Nitrates----help

[michelled]

Hi I have a 180 gallon reef tank, recently, yesterday we took all the fish out and transferred them into another tank. there is nothing in the tank now. So we did a a bunch of 10-20 % water changes last week and a 30 % water change yesterday, 24 hours later we checked levels Nitrate 80 nitrite 0 ammonia 0--- do you know what is going on should I do a 50% water change?

Please help. there is a bunch of carbon in the tank now to clarify..Also I ordered a nitrate filter from aqua medic and it started leaking so I just ordered the aquaripure ,,, any comments on which one is better?

Thank you for your time

Michelled

 

[Carlo]

Do you have any inverts and corals still in the tank?

80 ppm is pretty darn high for a reef tank but not that bad for a Fish only tank.

There are several things you can do to help with the nitrates but it's kind of important to have a rough idea how the tank/system is setup. If you could answer the following questions the best you can, we can help you better.

How long has the tank been setup for?
How many fish did you have in the tank and where did you move them to temporarily?
How much sand in weight or inches do you have in the tank?
How many pounds of rock do you have in the tank?
What kind of filters (IE wet/dry, sump, sponge filter, canister) do you have?
Do you have a foam fractioner (Protein Skimmer)?

I've got a few more questions for you but they can wait. They would deal more with your habits (IE what do you feed the tank and how often) then equipment.

Carlo

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

I'm not really sure I follow. Is the nitrate problem in the 180 without any fish or in the new tank with the transfered fish in it? Larger water changes will help alleviate the problem quicker. But you need to be more careful that new water matches the tank water exactly in salinity, Ph, & temp.