Nitrates Question

[FishFinatic ;)]

I currently have a tank that was started about a year ago, and I only have one fish in the tank, a porcupine puffer fish. He is a messy eater, which might explain this, although the nitrates in his tank are like, 40-80 ppm. They're really high, and I'm really worried about my little guy and his nitrates in his tank. I do weekly water changes although the nitrates don't seem to go down. Any suggestions?

 

[Saintnovakai]

I currently have a tank that was started about a year ago, and I only have one fish in the tank, a porcupine puffer fish. He is a messy eater, which might explain this, although the nitrates in his tank are like, 40-80 ppm. They're really high, and I'm really worried about my little guy and his nitrates in his tank. I do weekly water changes although the nitrates don't seem to go down. Any suggestions?

You have a puffer. That's 1 a high bioload fish, 2, you haven't told us tank size I believe and 3, what is your husbandry like? Do you have a sandbed? If you do, does it pass the drop test? Drop test means pick up some sand from the bottom and drop it from higher up. Does it fall like snow globe sand or does it powder up like a smokey haze?

 

[tbare89]

Have you tried straining out the frozen food so no liquid goes into the tank and only solid food? Could be a nitrate source. That or just feed less in general. We have a tendency to overfeed our fish.

 

[Paul Sands]

How big is the tank and how often are you doing waterchanges and what’s the percentage of tank volume of those changes?

The immediate answer is to do larger volume water changes as they have a greater capacity to have positive effect on reducing nitrates.

Longer term, you may want to look into carbon dosing or ATS/refugium to help manage the nutrients.

Do you have a sandbed? If you do, does it pass the drop test? Drop test means pick up some sand from the bottom and drop it from higher up. Does it fall like snow globe sand or does it powder up like a smokey haze?

Not sure where this is going, but...

 

[lapin]

Since you have a nitrate problem and it wont go away with what your doing you must do more.
There are many ways to fix this.
Big water changes
Feeding less
Cleaning the sand bed often or replacing it time to time
Carbon dosing to create more bacteria
Growing algae for exporting the nutrients
Im sure @brandon429 will have an idea

 

[Saintnovakai]

How big is the tank and how often are you doing waterchanges and what’s the percentage of tank volume of those changes?

The immediate answer is to do larger volume water changes as they have a greater capacity to have positive effect on reducing nitrates.

Longer term, you may want to look into carbon dosing or ATS/refugium to help manage the nutrients.



Not sure where this is going, but...

Let me explain. OP has a fish that produces a lot of waste and has done a lot of water changes on a tank that we don't know the size of. The nitrates don't go down so I asked the OP if there is a sandbed where a lot of nutrients could be locked up. If the sand is cloudy during the test it could very well mean that his nitrate problem is supported by a dirty sandbed.

That's where that is going but...

 

[Fishfinder]

Wait.... pause. Why do you want to lower these nitrates? Do you have an algae problem? Is this is a FOWLR?

If nothing is dying and the tank doesn’t look dirty I wouldn’t do anything

 

[Paul Sands]

Let me explain. OP has a fish that produces a lot of waste and has done a lot of water changes on a tank that we don't know the size of. The nitrates don't go down so I asked the OP if there is a sandbed where a lot of nutrients could be locked up. If the sand is cloudy during the test it could very well mean that his nitrate problem is supported by a dirty sandbed.

That's where that is going but...

OIC. i guess i generally agree. my sand can create a cloudy haze even if i’ve just vacuumed it though. probably pretty subjective.

 

[Saintnovakai]

OIC. i guess i generally agree. my sand can create a cloudy haze even if i’ve just vacuumed it though. probably pretty subjective.

Which is why we await the OP to state if there is a sandbed and if so, what the grain size is. Generally though, sand, even the smallest particles, like those in a snow globe, when clean, fall quite tiny and fine but not cloudy like smoke. Your point and XP are taken though. We await OPs input.

