Water Changes

[bvickery1974]

Have 25g IM Lagoon with high nitrates. Raised up to 32ppm but 4g (16%). How often can I do water change to continue bringing down nitrates (both frequency and amount).

 

[DietDr.Kelp]

You could do a water change daily if you are able as far as available water / time to do so. I typically err on the conservative side when I do waterchanges, but I'm sure others will chime in that would be more heavy handed. For a 25 gallon, personally, I'd do about 4-5 gallons. To keep the nitrates lowered it will help to target the source of the issue (for example: overfeeding).

 

[Tahoe61]

Have 25g IM Lagoon with high nitrates. Raised up to 32ppm but 4g (16%). How often can I do water change to continue bringing down nitrates (both frequency and amount).

What testing modality are you using?
Your tank has not been up and going long, you can't be over feeding.
Have you tested your water source?

 

[TheNative192]

The bigger question is identifying what’s actually causing the high nitrates. In newer tanks, it’s common to see elevated nitrate levels left over from the initial cycle, and those often stabilize on their own over time. For example, my tank tested at 40 ppm nitrates because I dosed ammonia up to 2 ppm multiple times during the cycle. Nitrate test results can also read much higher than they really are if there is still even a little nitrite present (2ppm nitrite usually equals~20ppm on Nitrate test), since nitrite interferes with nitrate test accuracy. In my case, nitrates gradually settled to around 10 ppm with nothing more than a regular 10% water changes.

Phosphates are usually the bigger concern, since elevated phosphate levels, especially early on can lead to nuisance algae and related issues or an imbalance can lead to Dinos.

How much are you currently feeding per day, and what type of food are you using? Sometimes cutting back slightly or skipping a feeding every other day helps nutrients stabilize. As long as your phosphates are below about 0.2, I wouldn’t be too worried. That’s still on the higher side, but it’s fairly normal for a newer system and usually improves with time. Large aggressive water changes to force numbers down can sometimes backfire and trigger dinos, which is a much bigger problem than slightly elevated nutrients.

 

[TJ42]

I clicked on your build thread link and saw the tank just started and finished cycling basically. You put tb rock in it. Just moved around rockscape a couple of times... I don't think you have a problem. I would not chase numbers. Just let it do its thing. Trying to chase numbers at 3 weeks will not be healthy for the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I do not consider 32 ppm nitrate to be worthy of taking any special action. It is within my target range of 5-50 ppm.

Randy’s Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges

Thoughts on Nutrient Target Ranges by Randy Holmes-Farley Almost nothing in the world of reef aquarium chemistry causes as much discussion as selecting and maintaining ranges for nitrate and phosphate. Some aquarists want low targets, some want...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ECoast0023]

What does your feeding schedule look like? In the interim kicked up wcater changes can help, but as said above identifying the source is key.