Please Help Nitrate

[jopik]

My tank is one year old.
75 Gal. sand, rocks, skimmer swc 160, sump, mp40

got corals,
2 lyretail anthias, Dimond goby, Blue tang, 2 clown fish, bellus angel, royal gama, yellow coris wrasse, and 3 chromis fish.

My NitrAtes are Very high.

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, P.H 8.0, AND Nitrate is 80 which is very high.

I don't know what to do, plz help or i'll brake the tank because I don't want the Fish to die.

 

[duke62]

do a 35 galln water change.slow feeding down and wet skim for a few days.what test kits are you using.sounds funny that you have no phosphates along with the high nitrates

 

[UltimateReefer115]

It could be because you are over feeding. Are you feeding everyday or every other day?

 

[jopik]

i feed them every day.

What is Wet Skim for few days?

 

[skene]

:lol2: @ very high... tells us what kind of kits are you using... and how old is it?

 

[jopik]

Im using api saltwater test kit. Bought it one year ago

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

When you do water changes are you using ro water or tap water?

 

[duke62]

test kits no good.get a better test kit and one not a year old

 

[jopik]

yes tap water. My friend has tank for 3 years in the same building, he uses Tap water, Everything is good for him.

 

[bklynreef]

Urine is cleaner than tap!

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Urine is cleaner than tap!

What a Di** lmfao

 

[duke62]

yes tap water. My friend has tank for 3 years in the same building, he uses Tap water, Everything is good for him.

yeah and charlie sheen is a addict but hes doing good also dont mean im going to do the same LOL.. do yourself a favor and get yourself a ro/di to prevent future problems with your tank and get some real goodtest kits not API or a petco kit.dont do a 50 percent water change like i suggested it might make things worse now

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

yeah and charlie sheen is a addict but hes doing good also dont mean im going to do the same LOL.. do yourself a favor and get yourself a ro/di to prevent future problems with your tank and get some real goodtest kits not API or a petco kit.dont do a 50 percent water change like i suggested it might make things worse now

I gotta agree with Duke get yourself a rodi. Don't do the same thing I did with my tank by adding tap water for the last 7 months. You won't regret getting one trust me. As for you saying your friend using tap water and he hasn't had no problems with the tank. Listen all tanks work different for people no one as the same tank unless there using the same chemical and same water (rodi) then that's a whole different story.

 

[jopik]

ok which model Ro/Di should i get?

 

[KathyC]

Ideally you want a ro/di that has at least 4 stages and preferrably a DI cartridge that is refillable.

There is no reason why you can't do a few 25% water changes to knock down the nitrate level..I'd wait a week between them.
At this point your fish are used to the high nitrate level as it likely was creeping up for quite some time, it is not an emergency to lower them all at once.

Corals are affected by high nitrates a lot more than fish are, though you would prefer to have them lower so that your fish thrive rather than just survive.

There is no good reason not to feed your fish on a daily basis as long as you are doing so intelligently, meaning only as much food as they can consume in about 3 minutes with none left over in the tank, and rinsing any forozen food before adding it to the tank.

 

[Awibrandy]

You could also add some Macro Algae in to your sump.

 

[bizzarro]

Add macro algae or frequent water changes.

Using RO/DI will not fix the reason why your tank has high nitrates.

Since you've had it for a year and your friend has been using it for 3 years I wouldn't see the need to invest in one.

NYC water is clean compared to NJ which I wouldn't drink w/o boiling.

I'd probablyjust invest in a 3 stage carbon and sediment filter. Thats' what I use now I bypass teh RO/DI but I don't have any substrate and lots of macros.

 

[motortrendz]

ro/di is great, but if you really wanna solve your problems you need a few things..
im sure you phosphates are high as well, just havent tested it.. expecially since your using tap. so heres what i would do..

1. get better test kits
2. get a 4 or 5 stage ro/di filtration system(preferably with a tds meter)
3. do weekly 30-40% water changes with ro/di water
4. get a reactor to run bio pellets(used to reduce nitrates and phosphates)
5. be patient! lol