Upgraded tank = huge nitrate spike

[Gil2Gil]

Hey,

 

So I've had a pico running for about 6 months and have been really wanting to upgrade. Finally moved apt this month and have a ton of space, so I bout the nuvo 20.

 

Love the tank and got it for a great deal!

 

Anyways, I transferred everything over from the pico to the new tank. It's been a few days now and I'm still trying to get things settled.

 

Salinity, ammonia, nitrite and finally temp are settled - but the nitrate is really high 40ppm

 

All the coral has been fine since day one of the move, I used their original water, and sand (which is where I think I messed up).

 

Anyways, today I noticed the Xenia and waving hand looked a little miserable, sure enough the nitrate test showed up a color I've never seen before.

 

My question; how much time do I have before s**** hits the fan here?

 

And as far as solutions; I did a 3 gallon water change out of desperation this morning. Helped a little I think, not enough I know. After some research I ran into PURIGEN. Any advise or experience? The soonest I can get this stuff is tomorrow after work if the damn petco has it. I'm in Manhattan, finding a good LFS has been a mission. Throw me ideas.

 

Will the nitrate get eaten as the tank settles?

 

I know it would only be about 16 gal water change. If like to avoid mixing all of that and hauling it 4 flights of stairs. And avoid chemical dosing. Any experience with this pad?

[Thormoto]

I had the same situation happen, moved from a 10 gal to the nuvo 20 and boom spike in nitrates. I used some original sand and some new but added a bit of dry liverock. I did get mine back to a humane safe level when I added a media basket, purigen and phosguard. They really knocked it down and have been keeping it down in the sub 5 ppm range.

I would like to add I did a probably 30-40% water change at the same time.

nitrates will get eaten once your tank has a chance to grow into the new volume.

[Gil2Gil]

I did do a 3 gallons water change yesterday.

 

What do you think My next move should be?

 

But the purigen or massive water change?

[Simulated Fish]

+1 large water change


Sounds like you stirred up a lot of old die-off that had settled under the rock/sand and now it is getting processed. in the new tank. WC is how we get the excess nitrate out. Ammonia > Nitrites > Nitrates > WC!

 

+1 large water change


Sounds like you stirred up a lot of old die-off that had settled under the rock/sand and now it is getting processed. in the new tank. WC is how we get the excess nitrate out. Ammonia > Nitrites > Nitrates > WC!

[Thormoto]

yes I believe a large water change is the first thing to do maybe even closer to the 40-50% change might be needed to know down the levels then I would suggest starting to run at least purigen.

[Gil2Gil]

Really? Only 50%

I was going to do close to 100%

[smeagol108]

saw your other post, purigen wont hurt but it aint gonna bring it down quick or even all the way. purigen doesn't remove nitrates as far as I am concerned but rather prevents dissolved waste from becoming nitrates. at least how I understand it to work.

 

I would again stress a 100 percent water change. I get that four flights of stairs is a lot, but this is the sure fire way to fix your problem immediately and not just wait it out. We need to be decisive and take action in this hobby to fix things, and a 100 percent water change will solve the problem immediately.

 

if you do 50 percent, its just gonna cut your nitrates in half.

 

so you don't have to find you other post I posted in:

very simple solution here. do a 100% water change/. match temp and salinity and ALK if you have sps. You only have a 20 gallon, and its prob only 15-16 gallons of water. Very easy change and it will bring those nitrates instantly to zero. quickest fix and guaranteed to work.

 

at this point you already put the sand in so siphoning and than putting it back after rinsing or adding new sand is a pain. do the 100 percent water change and than watch the nitrates. they will creep back up as the sand bed settles and the detritus breaks down more but it will be manageable a syou will be back to zero nitrates. Do another 100 percent change is necessary a few a days later. Before you do the 100 percent change block off rocks real good to get everything stirred up in the water column.

[Gil2Gil]

Thank you smeagol! Wanted to make sure I did research before I pulled the trigger. So many opinions, I've been told countless times that every move you make in this hobby needs to be taken slow and thought out. But if you say the system will be fine with 100% change, I'll do it today.

