HELP NITRATES AT 100!

[ReefRockerLive]

I was doing the usual water changes every week and to help with that I was adding the Nitrate Removal bags that are called, "Algone" Today I checked my Nitrates again and it showed to be at 100! Before I began to add the "Algone bags" my Nitrates were at 50! The nitrates doubled in little time!

What can I do besides doing water changes? Are there any products that really work and do a good job?

Thanks

[wasp]

All these products should be regarded as short term fixes only.
In your case, either your test kit is wrong, or there are issues in your tank that must be fixed.
Check these first :-
Is your tank overstocked / overfed?
Are you using any type of aerobic filtration? (cannister, wet/dry, or such)
How much flow and liverock you got?
How mature is your tank?

Post up some answers to this and anything else may be appropriate, and a solution should materialise.

[ReefRockerLive]

Well my tank is 2-3 months old and is lightly stocked.
All I have for filtration is my Cheato and Live sand in the sump
For return I am using a Mag 9.5 and a Tunze 6000 for flow. I have about 65 lbs of fully cured and coralline encrusted Live Rock.

The only foods that I feed are the Cyclop-eez,Freshwater Mysis, and Marine Cuisine by SFBB(San Fransisco Bay Brand)

Thanks

[wasp]

Ok, at 2-3 months, your nitrate reducing bacteria will not have fully kicked in, this will commonly take 6 months, even though the rest of the cycle may have completed at 6 weeks or so.
Did you cure the rock yourself or was it already cured when you got it?

I would be concerned at the foods you are adding. While all good foods, they are also ones that will ad a LOT of nutrients to the tank. An experiment would be to stop feeding entirely for several days, then re test the nitrate level. In any case, the benefit your livestock is getting from the food will be negated by the large level of nitrate, which is now at harmful levels.

In my humble opinion, stop feeding cyclopeeze and mysis totally, and over a week or so wean them of the marine cuisine and on to a flake or pellet food, feed once per day just enough that every last bit is gone in a minute or two.

It may take a few months but you ought to see your nitrates come down. Once you are happy with your nitrate you could cautiously re-introduce some of the other foods.

Let's know how it goes.

[ReefRockerLive]

The rock that I recieved was already fully cured. Should I continue proforming 5g water changes or should I let the nitrate reducing bacteria continue to build?

Also, can I add clams into the tank to help out in reducing Nitrates? If so, what would be the best one to do the job?

Thanks

[wasp]

I'll have to let someone else answer the clam question, I've never had one.

Water changes are always a good thing. But to get nitrates down quickly, do some decent sized ones, 30% or more.
Of course, if the underlying issues are still there the nitrates will just come back, so do the other things and then a few big waterchanges.
Also, don't put any media in your hang on filters, other than carbon. Other filtration type media in a hang on can greatly increase nitrate levels.

[Orion76]

No skimmer? Big difference!

[wasp]

He does actually have a skimmer, but he edited the post.

[ReefRockerLive]

I am using the Euro Reef ES5-3 on my tank.

[Orion76]

Ahh yes, I remember you were having some performance issues with your Euro reef, I think this is at the heart of your problem. More nutrients going in than coming out.

[ReefRockerLive]

Orion76-What do you suggest I do? Keep trying to fine tune the skimmer? Should I skim wet?
Thanks

[Orion76]

Do you have a picture of your skimmer in action?

[ReefRockerLive]

I'll try to get one tonight. I just cleaned out the cup and the skimmate was light brown and barely had an odor. Hopefully I can get something out of it since I tweeked a bit again.

[tonkadawg]

Also on skimmer, pull the pump, take it apart and clean the propeller, then run the whole thing in a bucket of vinegar water. I find that when my euro reef stops performing, a good cleaning always does some good.

[ReefRockerLive]

That's a great idea! I'll go do that right now then get to the pictures! Thanks!