Someone slap some sense into me. Few things I can't pinpoint.

[Bepis]

I can’t see what your doing wrong

 

[LRT]

I can’t see what your doing wrong

Most likely over reaction is the only problem. Happens to the best of us especially when we sit around and read tons of threads telling us how things have to be but there's tons of variables in all that, that must be researched and applied to our specific system.
Not seeing any negative results. Probably faulty test kit here.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I would cut the feeding down. A CUC designed around eating uneaten food would be a good move. Change filter socks more frequently. I would suggest two water changes of about 40% and see if they climb.

 

[reefsean03]

I think sometimes it’s better to just test more often and make sure everything’s stable before trying to take too many drastic measures.

Also it would be good to know what livestock you have and maybe what’s not doing so well/not well.

 

[Leah Ryan]

You can but I wouldn’t advise it. Think of it this way, would you survive if you ate 3 times a week?Yes. Would it be healthy? Definitely not.

Gotta remember these are living animals. Cut back the Amount you feed daily rather than cutting back the amount of feedings weekly.

I agree completely. I feed my 60g a half a mysis cube daily, and I have more fish than you. Nitrates are pretty much where I want. Not even a real concern for me. I watch phosphates closer than I do nitrates.

 

[LRT]

Good carbon dosing article @Sisterlimonpot shared.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/

 

[Leah Ryan]

I think sometimes it’s better to just test more often and make sure everything’s stable before trying to take too many drastic measures.

Also it would be good to know what livestock you have and maybe what’s not doing so well/not well.

Yes! If your livestock is happy, and you're not experiencing any problems, other than your numbers not being where you want them, than I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[LRT]

Yes! If your livestock is happy, and you're not experiencing any problems, other than your numbers not being where you want them, than I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Agreed our corals will tell us when something is wrong. Dependant on livestock, rock, gear, maturity etc. Our reefs will fluctuate through the balance. I firmly believe this now. Whatever works for others may not particularly work for our individual systems depending on what we put in it.
Science has exacted a particular set of numbers that are a good refference point for keeping a healthy reef.
But if I never played or experimented with and failed with some of those numbers. I would have never acheieved the results I have on my own particular reef

 

[Leah Ryan]

Agreed our corals will tell us when something is wrong. Dependant on livestock, rock, gear, maturity etc. Our reefs will fluctuate through the balance. I firmly believe this now. Whatever works for others may not particularly work for our individual systems depending on what we put in it.
Science has exacted a particular set of numbers that are a good refference point for keeping a healthy reef.
But if I never played or experimented with and failed with some of those numbers. I would have never acheieved the results I have on my own particular reef

Exactly! You say it much better than I.

 

[LRT]

Exactly! You say it much better than I.

You actually said it better than me just got me thinking

 

[Leah Ryan]

You actually said it better than me just got me thinking

To sum up both of our posts... Chase good health! Not perfect numbers!

 

[LRT]

To sum up both of our posts... Chase good health! Not perfect numbers!

 

[ApoIsland]

Let me ask this food wise, can I cut back feeding to 3 times a week? My gf and I are suckers for feeding daily. The fish give us that old were starving face/dance everytime we look at them and we're suckers for it. I have 2 small clowns / a goby / fire fish / 2 blue green chromis.

I do have a decent cuc a few of each kind of snails 10ish total and 5 hermits. We're kind of good about making sure most the food gets eaten but it's not 100 I'm sure some gets away

Since your tank is small I would do a large 50-75% water change to bring the levels down and then monitor over the course of a week or so to see if the skimmer and Cheato can keep them in check.

Reducing feeding should be fine also.
If you are turning power heads off to make sure all food gets eaten then those fish don’t need 1 cube of mysis per day. they will be fine on 1/2 cube per day.

