Nitrates

[GMan1974]

Hey all I've got a JBJ20r nano. Its been up and running for about 4 months. I cannot get my Nitrates down below 15PPM. Even after a water change including cleaning the sand. I've got 6 small fish plus invertebrates. I feed once daily ,1 small pinch of pellets. Now I'm gonna try feeding every other day. I do weekly water changes up to 50 percent. Any suggestions? Thanks for your time.
Glenn

 

[PharmrJohn]

It's gonna take some time for your tank to stabilize out and 4 months is young. And small tanks are notorious for stabilization issues compared to larger tanks. I think 15 is fine at this point. It's even fine if your tank thrives. I ran nitrates over 50 with my old 90g and my corals thrived.

 

[Idech]

Don’t starve your fish. 15 ppm is okay.

 

[slingfox]

What are you testing with? Have you tested your freshly mixed saltwater to confirm it has 0 nitrates?

 

[GMan1974]

I just recently added two Zoa frags and a duncan frag.

 

[GMan1974]

What are you testing with? Have you tested your freshly mixed saltwater to confirm it has 0 nitrates?

Hanna test kits

 

[GMan1974]

What are you testing with? Have you tested your freshly mixed saltwater to confirm it has 0 nitrates?

What are you testing with? Have you tested your freshly mixed saltwater to confirm it has 0 nitrates?

Hanna test kits

Just tested fresh salt mix. 0

 

[GMan1974]

Maybe I'm watching to many YouTube videos of patrons saying they have almost no nitrates.???

 

[pochaxoo]

yeah you don't want to be at zero

 

[GMan1974]

yeah you don't want to be at zero

Thank you!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My recommended target level for nitrate is 5-50 ppm. I would not do anything about 15 ppm. :)

This has more:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randy’s-thoughts-on-nutrient-target-ranges.1087/

 

[sixty_reefer]

Hey all I've got a JBJ20r nano. Its been up and running for about 4 months. I cannot get my Nitrates down below 15PPM. Even after a water change including cleaning the sand. I've got 6 small fish plus invertebrates. I feed once daily ,1 small pinch of pellets. Now I'm gonna try feeding every other day. I do weekly water changes up to 50 percent. Any suggestions? Thanks for your time.
Glenn

If your aquarium is stable at 15ppm nitrate, I don’t really see a problem. In my opinion, stability is usually more important than chasing a specific number and creating unnecessary swings.
I definitely wouldn’t reduce feeding to the point where fish health suffers just to lower nitrate, if you want to experiment with lowering nutrients I’d be more inclined to look at the type of food being used. Frozen foods often introduce less waste than pellets although I do wonder if the reason to lower nitrate is actually related to a second issue though. Are you dealing with nuisance algae?

In my experience, algae problems don’t always respond the way folks expect when targeting nitrates or phosphate alone.

 

[BryanM]

Don’t starve your fish. 15 ppm is okay.

This!!

And 15 is a perfectly fine number for nitrates.

 

[GMan1974]

If your aquarium is stable at 15ppm nitrate, I don’t really see a problem. In my opinion, stability is usually more important than chasing a specific number and creating unnecessary swings.
I definitely wouldn’t reduce feeding to the point where fish health suffers just to lower nitrate, if you want to experiment with lowering nutrients I’d be more inclined to look at the type of food being used. Frozen foods often introduce less waste than pellets although I do wonder if the reason to lower nitrate is actually related to a second issue though. Are you dealing with nuisance algae?

In my experience, algae problems don’t always respond the way folks expect when targeting nitrates or phosphate alone.

Just diatoms

 

[sixty_reefer]

Just diatoms

Diatoms or dinoflagellates? What’s your phosphate?

 

[GMan1974]

Diatoms or dinoflagellates? What’s your phosphate?

I believe diatoms. Brown algae I could be wrong. Phosphates are .11 PPM

 

[sixty_reefer]

I believe diatoms. Brown algae I could be wrong. Phosphates are .11 PPM

Do you have a picture? It’s unusual to see diatoms at 4 months.

 

[GMan1974]

Small patch right now.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Small patch right now.

Is this the only area in the aquarium where you’re seeing it? Anything similar on the glass or rocks? Also, do you notice any air bubbles forming in it?

 

[sixty_reefer]

.