 

[FishFinatic ;)]

Okay. I'm sorry for not clarifying earlier. I'll try to answer all of these questions. Hi guys... thank you, all of you, for contributing to my question and giving your input. Yes, it is a sandbed and no, I haven't done that test yet on the sand. I will check on the size of the sand, I'm not sure about that at the moment. The pufferfish is only about 1.5 inches long, he's going into a 120 soon, although currently, he's in a 30 gallon tank (don't yell at me lol, I know that's not ideal, but keep in mind, he will only be in there for a very short period of time). I do weekly water changes, about 25%. I just found a picture I had on my phone of the sand I use, it was suggested by my LFS, and I'll attach when I can upload it to my computer (Stay tuned, it should be here in about 5-ish minutes.

And yes, it is a FOWLR tank, but there is a ton of coralline algae growing. I was told mixed opinions on that, some people say it's a good thing and some people say it's a bad thing? So I'm still not so sure about that but I'll also attach a pic of the algae so you guys can get a closer look as well.

Again, thank you all... I'll be back with the pics soon.

 

[FishFinatic ;)]

So I couldn’t find the grain size, not sure if I was looking in the right place or not, but here’s a pic of the sand I’ve been using (sorry if the picture quality is bad) and another pic of the algae growth on the sand bed. If you need any more pics, let me know.

 

[lapin]

Yum Cyano

 

[Jon Snell]

So I couldn’t find the grain size, not sure if I was looking in the right place or not, but here’s a pic of the sand I’ve been using (sorry if the picture quality is bad) and another pic of the algae growth on the sand bed. If you need any more pics, let me know.

The issue is it's only a 30g tank with a very high bioload puffer. If you have Nitrates that high I'm pretty sure your have high phosphates as well. The cyanobacteria will over run your tank now that you have it and with high nitrates like that it will spread like wild fire. You need to nutrient export. Get your self a bottle of Dr tims one and only. To increase your good bacteria. But before you do that siphon the sand bed or stir it up and then do 50% water change. Re fill with rodi water with salt and add Dr Tim's one and only. Good luck but in the long run you really do need a bigger tank than 30g for a puffer. Good luck dude

 

[FishFinatic ;)]

Thanks... I have a bigger tank awaiting my puffer (120 gallon) and he'll be in that soon. Of course I know it's not ideal at the moment, but thank you for your input and I will definitely do that. The 120 will be done being set up fairly soon, and then I think things will improve. But thank you, I appreciate the help. I will get some Dr. Tim's One and Only ASAP. I think things will be okay, I just need to get that done and 120 settled in and then I think I'll be better off.

 

[FishFinatic ;)]

Is this the right stuff? There were so many search results lol I want to make sure I have the right one

 

[Jon Snell]

Is this the right stuff? There were so many search results lol I want to make sure I have the right one

Hi sorry for late reply yes that's the one. Also if you have the ability to run both tanks at the same time use some of your live rock from your old tank as they will have good bacteria in them as well. It will make cycling your new a lot quicker if at all

 

[FishFinatic ;)]

Ohhh okay that sounds good! Thank you so much for all your help... I'll keep you updated about what's going on... I'm going to my LFS to pick some up tonight so I just wanted to make sure I have the right one... again, thank you, I'll check back in later

 

[Jon Snell]

Ohhh okay that sounds good! Thank you so much for all your help... I'll keep you updated about what's going on... I'm going to my LFS to pick some up tonight so I just wanted to make sure I have the right one... again, thank you, I'll check back in later

No probs. It's why were all here

 

[BeejReef]

If you're committed to FOWLR, nothing prevents you from growing some interesting macro-algae right in your DT. That algae barn place has some cool looking stuff. I'm sure other outlets do as well. Some that will anchor to rocks. I don't know much about puffers, but can a rabbit fish or foxface live in there with one? Both supposedly eat macro algae and could help keep it under control.

 

[FishFinatic ;)]

If you're committed to FOWLR, nothing prevents you from growing some interesting macro-algae right in your DT. That algae barn place has some cool looking stuff. I'm sure other outlets do as well. Some that will anchor to rocks. I don't know much about puffers, but can a rabbit fish or foxface live in there with one? Both supposedly eat macro algae and could help keep it under control.

Thank you, I'll check that out. So let me get it straight, I can get macro algae that will straighten out the nitrates and if I get a foxface or rabbit fish they can eat the other algae in my tank? Wow that's cool! I never knew that....