View Full Version : Nitrate spike 80-120 ppm
ken1977
03/26/2012, 10:47 PM
I have been feeding frozen mysis the kind in cubes. I turned my skimmer off for two days and dropped a cap of phyto feast for two days in a row. Could this have caused this? My nitrates were at almost zero 3 weeks ago.
funkejj
03/26/2012, 10:49 PM
Ok tell us about your system. How old is it? What filtration are you running? What kind of substrate? Why did you turned the skimmer off? These will be a good start.
ken1977
03/26/2012, 11:11 PM
My tank has been running since October 2011. I haven't fed my coral phyto feast for about 1 month so I turned off the skimmer when I fed. I have been feeding mysis daily the frozen cube kind.
funkejj
03/26/2012, 11:13 PM
Ok what is your substrate? Is it sand or crushed coral? Are you running a sump? Do you have any bio media in it like bio balls? Do you run a canister filter?
ken1977
03/26/2012, 11:14 PM
http://img.tapatalk.com/4b8c0c64-4c34-5540.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/4b8c0c64-4c4d-f464.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/4b8c0c64-4c70-8c6c.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/4b8c0c64-4c8f-bc02.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/4b8c0c64-4ca8-8c72.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/4b8c0c64-4cba-f641.jpg
funkejj
03/26/2012, 11:23 PM
Have you retested to see if you get the same result? What test kit and how old is it?
ken1977
03/26/2012, 11:51 PM
Ok what is your substrate? Is it sand or crushed coral? Are you running a sump? Do you have any bio media in it like bio balls? Do you run a canister filter?
I use live sand from the bag. I have a sump with a reef octopus 4 skimmer, filter sock, and return pump only. And live Rock in dt.
ken1977
03/27/2012, 12:03 AM
I am running my auto feeder three times a day I just dialed it down to two time a day, I was feeding 1 mysis cube at 7:00pm daily and once a day throwing in a pinch of pellet food. Possible over feeding? The only thing I can think of.
ken1977
03/27/2012, 12:11 AM
Running mp40 on nutrient transport mode over night.
lambchops
03/27/2012, 02:01 AM
So you were feeding 4 times a day just a little while ago? from the pictures it doesn't look like you have a lot of lives stock so I wouldn't feed nearly that much.
SPotter
03/27/2012, 04:30 AM
Feeding way too much. always better to under feed than over feed. i feed once a day during the week and twice on the weekends. the longest i would leave the skimmer off is a couple of hours at the most.
BigCountry74
03/27/2012, 06:47 AM
Feeding way too much. always better to under feed than over feed. i feed once a day during the week and twice on the weekends. the longest i would leave the skimmer off is a couple of hours at the most.
x2
ken1977
03/28/2012, 12:51 AM
Ok, I guess I got carried away on the feeding. Will water changes help. I do a five gallon a week every Tuesday. I did a five gallon today, should I do another 5 tomorrow? MP40 still running on nutrient transport mode. I noticed my clown fish is swimming (sleeping) on sand bed and moves sand all around makes it to the bottom glass. Can this be the problem???
ken1977
03/28/2012, 01:03 AM
So you were feeding 4 times a day just a little while ago? from the pictures it doesn't look like you have a lot of lives stock so I wouldn't feed nearly that much.
1 Midas blenny, 1 mystery wrasse 1 twin spot gobby 2 clowns 3 chromises 2 fire shrimp. How many times a day an how much should I feed them I have a ehiem auto feeder I just set it to two times a day.
uncleof6
03/28/2012, 03:49 PM
Ok, I guess I got carried away on the feeding. Will water changes help. I do a five gallon a week every Tuesday. I did a five gallon today, should I do another 5 tomorrow? MP40 still running on nutrient transport mode. I noticed my clown fish is swimming (sleeping) on sand bed and moves sand all around makes it to the bottom glass. Can this be the problem???
Those small water changes, are not going to bring down your nitrate level--especially, if it is being produced at the same time.
5% water change, from a level of 120 ppm will reduce the nitrate level to 114 ppm. Another 5% water change will reduce the level to 108.3 ppm. This does not include what is being produced. So a 5% water change will most likely produce 0 net reduction.
