Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

Nitrate: How high is too high?


rwalsh156

Recommended Posts

Ok so I have been monitoring my nitrates as part of routine tank maintenance (usually check them 2 times a month) and noticed the levels slowly rising from 0 mg/L (ppm) to 25 mg/L. I have been looking on here but have not been able to find a consistent answer on hat the critical number is so I am hoping a few people will have some suggestions and maybe some level guidelines to stick to.

 

In my current setup I have a 29 gal tank with a 10 gal sump. Filtration is done with live rock, canister filter, a small refuge in the sump (contains some macro algae, small live rock, and sea sponge), and an Skimz SM122 External Protein skimmer (this was installed about 1 month ago and replaced a HOB unit). Ca, Alk, and Vodka is adding using a Marine Magic dosing pump. ATO FW water is connected to a Kalkreactor to maintain Ca and Alk levels. System is controlled by Neptune Apex.

 

Live stock: 3 clams (Squamosa, Maxima, Corcea), thorny oyster, red bubble tip anemone, 2 clowns, damsel, lawnmower blemy, dragon goby, trigger mandarin, pigmy angel, several crabs (cortez, blues, and zebra), several snails (zebra nerites, nassarius, chiton, and astraea), blue linkia starfish, brittle starfish, and lots of corals (mixed SPS and soft).

 

Chemistry:

Salinity 35 ppt

Temp 78 F

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0 ppm (had a small spike last month that quickly went away)

Nitrate: 25 ppm

Magnesium: 1550 ppm

Phosphate: 0 ppm (GFO in-use)

Calcium: 440 ppm

Alkalinity: 11.0 dKh

ORP: average is 370

pH: average is near 8.25-8.35

 

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. And yes I know its overstocked.

 

 

 

Link to comment

You want to keep your nitrates at 0 and ideally have them no higher than 10.

There is no true answer to this because the animals will survive upto quite high levels but it is very stressful and not good for your system

Link to comment

Sounds like you went through a cycle.

Bring down nitrates below 10 with water changes and you should be good.

Having nitrates above 10 sometimes concerns me lol

Link to comment
NorthGaHillbilly

I expect your clams will appreciate an "elevated" nitrate level, but 25 is pretty high. As said before, try getting below twn, but I wouldt shoot for 0 in any tank, and with clams your going to want to shoot higher than others.

Any clue why your running high? Heavy feedings? Is your skimmer pulling well?

Link to comment

Hi Everyone,

 

Thanks for all of the advice. I am glad to say that my nitrates have shown some improvement after doing a 10 percent water change. They are down to 10 or at least closer to 10 then 25 (the Salifert kit seems skip any other intermediate values).

 

As for why they are high, I don't have too many good guesses on this one. The most obvious would be food. I use the Neptune Auto Feeder set at the lowest setting for one cycle a day. The food I use is Spectrum pellets. I used to do mysis shrimp but with the nitrates being an issue, I have held back on these for the time being. One other source I can think of is activity form snails and slugs. I recently bought a sea cucumber and quite a few nassarius snails. I suppose if they have been highly active in the sand bed and the live rocks then they could have stirred up a pocket of decaying matter.

 

As far as the skimmer goes, it seems to be making a dark skimmate. The color is much like that of coffee, which I is typically good. However, this is my first external skimmer (not a hang-on-the-back; one that is fed by a feed pump) and I have had some issues with the water level in the unit. It seems to be good now so I will just have to keep an eye on it.

 

Currently I am suspecting that something may have been off with the Salifert kit. None of the animals appear to be stressed (clowns are acting normal and doing their mating dance; clams show no gaping and even have shell growth; all corals seem to be normal or growing). I am planning to take a water sample to my LFS for testing and will test a sample at work since we have research lab quality reagents for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate from Hach.

 

Hopefully something is just off with the kit, purchase a new one and be done with the matter.

Link to comment

honestly I think nitrates are more of a barometer of sorts for general tank pollutants, but not necessarily a cause for concern in themselves. If your test kit is reading 25ppm correctly, but your fish and corals all look healthy and are growing, why worry? As long as you're not getting too much nuisance algae, nitrates are a bit of an overrated problem.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...