water changes arent lowering nitrates... why?

[bigjoncoop]

hey fellaz

I have a 30 gal tank with a wet dry sump. my tank cycled for a month. my ammonia and nitrites are at zero. but my nitrates were high around 30-40. so the other day I did about a 50% water change. so I assumed that it should drop my nitrates to half of wat they were. but it was hard to tell caz I was using test strips. then yesterday I did a 10 gal water change. this morning I got my API water test kit. I did a test for nitrates and it says there about 20-30. why?

what else can u do? with my new.test kit it says my ammonia and nitrites are zero

 

[RockStacker]

With the biological filter established, it would be rare to get readings on ammonia and nitrite as they are processed through the bacterial assembly line almost as fast as they are produced.

The only thing you can test are nitrates because they tend to build up faster than the system can naturally break them down.

Some questions:
1. Do you have any livestock in the system already?
2. What biological inhabitants do you have in the tank right now? live rock, etc.
3. If you have live rock, where did they come from?

 

[chichimom79]

Are you running bioballs in your wet/dry?

 

[bigjoncoop]

hey guys

well I have 50 pounds of live rock which I bought from live aquria. also have 40 pounds live sand.

in my wet/dry Im using pot scubbies not bioballs

and the only live stock iI have is a few invertebrates. "couple hermits, sea urchin" had more but they died. I took out 90% of what died.

 

[fastrd400]

Pot scrubbies? The green scouring pads?

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

Those pads may be breeding nitrates by trapping detrius in them. Ditching them for LR rubble would be better IMO.

 

[bigjoncoop]

the scrubbies look really clean. I have filter pads in bay above then that filters the water as soon as it enters sump.

they are nasty. should I change em out with new ones?

 

[bigjoncoop]

I haven't changed them caz I reneger on my last tank someone told me that on a newly cycled tank u don't want to remover any type of filter media for a.while since the filter doesn't have good established bacteria yet.

 

[kbuser92]

Your filtraton is in your rock. Those pads and filters are the problem. Get rid of them, do a water change and toss some good live rock in there.

 

[yote]

When I had my reef up, there was no mechanical filtration at all in my sump. Not even a sponge to trap bubbles.
The reefs and frag tanks at the store don't have any kind of mechanical filtration. Just plenty of flow and a good skimmer.

The detritus that mechanical filtration traps continues to break down in the water, compromising water quality. That same waste would feed the cryptic animals and corals found on and inside of the live rock unless completely removed from the water y the skimmer.

 

[bigjoncoop]

Thx for all ur input.

well now wat...
I don't have the money to buy another 25-50 pounds of liverock or rubble to put in my wet/dry.

I took out my filterpads and put in new ones. Im hopeing that will help get rid of the ditritus build up.

is it safe to do another 50% water change yet. I did a 50% change a lil over a week ago and a 10gal water change 3-4 days ago. my nitrates are at 30

I'm wondering why my nitrates keep staying the same right after a water change. ill do a water change and check the levels a hour or two later and there still the same. but I still have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites.

Im going to do another big water change if it not to soon and see if they go down since I took out my old filter pads which were pretty dirty and see if nitrates go down now.

I don't to keep doing g water changes if there not going to help. waste of money.

thx guys

 

[Aquarian]

What are you using for water?

 

[bigjoncoop]

water from Walmart. the culligan machine that u fill jugs with. I used same water for my last tank and if was fine.

this is there filter method :

1st. sediment filter
2nd. activated carbon
3rd. reverse osmosis
4th. ultra violet light

and I checked the service card on the machine and it was last serviced 2weeks ago

 

[Aquarian]

You should test the water for nitrates before you use it to see where it is at. Its not uncommon for bottled water to have high nitrates. It was meant for human consumption so the filtration is not as good as you would think.
I use distiled water from target. It testes at zero and has 0 TDS (total desolved solids)

 

[bigjoncoop]

I'm gonna test it right now. never thought about it. thx

 

[bigjoncoop]

well I tested my water and it test zero for nitrates.

any other ideas guys?

 

[reefnoob]

Maybe your tests aren't accurate? Or maybe think about adding a refugium with macroalgae?

 

[Aquarian]

If you can take a sample to your LFS and ask them to test for TDS. I was using filtered water that was testing at 20 - 24 TDS and my trates were always at 30 - 40 until I started using distilled water that had 0 TDS

 

[bigjoncoop]

yeah I shouldnt have to add a refugium. my wet/dry should. be fine. there's something else goin on.

I'm going to go to Walmart and buy jugs of distilled water and see if that helps. I don't a lfs besides petsmart but even there 45 min away!!

thx

 

[Aquarian]

Ouch. That sucks. So your doing everything via online. I bought a cheep tds meter that was putout by zero water. I use it to test water before I use it. Walmart's distiller water tested between 2 and 4 tds I use it when target is out of stock.

Amazon has TSS meters from $7 to $180