[brandon429]

I support that, but would add one feature

 

don't just change water on top of detritus that was moved over, if you want to give your tank the best options you need to part it out, rip clean that sandbed making it zero waste, then do the 100% water change and start. Clearly this is a bigger job than just changing the water, which will still work fine, but you are left with tank aging in place that will fuel minor algae outbreaks any chance it gets. avoiding the work of the big tank cleaning has a price later, for sure. Doing all that work right now saves you that risk, but it makes lots of work required now to part out and clean your tank correctly. You can indeed clean the sandbed of all possible waste, and put it right back in without a cycle. The cycle risk comes only from impartial cleaning, not the cleaning aspect. we have large threads on this procedure if needed.

 

the vast vast majority of reefers would keep the sandbed waste in place, avoid the work, and deal with the results as they come about. they would indeed take the least work route, touted to be the safest but in the end isn't the cleanest way to start your tank. you will be leaving 100% of the source of the current nitrate readings in place not cleaning out the bed which isn't a deal breaker, it just makes algae wars out of your favor when applicable

[Gil2Gil]

Thank you.

 

it's probably important to add there is a clown fish and a ton of coral.

 

Are you suggesting I stir up the sand a ton right before I remove the old water?

How dangerous is that to the animals in the tank?

[brandon429]

no we cant disturb it while the life is in the tank

 

the cleaning act is highly dangerous that's why this is rare, the sandbed cleaning event. you'd have to part out your rocks, fish and coral into other containers stirring up zero or they'd die from ammonia possibly, this is what makes the effort worth it, to not have that potential. to leave it in place means if you stir it up any other time that recycle can come too, this is a choice many don't want to make. if your sandbed isn't all that dirty its not that big of a deal.

 

 

before you begin, see if you want this ideal headache here's work we've done on larger setups:

 

http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

 

 

at no time would we disturb the bed while your animals rocks and corals are inside, they must be separated. you are redoing your whole transfer in this mode, nothing is partial. the payoff is amazing, however this is rare, 1% want to do this. 99% want to continue as is, since you didn't have a recycle and made it fine. must choose

 

 

I think I make quite the case above for you redoing things, but that's zero risk to me and all the risk on you to work the method, its risky but at the same time it does not ever ever vary, if you leave detritus you risk death, if you leave none, you don't. never fails. what does fail is someone promising to remove all detritus, and then leaving some and we discuss why the tank died. if you deem the sandbed not that dirty then a rip cleaning may not be needed...that's just how to go about one above, if its deemed needed.

[Gil2Gil]

In that case, the sand isn't dirty enough to do all of that and run the risk.

 

There is only about 2-3 pounds of old sand in the system, and 15 pounds of new sand. So I'd guess it's not dirty enough for the risk.

 

I will do a 100% water change today, I'll update you in a few hours.

 

Thank you for taking the time and explaining each option so in detail Brandon, it really is a huge help.

 

I'm sure we've all been through something like this, and all that running through your head is how much you've invested in coral and that damn platinum clownish you just HAD to buy lol.

 

Thanks guys

[brandon429]

yes I fully agree if its not really bad, then resetting it only buys you a few mos time reset and the sb will be right back to where it is now. this is mostly useful for the years-stored up ones, where removing all the detritus is like the fountain of youth reset for an old/crudded up tank

[dandelion]

I always dose Prime after a water change just in case I caused a mini cycle. I also have the seachem ammonia badge that shows me if there's any ammonia present in the tank.

[Gil2Gil]

 

Noted on the Seachem Ammonia Badge, dandelion - I'll order one right now.

 

So everyone is basically in agreement to leave the sand bed alone and go for the water change. Just hauled up 11 gallons and going out for 5 more. I think I should be good with that.

 

Here comes mixing...

[Gil2Gil]

There is company. The soonest this can safely go down is in the morning.

 

Everything is open. The morning it'll be....