Nitrate problem biocube29

[Jhead85]

Been a month or so since last time I checked my nitrates..reason so is my anemone isn't opened up like normal so I decided to check..nitrates were 40+ppm..I use a Intank media basket..pads up top..purigen and chemi pure elite..just replaced them 3 weeks ago....feed just one cube per day and sometimes I forget so sometimes they get it every other day.. Any ideas fellow reefers

[madweazl]

When in doubt, PWC.

[gmerek2]

Reduce livestock, buy bigger skimmer, add Chaeto growing refugium, increase water volume without adding livestock, bio pellet reactor

[Origami]

How long has the tank been set up? If it's young yet, you may not have a fully developed biological filter yet. You can add chaeto to the back or add rubble to one of the back chambers to give you greater surface area for filtration. Make sure that you don't have a bunch of detritus gathering in the chambers as that can cause a problem, too. For a short term fix, perform a few big water changes over the next few days. A single 50% water change will reduce nitrates by 1/2. If you do the same a couple of days later, it'll be down to around 25% (assuming that it climbs a little in between changes). A third time and it'll be under 15% of your starting value.