Nitrate Dilema- Everything else is in a good range while nitrate is red!

[arksfairy]

Hello, I've been checking out this forum for a while and I like it. This is my first post

I have a 29 gallon biocube, it turned one year in may and is my first tank.

 

Everything in this tank has gone smoothly up to that point, (happy birthday tank, lol), It all started with my nitrate test kit giving me crazy readings of 80-160 ppm of nitrate. I freaked and went to the LFS to buy salt water and did a partial water change (5 gallons). I did about 3 water changes in a matter of 2 weeks because the nitrate kept reading high. The store tested my water at that point and said, it's not that bad just buff it up a little, and to switch out one gakllon of salt for fresh because it was too salty (i guess from the many water changes in such a short time) and the nitrates are almost normal. I bought 5 gallons of r/o water and another 5 of salt for later. When I got home, switched out a gallon of salt for fresh r/o with a little buffer in it. Later that week i did the water change and again nitrates thriugh the roof! I went to the store with my test kit and we tested my kit against there kit along with my water against their water and so on. The test kit was apparently bad because theirs also read through the roof... So i go ahead and buy a new nitrate kit and go home. I assume this one is fine and again i test it out, same thing, i think maybe i didn't shake it enough, but at that point I gave up and said F*ck it! I left the tank alone the rest of the week because everything else was perfect and my tank was fine and I was tired of going every few days to the LFS. I later bought a Protein skimmer about 3-4 weeks ago, it didn't fit good in my tank (it was a Fission for nano tanks) so I bought the biocube one. I know it didn't get amazing reviews but it fits my tank and i just wanted a little help with the nitrate, my bioload is not that heavy. So after 2 weeks of trying to take it easy with the tank I came home today and tried again... Nitrates through the roof! I don't want to go to the LFS right now because the guy thats in today is a jerk and always shrugs me off so I am coming to you guys in hopes that you can help. I am going to attach a pic of my test today so you can see that the other tests are fine. (nitrite,ammonia, ph, phosphate, nitrate)

 

Oh and here's info about my tank:

29 gallon biocube

Biocube Protein Skimmer

(Yesterday I took out the filter and put a bag of activated carbon-one cup- and covered with filter floss instead of filter since protein skimmer kinda took up that space)

 

Livestock:

One Firefisf, One Anthias, One Fairy Wrasse, One percula Clown, One Diamondback Goby, one arrow crab (he might go back to the store I just got him to get rid of a weird worm, which he hasn't done that I know of -lol), a bristle starfish (theres a few little ones but i have one large bristle star) and a few hermit crabs and snails.

 

Coral: about 7-8 purple mushrooms, two or three ricordia, cinnamon polyp, cat eye bubble (just got him one week ago), candy cane coral (which is actually dying because those tiny starfish that eat coral came with the LFS water and I found a few on it already ), green star polyp, two Kenya trees (i think thats what they're called), and some pulsing Xenias. Had a sea fan my husband bought last week but i don't think it acclimated well and it died

 

My Tank

 

Opinions or Advice please Thank you!

[Maddevil1]

Did you buy the same kind of test kit again? I recently switched to the ELOS nitrate test kit and like it better than the API test kit. Also, buy a bag of 100ml Purigen and drop it in the system, this will help with absorbing stuff that might cause nitrates.

 

What does your filtration look like in the back chambers? Are you still using bio-balls? If so, that might be your nitrate source.

 

[Meengineer0128]

Did you buy the same kind of test kit again? I recently switched to the ELOS nitrate test kit and like it better than the API test kit. Also, buy a bag of 100ml Purigen and drop it in the system, this will help with absorbing stuff that might cause nitrates.

 

What does your filtration look like in the back chambers? Are you still using bio-balls? If so, that might be your nitrate source.

 

+1 to all of these potential problems

 

What is your water change regiment like???

[arksfairy]

Maddevil:

Is this the purigen you mentioned? http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/prod...cfm?pcatid=4190

 

In the back I do still have bioballs. I recently took out two-three handfuls out to fit my filter over it because the protein skimmer took up the space where the filter fit. But yesterday I also removed the filter and i put one of those mesh bags for carbon with about one cup of activated carbon (this is on top of the bioballs) and then put filter floss over that, covered it with the little tray it has and then put a small chunk of filter floss right where the water flows in the most to pick up all the crap. I seem to be havng to clean this out more often lately.

 

Meengineer:

I used to change my water every 3-4 weeks and my filter as well, until about two months ago when everything decided to be a pain and I spent a month (MAY) doing water changes every week , (3 times the first two weeks because of the bogus nitrate read) Now I've just stuck to every week, week and a half since I added the protein skimmer. But it still reads the same. It is still the same brand of test kit, and I think it might have been in the store too long? I heard that test kits go bad when they are still for too long (i dunno if that makes sense, just heard it at the LFS when the guy was trying to figure out why my first one went bad)

 

If I do get rid of the bioballs, what do I put instead? Remeber this is my first tank, all my guidance has been from LFS and my best friend who has had many tanks, but she doesn't know why mine is doing this lol)

 

I've looked at a few mods people have done in that chamber, like putting live rock, or cheato, and chemipure, etc. What is a ggod build for back there without stressing out my tank with any sudden changes.

