why is nitrate level keep increasing?

[sunnymau]

Sera kits allow you to use diluted samples to get higher readings, up to 400mg/L. But I did not do that.

It is wise to invest in good test kits and equiments, so as not to waste money upgrading time and again. I paid alot of school fees then.

actually thinking of getting a aqua c remora. but i have a tought upgrading to a 4ft tank so use prizm for the time being

[huskiesg]

Take your time and map out the plans. Just a thought, why don't you just do the 4ft and save the hassle of upgrading again

[Cedric]

my tank is 2months old. no fish, onli corals and 2x cleaner shrimp.

using DSB and refugium for my filtration.

tank condition:

ammonia=0

nitrite=<0.3

nitrate=80-100

i change water every week for abt 30-40%.

it is a 2ft x2ft x2.5ft tank.

now got one coral dying, elegance.

but others seems doing well as the open up nicely.

pls help

2 months? I suspect your dsb is not matured yet and unless your refugium is big enough and the macro algae are growing real fast, its probably not exporting nutrients fast enough.

Short term solutions include:

1. Water Change

2. Use of chemicals such as AZ-NO3

3. Feed less and juice up your skimmer

4. Lower your bio-load

Long term solutions

1. Wait for your dsb to mature, usually 6 months or more

2. get a denitrator

3. Upgrade skimmer

Sorry but I do not recall what skimmer you are using. Is it sufficient for your bio-load? Although chasing numbers is not a good thing, it is still advisable to keep nitrates as low as possible for the long term benefits of all residents in your tank. Several reefers like myself try our very best and we can maintain nitrates at undetectable which IMO is the best.

[sunnymau]

2 months? I suspect your dsb is not matured yet and unless your refugium is big enough and the macro algae are growing real fast, its probably not exporting nutrients fast enough.

my refugium is at least 2/3 of the size of my tank. and the DSB is abt 6inch deep.

how fast should the marco algea grow? any guide line or how long do i have to harvest.

[sunnymau]

Take your time and map out the plans.  Just a thought, why don't you just do the 4ft and save the hassle of upgrading again 

actually just to try out on a smaller tank and see if i really into this hobby, if i really into it then i will dump in more money, and at the sometime get more experience

[Cedric]

my refugium is at least 2/3 of the size of my tank. and the DSB is abt 6inch deep.

how fast should the marco algea grow? any guide line or how long do i have to harvest.

The size sounds good and the depth should be ok, depending on grain size. You have to give it time to mature.

What skimmer are you using?

[sunnymau]

i m using red sea prizm

how to judge the macro algea growing fast enough?

the 2/3 is refer to the surface area, total volume is abt 1/2 time the main tank

[sunnymau]

The size sounds good and the depth should be ok, depending on grain size. You have to give it time to mature.

i m using grade #0 sand.

[Tigger]

my conclusion could be

1. yr tank not mature and lr got organism dying

2. yr tap water got no3

3. I am using Sera too. I notice that u have to wait for a while for the readings to be stabalise.

[Cedric]

Er . . . I do not know of any fix rule of "how fast" is fast enough. Your refugium is big, relative to your tank size. I guess if it is growing macroalgae from wall to wall, totally filled up and you need to trim regularly like once a week, that would be pretty fast. My neighbour has a 4 ft sump that is growing very well and he does have to trim very regularly so I'll take his refugium as a rough guide.

As for a prizm, as long as you can get it to skim well, should be fine for your tank size, however, most people are struggling to get their prizm to perform to expectation.

[sunnymau]

my conclusion could be

1. yr tank not mature and lr got organism dying

2. yr tap water got no3

3. I am using Sera too. I notice that u have to wait for a while for the readings to be stabalise.

i think i will add one more ph and if there is any inprovement.

i do wait to let the reading estabilsh as the instruction say.

[sunnymau]

As for a prizm, as long as you can get it to skim well, should be fine for your tank size, however, most people are struggling to get their prizm to perform to expectation. 

the prizm do produce skimmate, but not tat dark and only very little skimmer produce each day. i have not been emptying it for quite some time.

can this be the cause for the no3

[sunnymau]

as for the algea. they grow nicely but seems slow to me as they hav not even fill up the tank yet. and i switch on the light for 24h/7day. i think hav to can the tube liao. now using i pink/white t4 pl tube. going to change to white/white 6500k tube.

[Cedric]

I think adding an extra ph will not help reduce no3, its more commonly used against the formation of diatoms.

As for the skimmer, an efficient will remove the dissolved organics/proteins before it has a chance to decompose and fuel your NO3, hence it could be a cause.

As for the light, 5000-6500k is the best for macroalgae.

And finally, I still think your tank is young. You have to give it time before you can see your NO3 dropping.

[sunnymau]

i think i shall be more patience. haha. tanks u guys for all the infomation.

[tineng]

I had the same problem as yours initially. I was using Sera nitrate test kit which gave me readings of >40 ppm. I then brought a sample of my water over to my friend's place and using his salifert kit, the reading was 25 ppm. I immediately threw away my sera kit. Try getting a second reading with another kit. Subsequent water changes then brought my nitrate levels. BTW, what skimmer are you using?

funny....i tested my Sera test kit on my tank and it shows 80ppm. on tap water and sea water from LFS shows abt 5ppm....

remove the sponge filters and wool for my canister and ppm actually drops to 5 ppm using the sera test kit after 2 weeks.....everything seems consistant with the advise i've gotten so far...so not really sure if Sera test kits are really that inaccurate....

[sunnymau]

actually i did the same test too, with my tank water and tap water.

the result for the tap water is actually 0ppm.

then my tank show the same result(high in nitrate). but it does drop after i change water. haven get the new test kit yet, will find out when i got get the new testkit from henry