Nitrate's High, How Bad is this for My Fish

[freedom75]

I have a issue with my nitate's being High in the 40 ppm range . I have did water changes I have a good filter and I am using a chem bag to remove some of it but it has been this way for weeks on end now. I have bout 4.5 to 5 inches of sand and about 125 lbs of live rock. it is in a 72 bow. I have 2 perc's 2 Yellow Jaw heads 1 foxface and a bicolor blenny I have about 40 hermits and about 25 snails a couple of counchs and a few soft corals , Muchrooms and a gorgonian. I also have a gonaporia . I am not sure what to do . I have been seeing a few issues with Cyno in the sand but found that my tank was experiencing temp fluctatuions of about 12 degree's aday due to the heater being unplugged :x . But that has been taken care of and I was just wondering can anyone give me advised

John Wray
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[Anonymous]

What type of filter are you using ?

are you using water from the tap?

Do you have a protein skimmer?
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Honda Inspire

 

[freedom75]

I am using a 30 gallon sump with about 40 pounds of live sand about 40 pounds of live rock a large filter pad and carbon pads. I am also using a DI unit to filter my water . My skimmer is a Prizm skimmer. I will be changing it as soon as possible but I am not able to right now due to unemployment. . This is a fairly recent issue so I am nopt sure what I am doing wrong. The tank is 2.5 years old .. any Idea's

John

 

[RustySnail]

Sounds like your sandbed has had a die-off due to either the temp swing or the gobies sifting it too much (they grab mouthfuls of sand and sift it for food, right?). Too much predation of sandbed fauna or constant burrowing/stirring can cause problems.

I would vacuum the sandbed at this point to remove the dead stuff, and then re-seed it with some good LS.

If you have SPS corals or delicate stuff there is concern for 40ppm NO3. But your fish should be OK so long as it does not go higher.

 

[freedom75]

I Just put the Jaw heads in there but It could be the sand bed. Does anyone have the SKU# for South down from Home depot. They keep telling me they can not get it. If I can get that then I could possible replace alot of my sand ..

John

 

[Anonymous]

Unless the jawfish are moving constantly, they aren't disturbing the entire bed, and they don't sift sand looking for food. Actually 40 is not ungodly high and is quite tolerable. Nitrates are more an issue for some inverts than fish, which can actually tolerate higher levels if its a gradual increase. How often are you doing water changes and how much at a time are you changing out? Another consideration would be to add a fuge for nutrient export. Macro algae can consume a tremendous amount of nitrates and really clean up your water. At this point, look into an RO unit, or purchase RO water, increase the frequency/volume of your water changes, and consider a refugium.

 

[freedom75]

If thats the case then I should be able to Add the Macro to my sump since I have all the live sand and rock down there. it also has lighting for the sump I just don't have any plant lfe down there. I will try that and see if it helps...Thanks

John