Nitrates are 160 helppppp

[Novice101]

Ok so I really cant figure why im having this problem I think it might be too many fish for a 55 gal I have a hippo and yellow tang 4 clownfish a purple firefish a aurora goby a mandarin, cleaner shrimp and a starfish linckia. Ph is a "0" apparently to the test. Ive been doing 20% water changes every 3 days and still no luck bringing it down even a little. Please please help

[Aquat]

My first guess is that you have a faulty test kit. Are you doing WC with RODI water? And what are your means of filtration?

[disc1]

pH is 0? Say what? No, pH of 0 would fizz up and dissolve all the rocks and sand and fish. Please clear that up a little with something that makes sense or at least explain how you got 0 or pH.

[Novice101]

No rodi but I have tested the water I use and it shows like 5ppm nitrates I use the api master kit and the test I used for ph has the color of 0.

[disc1]

0 is NOT an option on any aquarium pH kit. Are you talking about kh? Do you mean 8.0?

[Novice101]

The little card goes from 0ppm to 10ppm for phosphates I tried uploading a picture but it's not working

[supervdl]

oh boy a hippo and a yellow tang and 4 clown fish in a 55 gal..... way too small of a tank for either one. please do your research...

[disc1]

The little card goes from 0ppm to 10ppm for phosphates I tried uploading a picture but it's not working

Ok phosphate. That's PO4 not pH. pH is something else entirely.

[Novice101]

Do you think that the fish are the problem for high nitrate?

[grant778]

A high bioload would create higher nitrates but 160 ppm is crazy high. I would test with another test kit as it sounds like it may be incorrect because if ur nitrates were really at 160 ppm, your shrimp and starfish would have been dead long ago.

[disc1]

No rodi but I have tested the water I use and it shows like 5ppm nitrates I use the api master kit and the test I used for ph has the color of 0.

If your top off and makeup water have 5ppm nitrate then you're going to have high nitrate in the tank. Basically every time you top off your evaporation it goes up by a little bit.

The answer to your problem is to start using RODI and then try to get the tank back in order.

[Novice101]

Ok so thats the most viable solution? Even then though I shouldn't have nitrates completely off the charts

[Laardvark]

n\m, someone already said it.

[Novice101]

No its phosphates I was completely unaware their was two different things

[disc1]

Ok so thats the most viable solution? Even then though I shouldn't have nitrates completely off the charts

Why you think it shouldn't be off the charts? You're adding more and more nitrate every time you top off. With 5ppm in your makeup water I might even expect it to be higher than the 160 you see depending on how long it has been that way.

[supervdl]

I think he is talking about phosphates. His nitrates shouldnt be this high if the new water is at 5 - get some good test kits Hanna for Phosphates and Salifert for Nitrates and test again.

[Novice101]

No my nitrates are 160 im positive on that my phosphates are at 0

[disc1]

I think he is talking about phosphates. His nitrates shouldnt be this high if the new water is at 5 - get some good test kits Hanna for Phosphates and Salifert for Nitrates and test again.

If he's topping off with that water then yes it should be. Start out at 5ppm. Some water evaporates and the concentration goes up. Then you top off with water with even more nitrate. So now nitrate is above the 5ppm you started with. Play this out over time and you eventually get nitrate through the roof.

[grant778]

But he has a shrimp and starfish, wouldn't they be dead if it was actually this high? It can't hurt to take a sample of water to the lfs to double check just in case. If he is using the test kit to check his tap water and tank water and the test kit is messed up, he could be getting incorrect readings for both.

[disc1]

It may not be at 160ppm, but it is surely elevated and won't come down until you stop adding nitrate to the system. For every gallon you top off you're adding almost 20mg of nitrate to the system. That nitrate doesn't go away, it just gets more and more concentrated the more of it you add.

[Novice101]

I'll definitely have to take a sample somewhere because this is really worrying

[supervdl]

If he's topping off with that water then yes it should be. Start out at 5ppm. Some water evaporates and the concentration goes up. Then you top off with water with even more nitrate. So now nitrate is above the 5ppm you started with. Play this out over time and you eventually get nitrate through the roof.

Ok good point but he has been doing large water changes with lower nitrate water, shouldn't this get the nitrates down?

[Novice101]

My exact thoughts

[disc1]

Only 20% every three days. How much top off is going in during that time? Is this tap water 5ppm all the time or just when it was tested? Could there be fluctuation there? Plus the tank is making nitrate.

Either way the source of the nitrates is obvious. And you won't eliminate nitrate until you eliminate that source.

[Novice101]

No I testing upstairs and downstairs water downstairs is 5ppm upstairs is 0ppm all the time I normally use upstairs water. And not very much I usually let all my saltwater mix for a day or 2 in a 20 gallon Rubbermaid I rarely put in just water

[jon+megan]

If you are getting confused with the tests between phosphate and pH you need to probably enlist the help of a someone a little more experienced until you have it all set in your own mind...unless the misunderstanding was that you thought pH was the abbreviation for phosphate as i am certain you did not expect your water to have a pH of zero right? battery acid is pH 1, tap water 7, tank 8.x.
phosphate at 0 is a good thing so was pale with a little tint hopefully
not all test kits are consistent but if same kit and method is used to test tank at 160 (dark red) and tap water at 5ppm (yellow) then that should confirm kit working.

a 20% (only 10 gallons in this case) water change with 5ppm on a tank at 160ppm should bring it down to about 130ppm.

another 10 gals from there would brig to around 110 etc with drops becoming less dramatic each time.

[Novice101]

I did think that ph was the abbreviation for phosphate

[bertoni]

I'd get a second opinion on the test kit, assuming that's not too painful, but 160 ppm probably is safe enough for animals other than perhaps stony corals. If anything is having trouble, some water change should help. Also, small amount of nitrite can fool a nitrate test kit, so I might test the nitrite level, although problems there are rare.