You could also use the high nutrient level as a reason to get more coral if you have room for it

 

[Susan Edwards]

I have the same no3 issue. 40-80. But down from 160 or higher. I replaced my sand, have done a complete water change over time since September, cleaned rocks, etc. So 40 compared not bad. Adding more bottle bacteria to tank. Even using prime. I just got the nyos no3 kit and tested same water as the api and they were equal. Both 40. I do feed heavy but the fish devour what I squirt in there. Tank is 2 years old, just rebooted it. Doing weekly water changes. Approx 20-25 gal (125 gal tank)

so far, everyone happy. I may just have a tank prone to no3 higher. I'd be happier with 20! Haven't resorted to vodka dosing yet

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Id say feeding. I know its duh but I do flakes most the time and 1 frozen cube once a week w 12 fish.

Really shouldn’t be a problem provided his filtration isn’t utter
Heck, I feed my 140g tank somewhere around six cubes of frozen, one sheet of nori and some pellets/flakes daily and struggle with low nutrients.

Since you’ve done a bunch of things I would do a couple of large water changes and observe. If your nutrients start climbing again it’s time to reevaluate.

 

[SDK]

Don’t cut back on feeding. Marine fish need to be well fed, and if you are just feeding Mysis you need to add some variety to thier diet.

What you want to do is be patient, and slowly adjust your tank to metabolize your nutrient input, not cut your input.

I have a 60 gallon system that gets a full frozen cube, Nori, two live feedings and two pellet feeds via an auto feeder every day. My nitrates never go above 5. That took a while though as I slowly ramped up the fish population and feeding as the tank matured.

 

[Gernader]

Wow, my nitrates are only at 1-2ppm. I feed 2 cubes of mysis shrimp with some pellets and nori daily for only 6 fish in a 75g lol

 

[dbowman5]

the nitrogen cycle results in nitrate being converted into nitrogen in anerobic conditions. so the last type of bacteria to develop a functional population is the one inside your rock. like the other types it has to have available food (nitrates in this case) to expand its numbers. the more rock surface/flow the faster they breed (as i understand it)
in your build thread you were going to transfer your rock to a larger tank, did that happen yet?

 

[Waters]

As previously stated (I think?), water changes are your best method for reducing nitrates. Are you using RO/DI nitrate free water? I would increase your water change amounts or frequency to keep the numbers where you want them. Based on that, you can then fine tune other methods such as feedings.

 

[Anubisxii]

Since your tank is small I would do a large 50-75% water change to bring the levels down and then monitor over the course of a week or so to see if the skimmer and Cheato can keep them in check.

Reducing feeding should be fine also.
If you are turning power heads off to make sure all food gets eaten then those fish don’t need 1 cube of mysis per day. they will be fine on 1/2 cube per day.

You could also use the high nutrient level as a reason to get more coral if you have room for it

I will go ahead and give more aggressive water changes a shot. I do plan on getting some more, I just dropped about $700 on the skimmer and sump so I need to wait a week or so but I have plenty of room.

Don’t cut back on feeding. Marine fish need to be well fed, and if you are just feeding Mysis you need to add some variety to thier diet.

What you want to do is be patient, and slowly adjust your tank to metabolize your nutrient input, not cut your input.

I have a 60 gallon system that gets a full frozen cube, Nori, two live feedings and two pellet feeds via an auto feeder every day. My nitrates never go above 5. That took a while though as I slowly ramped up the fish population and feeding as the tank matured.

I do have pellets, mysis, and lrs reef frenzy, I Switch off on what I use on an almost daily basis. The one thing I dont feed currently is Nori or any kind of plant biased food.

the nitrogen cycle results in nitrate being converted into nitrogen in anerobic conditions. so the last type of bacteria to develop a functional population is the one inside your rock. like the other types it has to have available food (nitrates in this case) to expand its numbers. the more rock surface/flow the faster they breed (as i understand it)
in your build thread you were going to transfer your rock to a larger tank, did that happen yet?

I am not sure how updated my build thread is, I went from a 18.5g AIO to a 40b. I had a 10g diy sump but now have a 20g trigger sump Ill post some pic's shortly

As previously stated (I think?), water changes are your best method for reducing nitrates. Are you using RO/DI nitrate free water? I would increase your water change amounts or frequency to keep the numbers where you want them. Based on that, you can then fine tune other methods such as feedings.

Yes I have an BRS 4 stage. 5 ppm going in and 0 coming out. Our city has good water luckily.