Nitrates?

[darod850]

Hey guys, ive noticed that this issue has been happening on a 30gallon damsel tank. Been running for about 3-4 months cant remember, but after 5,5,5,10 gallon water changes in the past week, my nitrates continue to be around 10-15ppm and never get below 10, even right after water changes.
i thought my cleaner clams died, but i removed 2 of the 3 i had in there, and i cant find the other one, its buried itself somewhere.

i have about 9 damsels in there, theyre all very small under 2 inches.
Everything else is 0, water is crystal clear
no skimmer,
emperor hob filter (the big one)
one bag of chemi pure

i feed about a quarter of a cube of brine shrimp daily and do weekly water changers like clockwork. RODI water.
I recently also added a nitrate pad in the filter to no avail.
have about 2inch sand bed
about 30lbs of totonka LR

what gives?

any feedback is appreciated,

 

[mbg75]

Is it a fish only?

 

[darod850]

I have 1 zoa frag and 1 hammer frag, that's it.

 

[mbg75]

Just my opinion, but without a great skimmer or a fuge, it's very hard to get 0 nitrates.
The Hob filter just traps detritus and food. Like a nitrate factory.

 

[JarviZ]

I have close to 0 nitrates without a skimmer. I have two clowns as two firefish and a bunch of coral in a 14 gallon.

I feed every other day and use Purigen and chemipure elite along with chaeto. Have you tried any macro algae or the chemipure?

 

[wschang812]

Jarviz, how often do you change your water?

 

[rambler67]

What test kit are you using? could be an old or bad test kit. it could be debris building up in the rock work. what does your rock work look like and do you and do you have good flow behind the rocks?

 

[Lostinthedark]

Just to be sure you should check your RODI water with the same test kit.
At least you ll know your starting from zero. Otherwise 5-10 nirates is really not that bad.

 

[JarviZ]

well close to 0 I mean it's somewhere between 0-10 since I can't really match the color on the kits. I tried both API and Instant Ocean test kits.

Jarviz, how often do you change your water?

10% water changes every week

 

[darod850]

I have 2 power heads in there, I've cleaned the rock to the point where nothing comes out, my water is crystal clear. I use one small bag of chemi pure elite, no cheato. I'll be testing my RODI water n check the test kit.

 

[mbg75]

Purigen in a mesh bag may help if you can't run a skimmer or fuge

 

[NewfiDog]

You can also try some algae in the DT to try and get the nitrates down.

 

[flatwater rob]

JarviZ,

I'm assuming that you are running a 14 gallon Biocube with Purigen, ChemiPure, and Cheato. How have you configured the rear compartments to make this happen? Are you doing 10% water changes weekly with a high fish load? Or are you just running LR and Corals?

I'm am running an intank media rack in the center compartment with filter floss (top), purigen (middle), and chemipure (bottom). I want to add macro algae with a light to make my system more robust and wanted to find out how you accomplished this.

Anything you can pass along would be great.

 

[JarviZ]

Rob - PM sent

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Process of elimination...

I would grab another test kit and start with that...to make sure that the kit hasnt gone bad or is inaccurate. Preferably a different one than what you have now.

Then test the RO water that you are using...make sure its not that.

If that all checks out maybe consider the filter....what is inside it? A sponge for mechanical filtration? That could be harvesting the cause of the nitrates within it.