suddenly nitrates

[wysiwyg]

are uncontrollable.

Suddenly at 12.5 mg/l (normally 3-6mg/l due to over-feeding)despite several large additional water changes (I always do a standard 10% each week to compensate for over-feeding). The only recent changes are less food going in (goes against the issue here), chemi-pure in for a week to make the water sparkle, and recent supplementing with Turbo Calcium, raising calc from 380 to 420. I read somewhere that Turbo Calc adds some ammonia to the system. Enough to cause this nitrate issue? Water volume is actually 18G due to LR displacement. Also, is it likely that using carbon deprives/starves your bio-filtration so that when the carbon is removed there isn't enough bacteria left to handle the ammonia that is no longer being exported by the carbon. Any thoughts?

[bertoni]

I doubt that the Turbo Calcium is the problem. I'm not sure what you mean by carbon. I don't think activated carbon is going to do anything bad for the tank. I suspect the overfeeding has caught up with the tank. Growing and harvesting a macroalga is one common solution to this problem.

[wysiwyg]

Thanks for your input, much appreciated. Hate to say this part, but the next time I post about out of whack parameters, please remind me to verify my test kit. In the future I will not purchase a test kit that does not include a reference test! Still, very much interested in growing macroalgae when we upgrade--thanks again.

[artman18944]

also i here dosing with surgar or vodka to help feed denitrifing bacteria may help control nitrates

[chrisjet]

instead of vodka straight try mixing some orange juice the fish will like it better:)