and the color matched the 50 mark

My phosphates were 0.50

Magnesium over 1500

Calcium 420

Alk 9.2
 

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Its debinately my notrates i tested with salifert nitrates test and it was realy pink color and the color matched the 50 mark

My phosphates were 0.50

Magnesium over 1500

Calcium 420

Alk 9.2


Well 50 is much higher than your original post of 0.5 - 1.0... Your phosphate is high too. Most shoot for anywhere between .03 and 0.1 Mag over 1500 isn't always an issue, but I've seen montis not like really high Mag.

Best thing would probably be a couple water changes a week for the next couple weeks. What size tank?
 
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BrandonS

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Phosphates are too high in my opinion and if 50 is your nitrates then those are high as well. exactly what you would expect with sudden heavy feeding. I just did something similar with going from target to broadcast feeding and cut my fuge back an hour. my phosphates went to .14 overnight from .03.
 
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reefer2000

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Well 50 is much higher than your original post of 0.5 - 1.0... Your phosphate is high too. Most shoot for anywhere between .03 and 0.1 Mag over 1500 isn't always an issue, but I've seen montis not like really high Mag.

Best thing would probably be a couple water changes a week for the next couple weeks. What size tank?
Yeah i thought that 50 on the test kit was 0.5 my bad :( my tank is about 36 gallons and a 25 gallon diy sump
 
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reefer2000

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Phosphates are too high in my opinion and if 50 is your nitrates then those are high as well. exactly what you would expect with sudden heavy feeding. I just did something similar with going from target to broadcast feeding and cut my fuge back an hour. my phosphates went to .14 overnight from .03.
Yeah i guess so to and i fed them every other day and i just blasted the tank with these foods because i thought that was gonna help them grow but turns out this is what happened
 

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If you have been maybe over feeding the coral food that may be why the nutrient levels have gone up

A good target for Nitrate is around 5-10ppm but phosphate needs to be very low so around 0.03ppm or you risk algae and other problems and this may be a cause of poor coral health or colour etc. So basically you need to reduce them.

The easiest way is by regular water changes, but I would stick to no more than 20% and preferably 10% otherwise you risk upsetting the water chemistry and the corals will like that even less. Stability is the key.

You can do a little reading on other methods like carbon dosing (Nopox) for nitrate, GFO like rhowaphos etc for phosphate control and then implement them or one of the other methods if needed.

And if your unsure just ask away
 
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reefer2000

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If you have been maybe over feeding the coral food that may be why the nutrient levels have gone up

A good target for Nitrate is around 5-10ppm but phosphate needs to be very low so around 0.03ppm or you risk algae and other problems and this may be a cause of poor coral health or colour etc. So basically you need to reduce them.

The easiest way is by regular water changes, but I would stick to no more than 20% and preferably 10% otherwise you risk upsetting the water chemistry and the corals will like that even less. Stability is the key.

You can do a little reading on other methods like carbon dosing (Nopox) for nitrate, GFO like rhowaphos etc for phosphate control and then implement them or one of the other methods if needed.

And if your unsure just ask away
Thanks for saying 10 % or 20 because i did 40% water chage to days in a row and my calcium went from 420 to 190 pretty crazy basically my tank crashed and just tested today and brought it back to normal 400 but still im battling with calcium. Only thing is that my hammer is gaping its mouth open and shriveled up probably in a shoked condition. Ill do a 10 % water change now . And one more question how long should i do daily water changes
 

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Thanks for saying 10 % or 20 because i did 40% water chage to days in a row and my calcium went from 420 to 190 pretty crazy basically my tank crashed and just tested today and brought it back to normal 400 but still im battling with calcium. Only thing is that my hammer is gaping its mouth open and shriveled up probably in a shoked condition. Ill do a 10 % water change now . And one more question how long should i do daily water changes

I tested my water today, nitrates about 75, phosphates less than .25, please slow down on the water changes and give us fresh test results.

