Advice please

[youtoo54]

K so i was actually a little off on my nitrate level. It is some were between the 50 and 100 color on the test kit. I changed about 50 gallons of water 2 days ago and today changed around 80. I tested my water about 30 minutes later and it is still the same color. Guy at my LFS said I should take my fish out and put them in a 100 gallon tub he will let me borrow and completely drain my tank, fill it back up, run it a day and completely drain it again. Or he said I may look at buying a denitrator. Ive cut back 4 days ago were im only feeding 1/2 a cube every other day and my red sea skimmer is running but doesn't look like its doing a lot. In put would be great.

 

[little_fish]

Taking out your fish is extreme, and i think you have much better options. Are you running a skimmers? Do you have a nice sized fuge? Are you using crushed coral substrate? Are you using tap water?

Your high nitrates wont disappear over night, its going to take a couple weeks of dedicated work to get them down. Keep up on the water changes!

 

[youtoo54]

I have sand in the bottom of the DT but its old, not sure how old it came with the tank. I have a skimmer running (red sea) but its not really producing the amount of stuff in the collection cup that I see other skimmers doing on youtube. I am using tap water but before I put it in the tank Ive been filling up trash cans and sticking pumps in to circulate over night to stir up the salt. Ive tested the water and it has no nitrate levels showing up. Fuge part of the sump is prolly 2 x 2 (roughly). I did actualy put some crushed corral in the bottom of fuge (read were some people us nothing at all and I thought it looked good) also have some small pieces of LR and one big piece in there. Have some of biffs cheato and some colupria in there.

 

[little_fish]

I would stop using the tap. Even if it doesnt have many nitrates, im sure it has other nasty stuff in there you dont want in your tank.

I would remove the crushed coral from the fuge. That is probably the worst place to have it because the lower flow allows things to settle out, get trapped in the crushed coral then rot and release nitrates back into your water.

Im pretty sure that is crappy skimmer and does next to nothing. I would look into upgrading your skimmer.

And i would keep up with the water changes, using RO/DI water, until you get those nitrates down.

 

[SeaBee]

I'm gonna go little further here, are you on local water supply of a well????

 

[youtoo54]

What about the denitrator option? Does those work? Are the worth the risk?

 

[little_fish]

i think there are cheaper, easier and better options.

 

[wontonflip]

The best way to find out if your tap is the culprit is to TEST your newly made saltwater. But most tap has nitrates. I had the same problem when I first started...ntirates were at 120ppm...test at the lfs yielded same results. Tested some newly made saltwater using tap water....guess what.....it had 20ppm nitrates! So essentially, I was siphoning out nitrate'y water, and adding back nitrate'y water.

But either way, +1 lil fish...best to use rodi.

EDIT: I used purigen at one point. didn't really help. What DID help was adding a fuge w/ chaeto. That, and using rodi, and watching my feeding resulted in constant 0 nitrates in my 45g.

 

[youtoo54]

I tested my newly made salt water and it was less than 5ppm nitrates. LFS tested. I have cut my feeding way back and will do a couple more water changes I guess to see if that has any impact. I will also be replacing my skimmer this week.