Nitrates and Purigen

[myownreef2015]

So I'm very new to this hobby! My tank has been running for 3 months, so far everything looks great! 30 gal tank, 30 lbs of live rock, 2 clowns, 1 goby, 3 frags, 1 tongue coral, and 1 yellow tiger stripe coral. (All from LFS)

I have a media rack with 3 levels. Top is filter floss, middle is purigen, bottom is chemi pure elite...

Now my question is....I'm having rather high nitrates 15-20 ppm...which is high for a reef tank. I've done many steps to remove nitrates. Water changes, vacuum sand, turkey baster on the rocks, I have a protein skimmer, ect....

I ran my media rack through my cycle....now when nitrates go through the roof during the cycle process....will those nitrates still be in the purigen?! Because that's the one thing I've yet to clean on my tank...I did get a bucket with RO water and throw it around in that for a minute. But would it need more than that to remove nitrates, if in fact that's the cause?

[IvanTheTerrible]

Your setup is similar to mine. Like you, I also run Purigen in a media rack (including during the cycle). My nitrates stayed over 10 for a few months, but gradually went down. I've had them at 5 or less for over 6 months now. I wouldn't suspect the purigen unless it has detritus built up on it. Based on your post, that doesn't seem to be the case. I personally would look elsewhere. Perhaps you are overfeeding?

-Ivan

[CStrickland]

I'd take all that stuff out of the racks over a couple weeks. Your skimmer, the bacteria in your rocks and sand, and good husbandry are the best nitrate reducers around. The cluttered racks and media are a self-perpetuating problem. They trap detritus, raising nitrates, and then charge you $ to fix the issue by buying more media.