RockinSmall Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Nitrates in my 29 gallon have been at zero for 4 months. now the test reads bright ass red! In the last 2 weeks i have done a 8 gallon change then a 8 gallon change and just did a 10 gallon change.. still bright red... i have 4 shrimp and 2 small fish and a ton of corals.... what on earth should i do? Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 First check the water with another test kit (such as at a LFS) to see there is an actual problem. Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 tested freshwater and it does not have nitrates.. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Sorry, I meant test your tank water with another test kit. Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 doesnt the fresh saltwater act as a control test? even if another doesnt test AS high, i am certain that it is still high enough... something must be going wrong... Link to comment
Littlegreeny Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 +1 to lakshwadeep's advice. Try testing the water with a different test kit altogether or take a sample to your lfs and have them test it for you to confirm. If the results from the two different test kits are the same, then you'll need to tell us more about your tank. Livestock, what and how much you feed, anything you dose to the tank, etc. Link to comment
dsoz Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 +1 have LFS or someone else check with their test kits. Yours may be bad. Count your CUC. A dead snail can cause a nutrient spike. Do you have a macroalgae like chaeto? If not put some in. Even if it is just floating around the display or shoved behind a rock in the display. Give the chaeto lots of light and it will grow fast taking up lots of nutrients. Do you have sponge filters? Rinse them out. Better yet, toss them for filter floss. Do you have sand? stir up a little in a section and use a siphon hose to suck out the gunk that is stirred up. Only do a small section of your sandbed every week. If you encounter black sand, STOP!!! That is the sign of anoxic or anaerobic activity which can make poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas. Keep doing water changes, up to 1/2 your tank volume every 2-4 days. Good luck. dsoz Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 since i dont really have an lfs in my area of iowa i have to travel a state over to double test my water, it may take a few days till i have time... Sadly, this morning i found my flame angel dead... it was in perfect shape and health yesterday, but now lifeless. Can nitrates kill a fish so quickly?? And how on earth can i change 10 gallons of a 29 gallon system packed with rock and corals and still have bright red readings on my nitrate test just a half hour after a large water change??? Seems crazy, but i do believe the test is accurate... My other tank, the 12 gallon system, reads much lower nitrates and it has only been re set up for about 3 days and should be cycling since the sand wasnt live to begin with.... We do have a petco and petsmart nearby, will they test water samples? Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Since you're experiencing fish losses, I suggest doing very large water changes (50-75+%). Also, you might try to find a local SW aquarium owner for the second testing. petco/petsmart would be a good source for some chemical filter like chemipure. Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 i have super duper news!!!! im in the bright orange instead of the bright red!! yeah!!! sorry i am not giving nitrates in ppm, i lost the danm card! Link to comment
Littlegreeny Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I'm sorry that you lost your flame angel. I am happy that you are getting your nitrates down though. We still need to figure out why they got so high in the first place. BTW-Yes, high nitrates can have a negative effect on your livestock as you've found. That's why it's important to try to determine why your nitrates got so high in the first place. Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 The only thing i can think of is that recently i bought a large yellow sun coral colony, tubastrea, and since feeding them is so important in order to keep them alive, i have fed them a lof of food pellets and phytoplan in the last 2 weeks. Perhaps i have been over feeding? Its possible, but the jump was from zero to crazy so quickly.... i dunno.. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Try feeding them something like frozen mysis or small pieces of seafood since that will help eliminate excess waste/food. Use a baster or some tube/pipette to target feed the polyps. Link to comment
Seiryoku Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Don't forget to rinse the frozen food in some tank water before feeding. Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 so pellets for sun polyps not great idea? they sure eat them up... Also.. does each mouth need to be fed? i realize they r in a colony, but it looks like only the top of each polyp is alive and not the connecting base... Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Yes, each polyp should be fed. Some help: http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/0797/0797_3.html Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 excellent read.... perhaps my tank just cannot handle the frequent feedings this coral requires... Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Well, if your test is right, it could be that the tank is already adjusting to the feedings. Link to comment
Littlegreeny Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Bingo, that definitely sounds like the source! Feeding your tank more is not necessarily a problem provided you do more frequent and/or larger water changes to keep the nitrates in check. Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 ive been doing 8 gallon water changes 3 times a week for the last 3 weeks! i am positive over feeding isnt the issue at this point.. theres something going on! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Switch your food type and cut back on the volume/amount of times feeding. I use large mysid shrimp and/or bits of silverside twice a week for my sun corals and they do fine (tentacles extended all the time, look fat and happy, new buds popping up). Use a long forceps to feed each head and to bat away hungry fish. They are voracious eater's by the way and will take as much food as I have time to stuff in there. It always amazes me. I will feed a 3 mm piece of silverside and within minutes the head is back open and wanting more! Link to comment
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