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RE: Nitrates are to high!

patchmeupp37 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:04:32 GMT

Thanks for replying. As a matter of fact my tank is doing alot better. After doing exhaustive research online and pestering every local fish store within driving distance of my home :D I am feeling alot more confident about my aquarium skills. In response to some of your questions...I feed my fish once a day and only what they can eat within a minute or two. I do understand that I have more fish then I should but as of now they are all very small. (I do understand they will get much bigger.) I am upgrading to a 210 or 265 gallon before anyone of my fish will outgrow my current 75 gallon tank. I do plan on returning my damsels before they become feeder fish.

RE: Nitrates are to high!

Nep2Ns PlumR — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:43:50 GMT

As a matter of fact, I was on vacation. :) Your tank is WAY over stocked. The fact that most of your fish are carnivors doesn't help. I'm not real sure what to tell you except that you're gonna need to reduce your fish load considerably. (The volitan will take care of the damsels for you in short order, just feeder fish to it.) Are you buying from a local fish store? Sounds like they're not giving you very good advice. I'd choose 2 or 3 of the larger fish that you really want to keep and return the others.

It could have been the nitrate that killed the diamond, it could have been that the tank wasn't mature enough to provide it the food source it needed or it could have been killed by the eel, or maybe the puffer or maybe the trigger. If the volitan had gotten it, you wouldn't have found it, it would have been swallowed whole!! :w00t:

RE: Nitrates are to high!

johnsqrbk — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:59:05 GMT

hey i hope your tank is doing better. it sounds like to me you have to many fish and are feeding them to often... what kind of food are you feeding them.. goodluck ill be on line this evening

RE: Nitrates are to high!

patchmeupp37 — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:50:22 GMT

I am curious. Are all the saltwater experts on vacation this week? :) I am desperate on what to do about my above posted problem. I do not want to lose anymore fish. I did about a 35% water change yesterday and I just tested the parameters off my tank again (today), here are the results:

Ammonia-0

PH-7.8

Nitrite-0

Nitrates-20-40 ppm

In the last week I have done a 20%, 50% and 35% water change, and added a protein skimmer, I have seen the nitrates go down but they still seem to high. What is considered a normal nitrate level on a FOWLR tank? I also just added about 10 snails and 4 hermit crabs to help combat my algae problem. My wife and I love our new hobby but we are sad that we might lose more fish. Please can someone offer a bit of advice. We have both been searching the internet but come up with so many different results. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Nitrates are to high!

patchmeupp37 — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:35:19 GMT

I just found my diamond goby dead in my tank. I don't know if this is from the high nitrate, here are my test results from today. 7/29/08 8:30PM EST

Salinity/SG- 31/1.023

PH- 7.8

Ammonia- 0

Nitrite- 0

Nitrate- between 40-80 ppm according to the chart that came with my API kit.

I have a 75 gallon FOWLR, I am running a Fluval 405 cannister pump, maxi-head 1200 pump and a Aqua Medic Turbonator Multi SL 1000 protein skimmer rated up to 250g. (Protein Skimmer was just added less than a week ago.) I have crushed coral for my substrate and about 30 lbs of live rock. My tank is 2 months old. I have a stars and stripes puffer, volitans lionfish, picasso trigger, snowflake eel, blue koran angel, diamond goby(DIED TODAY), yellowtail damsel, blue damsel and domino damsel. I have had alot of algae growing causing me to test my tank and had the following results.

Ammonia- Zero

PH- fluxuates between 7.8 and 8.0

Nitrite- .25

Nitrate- off the chart

I did a 20% water change and noticed no difference in my nitrate readings. Since then I have added a protein skimmer and have done a 50% water change. I again tested my tank, ammonia and nitrites are both at zero, ph is at 8.0 but my nitrates are still to high, chart reads between 40 to 80 ppm more so towards the later. Should I perform another 50% or greater water change? I am at wits end as I don't know what to do anymore, the algae is still growing but has slowed down greatly but my nitrates are still to high. I see from reading some other posts that crushed coral can be a cause of high nitrates. Should I change out the crushed coral and go with live sand? I also must admit that I was over feeding the fish due to some poor advice from a local fish store employee. I am now only feeding my fish once a day. Should I feed them more or stay with the schedule I have them on right now? I am fearful of losing my fish as I am a new aquarist. I hope I have provided the right information for some one here to help out. If not I will be sure to provide whatever information will help. Thanks in advance for any help you provide.