Water changes for reduction of nitrate, or ammonia, have to be large to make a dent in it. However, any max or close to max readings, I would have confirmed, before doing anything, save for ammonia--because it is toxic--put a big dent in it, and ask questions later.
Shoryureppa
03/28/2012, 07:22 PM
is that a semi dsb? too much of the substrate can be trapping things in the substrate.
ken1977
03/28/2012, 08:05 PM
Nitrates down between 40 ppm - 80 ppm
ken1977
03/28/2012, 11:23 PM
Can fish digging in the sand cause this?
uncleof6
03/28/2012, 11:40 PM
I doubt that. With poor flow, stuff can get stuck in the sand bed, and be decomposed and ultimately become nitrates, but that sand looks pretty clean, and looks fine. Stuff does not easily get stuck in fine sand. I suspect what you are lacking, is efficient nitrate export.
ken1977
03/29/2012, 12:51 AM
I doubt that. With poor flow, stuff can get stuck in the sand bed, and be decomposed and ultimately become nitrates, but that sand looks pretty clean, and looks fine. Stuff does not easily get stuck in fine sand. I suspect what you are lacking, is efficient nitrate export.
Rookie question: What is the best way to have efficient nitrate export?
jerseygurl
03/29/2012, 08:33 AM
Rookie question: What is the best way to have efficient nitrate export?
Get a better skimmer or add a refugium with macroalgae. Why don't you DIY yourself a refugium, it's cheap, easy, and effective.
However, WOW that's some nitrate spike. I bet your sand is septic from persistand overfeeding. Do you vaccuum it? Try this, do a deep sand vaccuum on one small area of the tank and see what you get out.
Also if you're using a dip strip test kit your readings are probably wrong.
Palting
03/29/2012, 09:17 AM
Rookie question: What is the best way to have efficient nitrate export?
IMO, there is no single best nitrate export in the long term. Multiple modality is best. Judicious feeding, aggressive skimming, adequate live rock paired with adequate flow, decent sand bed, regular water changes, larger refugium with macroalgae. IMO, relying on one or two methods is inadequate. In my 200 gallon system, I feed fish once a day and coral twice a week, have a 300 gallon capable skimmer, 140 lbs live rock with almost 40X flow, 3" aragonite sandbed, 10%-15% weekly water changes, and a 20 gallon refugium fulll of macro. I also use mechanical filters on all my drains and clean those weekly. Nitrates have been zero since the tank cycled, and I have no algae issues.
As far as the sand bed, your sand bed does not look that bad. I refrain from vacuumng my sand bed. Instead, I just regularly stir it to get any detritus into the water to be processed.
In the short term, such as to control a large nitrate spike like yours, I would stir up the sand bed to get as much junk into the water, then do a series of large >50 water changes. Make sure that thhe new water closely matches your old water, other than for nitrate level of course.
HTH!! :)
BigCountry74
03/29/2012, 10:06 AM
Get a better skimmer or add a refugium with macroalgae. Why don't you DIY yourself a refugium, it's cheap, easy, and effective.
However, WOW that's some nitrate spike. I bet your sand is septic from persistand overfeeding. Do you vaccuum it? Try this, do a deep sand vaccuum on one small area of the tank and see what you get out.
Also if you're using a dip strip test kit your readings are probably wrong.
macroalgae feeds on phosphate for the most part. if your tank is new, its going to grow slow, if grow at all. that is my experience at least. i do not think it does anything for nitrate.
BigCountry74
03/29/2012, 10:08 AM
In the short term, such as to control a large nitrate spike like yours, I would stir up the sand bed to get as much junk into the water, then do a series of large >50 water changes. Make sure that thhe new water closely matches your old water, other than for nitrate level of course.
x2
ken1977
04/12/2012, 12:09 AM
Does anyone use prime for nitrate spike?
jerseygurl
04/12/2012, 07:19 AM
macroalgae feeds on phosphate for the most part. if your tank is new, its going to grow slow, if grow at all. that is my experience at least. i do not think it does anything for nitrate.
Macroalgae like chaeto feeds on phosphate and nitrate, in the tanks I run with large chaeto refugiums my nitrates stay at like 0 and I have to pull a couple of handfulls of it out every week it grows so fast.
ken1977
04/15/2012, 01:21 PM
Does cheating require light?
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