Nitrates still up

[tp1011]

all my levels are at 0 but my nitrates there still a 20-40. I was doing 2.5 gal wc every other day for about a week. Then I waited 6 days to do a wc and did a 3 gal wc today. Trying to get those trates down to 0 is hard work.

any suggestions??

thanks

p.s. its a 29 bc

 

[SarahSmile]

How long has the tank been set up? What do you have it stocked with? What test are you using?
I have the liquid api kit and no matter what i've ever done i've never gotten a reading under 20-40 for nitrates.
Some of us just accept this.
To get the nitrate reading to drop you'd have to do a bigger water change than just 3 gallons though, that's only 10%.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Sarah

 

[Marinne13]

it took me 5 water changes of 20% to go from 20ppm to 4-5ppm...it is a tough process

I would do a 10G WC...again what do you have in the tank as far as fish, inverts ect..?

 

[tp1011]

I set it up about in January with 10 lbs of LR and 2nd batch of
LR 4 weeks ago with a cuc 2 sea anemone I know the tank is young
For them but I got them from TBS and I could not throw them away
They are doing ok though. 3 sponges too. I use a API test kit and I agree
They suck. I also have a skimmer on it as well

 

[Marinne13]

I would def get those nitrates down quickly...anemone's need high water quality and so do inverts