Nitrate Levels

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sweat044

Butterfly Fish
#1
Hi All-

I recently set up a new 28 Gallon Nano Cube. It has live sand from one of my other tanks and live rocks. It has cycled for about a month now and the Nitrate levels are high. I did water change and added some live bacteria but the results have been nothing. Any help advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

Off The Deep End

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
Can you give us more info, like what kind of filtration are you using? Skimmer? Is there any die off in the tank? How did you come to the conclusion that your cycle is over? Im not trying to badger just tryin to help:)
 

sweat044

Butterfly Fish
#3
It has built in filtration. No skimmer. No die off. It is a new tank but with established sand and rock. I haven't put any fish in yet because I tested the nitrate levels and they were not good.
 

dvenson

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
I would do several large water changes over the next two weeks and test the water your putting into the tank to make sure your not adding any nitrates.
 

Off The Deep End

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
dvenson;112701 said:
I would do several large water changes over the next two weeks and test the water your putting into the tank to make sure your not adding any nitrates.
+1

Have you checked Ammonia? The only reason i ask is because if your tank is not done cycling than the water changes daniel is reccommending is just going to prolong your cycle. Your tank is only a month old i have seen tanks take longer to cycle.
 

Off The Deep End

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
When your tank cycles you will be looking for an ammonia spike. When your ammonia spikes then drops back down to 0 your tank is cycled. I do believe if you do water changes in that time frame you are just taking out the bacteria needed to cycle your tank and replacing it with water that has no bacteria, the same bacteria needed to lower nitrates. This in return would be helping your nitrates stay at an elevated level.
 

Off The Deep End

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
I would say that you need to find a reliable way to turn nitrates into nitrogen(i.e. cheato, mangroves ect.) and i think a skimmer would be bennificial too. For now i would throw something small and hearty in there and observe its actions.
 

Off The Deep End

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
Ok so if your tank has cycled then you need a way to export nutrents, a way to turn nitrates into nitrogen. You can do water changes but that in my experience will not get nitrates down to 0. Have you ever read about vodka dosing?
 

chrislorentz

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
I would opt for 50 percent water change, two or three times over the next 6 days
 
#15
Hang on, something is fishy (or rather not). In my experience, a tank doesn't have to cycle when you're adding rock and sand from another tank and nothing else. My first suspicion is your nitrate test might be off so get a second opinion. Also, tell us more about this filtration.

I think we need a better description of everything you've done from beginning to end to find the reason. Get your water tested first and then let us know more info.
 

chrislorentz

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
Yes depending on how much rock/sand you add you will still kick the system into a cycle. If you are just seeding, you will still see a cycle. of course this is just what I have seen, but dont relly know alot.
 
#18
Even if they were just seeding a new system you're not going to have a cycle unless you have something providing ammonia. Were missing part of the equation.
 

SteveT

Butterfly Fish
#19
I would say that you need to find a reliable way to turn nitrates into nitrogen(i.e. cheato, mangroves ect.) and i think a skimmer would be bennificial too. For now i would throw something small and hearty in there and observe its actions.
+1
nitrates are the end of the aerobic bacteria cycle. There are a few common ways to remove the nitrates from a tank:

Macro Algae: Algae uses nitrates and phosphates as food in photosythisis. Cheatomorpha being the most used because of its ability to consume nitrates and phosphates relatively quickly without the danger of going sexual and nuking your tank when it doesn't get enough nutrients or light like Caulerpa. If you dont have a refugium type sump this option becomes slightly less viable unless you want to keep the macro algae in your display

Deep sand beds (4" or deeper): either in your display or sump will allow anaerobic bacteria to grow that will slowly reduce nitrites and nitrates into nitrogen gas that will bubble out into the atmosphere. This is where vodka dosing can come in as the carbon from the vodka will feed and encourage the anaerobic bacteria to grow. However unless you really read up about it and know what your are doing I would recommend against it cause a mistake could easily nuke your tank.

Nitrate Reactor: Does basically the same job as the deep sand bed but in a separate reactor that has such a slow flow that it creates an oxygen starved environment for the anaerobic bacteria to live and normally some carbon based media that they feed off.

Algae Scrubber: This uses the same idea of the macro algae but with the micro algae that is already naturally in your tank but giving it a separate ideal environment to live. I don't have any personal experiance with these but I have read some good things about them. Here is an article about them http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1432

Water changes: This is the obvious one...as long as your source water is clean this will do the trick. Keep in mind that you are diluting the nitrates with every water change. So if you are looking to lower nitrates significantly you need to do larger % of water changed and several days in a row.
 
#20
With zero livestock in there they could do a 100% water change with near zero downside. I'm still curious where the nitrates are coming from though if there's no die off nor livestock.
 
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