[Audi0s]

Could be a bad kit, my friend went nuts trying to bring his 160ppm nitrate level down....until he borrowed my kit.

[franklypre]

Prime and most Mark Wiess products will give you false readings on a cheap test kit.

[arksfairy]

I use the API test kit

[MusicISUnlimited]

AHh..high nitrates a reef keepers burden haha..when i first started reefing my nitrates would be perfect and then they seemed to spike up after a WC, i later found out that when i would pour the water in i would stir up all the waste and everything on the sand and sometimes the levels would remain high for a week. That may be a problem. Just a suggestion because you said you have been doin some WC`s

[Nemo Niblets]

The bioballs will surely give you nitrates. Also, there is a sponge on/beside the return pump. That will trap tons of gunk. Throw it out. I had the exact some problems...

 

Also, next water change, water change out of the back chambers. Suck out all that gunk.

 

I've looked at a few mods people have done in that chamber, like putting live rock, or cheato, and chemipure, etc. What is a ggod build for back there without stressing out my tank with any sudden changes.

 

I wouldn't do live rock rubble. I'd just take out the bioballs slowly, leave it running empty until you figure something out though.

 

LR rubble does the same thing as bioballs, collect and trap crap. Go to mediabaskets.com and look at some of their products

 

Feed every other day at maximum, and once you get rid of the sponge and bioballs, I'd do a 10-15g water change.

[arksfairy]

I did at one point clean out the back a little and i've been rinsing out that nasty sponge, i left it in because that area tends to have crap in it too (which being the part of the tank where everything should be filtered, i don't understand why this area would be dirty) I would describe it like a layer of "dust" lol.

And i did used to stir up the sand a little when I would do my water changes before all this but before i took the water out, then i would suck all that water out (5g) and ppour in the new. But now I don't do that any more, but my sand gets stirred up whether I want to or not becaus eof the diamond goby lol!

 

I have pondered a 10-15 gallon (50%) water change but I haven't done it because I'm not sure about the test kit. I'm going to take it, the kit, to the store and check the one I bought from them out also and have them check my water again.

I also forgot to mention, I've been adding A and B treatment to the tank to see if that helps, and also since I'm using the skimmer to replace whatever good stuff it takes out. I don't think the skimmer is doing too much but it's something. The water I take out of it everyday is about 20cc and it's very light colored. (I don't know what it's supposed to look like, but I've read it's supposed to be gunkier stuff lol)

[Nemo Niblets]

I did at one point clean out the back a little and i've been rinsing out that nasty sponge, i left it in because that area tends to have crap in it too (which being the part of the tank where everything should be filtered, i don't understand why this area would be dirty) I would describe it like a layer of "dust" lol.

And i did used to stir up the sand a little when I would do my water changes before all this but before i took the water out, then i would suck all that water out (5g) and ppour in the new. But now I don't do that any more, but my sand gets stirred up whether I want to or not becaus eof the diamond goby lol!

 

I have pondered a 10-15 gallon (50%) water change but I haven't done it because I'm not sure about the test kit. I'm going to take it, the kit, to the store and check the one I bought from them out also and have them check my water again.

I also forgot to mention, I've been adding A and B treatment to the tank to see if that helps, and also since I'm using the skimmer to replace whatever good stuff it takes out. I don't think the skimmer is doing too much but it's something. The water I take out of it everyday is about 20cc and it's very light colored. (I don't know what it's supposed to look like, but I've read it's supposed to be gunkier stuff lol)

 

I had a biocube. Take out the sponge. It does 5x more harm than good. Just siphon the gunk out periodically. Describe the A and B treatment more..? Is it Calcium and Alkalinity?

[arksfairy]

A and b (C-Balance)

 

"Two part balanced Ionic Supplement of calcium and buffer for marine aquariums"

A says Liquid calcium component

B says Liquid alkalinity component

 

Back of bottle

"C-balance replenishes calcium and carbonate alkalinity with the correct ratio of major and minor ions, including magnesium and strontium. C-balance also contains important trace elements, but since these are depleted by the marinelife and filtration, it is important to replenish trace elements with a supplement like combi-san or sea element. C-balance replenishes salts lost via protein skimming, but is dosage exceeds salt loss, the specific gravity of the water will increase. This is easily countered by removing some water and replacing it with pure freshwater. C-balance can be used as an alternative to "kalkwasser" or as a supplement to it...etc"

[lakshwadeep]

C-balance is should not affect the nitrate test kit, and you haven't mentioned using calcium/alkalinity test kits to monitor its effects. It's best not to add it since you don't have a lot of corals that need it, and your blindly dosing without testing.

 

Your LFS gave no numbers when providing their recommendations? What test kit were they using?

 

+1 to getting your water tested by a different test. You can't really know what should be done if your numbers are wrong.

[arksfairy]

ok, so it turns out my test kit is wonky and my nitrates were not that high. Did a water change anyways and everything looks good, also going tommorow to the store to buy a balance ball, some new test kits, and an additional powerhead to help get rid of detritus. Just wanted to let you guys know what the final outcome was, thanks for all the help and suggestions