DSC_0002 (1024x656).jpg
 

Katrina71

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Your hammer most likely will come back after a crash. Mine has twice. It's gonna pout and look rough for about a month. I agree with the above advice. 20% water changes weekly, or 10% twice a week until it levels off a bit.
 
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reefer2000

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Your hammer most likely will come back after a crash. Mine has twice. It's gonna pout and look rough for about a month. I agree with the above advice. 20% water changes weekly, or 10% twice a week until it levels off a bit.
Please help just checked my alk and ot is 15!! My torches are slowly desolving tissue
 
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reefer2000

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Your hammer most likely will come back after a crash. Mine has twice. It's gonna pout and look rough for about a month. I agree with the above advice. 20% water changes weekly, or 10% twice a week until it levels off a bit.
This is how they look now

CAD70074-CB04-4174-BBFC-FDBC8216AA71.jpeg


9939517F-3899-473F-A597-BE51E91A8114.jpeg


95386738-FE6C-4103-B605-8DE808827072.jpeg


B7A410F5-46FB-4EB2-B857-BB002BA7A4D9.jpeg


A3D0007E-C3BB-4D9C-A6B5-A53A0BFB8500.jpeg


B8D926CA-BCB5-458D-84E1-FB352C4B2F1C.jpeg


EC058E9D-E40C-482E-9FAF-3443CFA3A456.jpeg
 

W1ngz

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Parameters seem all over the place in this thread. Nitrates were .5-1, now they're 50-100? Calcium is 400 one day, 190 the next, then 390. Alk going from 9.2 to 10 then to 15?

All stop - let the tank relax. Stop water changes, stop any dosing, and only do minimal feedings for the fish every other day for a week. Even if the parameters are all wrong, let's get them stable first so you can get control of them.

The nitrates are probably going to stay high for a while if you were drastically overfeeding the corals, as the food has settled into the rocks and sand and everywhere else to break down.

I also suspect bad testing procedures. Spend the next week doing testing, maybe even twice a day, including salinity (what are you using to test that?). Read the directions carefully, and do each test diligently - even if you memorized it from previous tests. Also make sure to test any new water you prepare for water changes in a week or so to be sure you are matching what the tank already has.
 
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reefer2000

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Parameters seem all over the place in this thread. Nitrates were .5-1, now they're 50-100? Calcium is 400 one day, 190 the next, then 390. Alk going from 9.2 to 10 then to 15?

All stop - let the tank relax. Stop water changes, stop any dosing, and only do minimal feedings for the fish every other day for a week. Even if the parameters are all wrong, let's get them stable first so you can get control of them.

The nitrates are probably going to stay high for a while if you were drastically overfeeding the corals, as the food has settled into the rocks and sand and everywhere else to break down.

I also suspect bad testing procedures. Spend the next week doing testing, maybe even twice a day, including salinity (what are you using to test that?). Read the directions carefully, and do each test diligently - even if you memorized it from previous tests. Also make sure to test any new water you prepare for water changes in a week or so to be sure you are matching what the tank already has.
Ok thanks for the suggestion ill do just as you said no water chagne but about the testing i do it multiple times to be sure i use salifert test kits salinity is normal

But can you please tell me will the corals be ok because they are all losing tissue i am gona just be soooo sad if they all die bcause i started growing them from day 1 for 2 years and all of a sudden for some ****** notrates and calcium outbrake my corals are losing tissue and slowly dying
 

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I don't know if your corals will be ok or not just yet, only way to know is time. High nitrates alone won't kill corals, jumping from plan to plan and rushing water changes and parameter changes will do more damage.

Start calmly, with the bare basics - what is the source water? Tap? RODI? Salinity is 'normal' - ok, but what is the number, how is it measured, and is the tool calibrated?

It's also completely possible there's nothing wrong with your testing, and it's just mistakes when typing the results in your posts, but that makes it really hard for anyone to suggest a plan.

Post a new set of test results including salinity, nitrate, phosphate, alk, cal and mag so we all know where things are.
 
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