what happened? (sky high nitrate)

[treesprite]

I have no clue what is going on. I wasn't able to work on the tank because of a broken wrist, and last week did a big water change (like 50%) because cyano was growing and the nitrate was between 15 to 20.

 

Well, I expected my nitrate to be lower this week. Nope, it is almost off the charts, probably at least 60! Tank is loaded with cyano (well, I cleaned a lot of it up), and corals look like %#&*.

 

I have no clue what happened. I did not spray anything in the air or get any chemicals near the tank. Maybe the cat peed in the sump? I tested my new water mix and it is zero nitrate, so my water source is not the problem.

 

I started dosing vinegar daily a couple weeks ago, but it is still only half of a therapeautic amount. Other than that, I didn't change anything in the water.

 

I had already planned to set up a little tank for any possible FFE frags, so I did, but it is all new water and I don't want to put liverock in for bacteria because the rock is in nitrate water, so I just put Biodigest in the water for right now. I will have to use brand new salt water to wash off some rock.

 

I am going to put some of my corals in that 10g for now, until I can get a couple big water changes done (just waiting for heater to raise 10g temperature). My fish seem fine, and since I don't want to get them mentally stressed to add to the physical stress of the water issue, I am just going to let them stay in the bad water.

 

Tonight I will do a big water change, gotta make some more water because I only have about 20g and want to change about 35g (system volume is about 75g). Unfortunately, I don't get off work until midnight, so I will be up all night and might fall asleep at FFE. I haven't even gone to bed yet from Friday night, because of this tank mess.

 

Would it help at all to use some kind of emergency nitrate detoxifier? It is going to take a lot more than a couple water changes to fix the severity of this problem. My injury is already screaming at me for over-using that hand on tank stuff, when I'm not even out of the cast yet, so I'm not looking forward to all this extra work.

Edited July 21, 2018 by treesprite

[A.ocellaris]

I am not a fan of big water changes because you try to fix one parameter, but end up changing everything. Did you retest the water? Take a sample to your LFS and ask them to test for nitrates to make sure your test kit is still good.

 

Also, do you have test kit for phospates? You may be feeding cyano when you phospates and nitrates are not in balance (With the vinegar). Is your skimmer working properly? What about your bioload (fish)? Anyone missing?

Edited July 21, 2018 by A.ocellaris

[treesprite]

Didn't test for phosphate this time, but it was not a problem a week ago when I tested, just the nitrate. It doesn't matter at this point, because if it is high as well, it will go down from the water changes.

 

I would never go by results from a LFS clerk testing my water.

 

Skimmer is fine, but a few days ago the cup overflowed back into the sump... I wonder if that is why the nitrate is so high - concentrated nutrients in the sludge going into the water? I was worried about it at the time, but then forgot about it. I should have tested the water at the time it happened.

 

No missing fish. I only have 2 little fish in a 50g tank. The excess hammer and candy cane corals probably put more waste in the water than the fish do.

Edited July 21, 2018 by treesprite

[Jon Lazar]

First, I wouldn't panic over 60 ppm nitrates. Sure, it's not ideal, but I doubt it's going to harm your corals.

 

My advice is to go to bed and deal with this later. Your tank isn't crashing. I find that I make mistakes when I'm exhausted, and I think there's more risk that you'll mess up something serious from fatigue. Like not plugging a heater or ATO back in or forgetting to put the screen cover back on your tank.

 

Once you're rested you can siphon off the cyano and any other concentrated sources of nitrogen like hair algae and do a water change if you like. Then monitor the tank and see whether nitrates begin to rise or fall.

[gmerek2]

The only time I had a nitrate problem was when my skimmer wasn’t working properly.

[sen5241b]

I had the same problem recently --mysterious nitrates. I couldn't figure out what it was and corals kept dying. I did two 50% water changes and it barely made a difference. Finally I put my finger in my fresh water reservoir and noticed a layer of slime on the inside of the container. TDS meter said the water in there was 200. I cleaned the entire thing out, put new water in then did two 50% water changes -- problem solved.

[treesprite]

Fortunately, I have no algae. I solved that big problem mainly by taking out the algae-infested liverock. It miraculously stopped growing on the sand and glass on it's very own. I treated some of he liverock with hydrogen peroxide and let it cool for several weeks, and the pieces I put back in the tank have not gotten any algae on them (I still need to treat the rest of the liverock that had algae, which is in it's own tank, and I did not remove or treat the rocks in the sump because they had no algae and I didn't want to be without bacteria surfaces or pod home).

 

I guess putting macros back in the fuge would help. But there was a bunch of HA mixed in, and I tossed that mess in the tank that has the liverock in it. Trying to decide if I should toss it, because there are still tiny bits of HA on it.

 

I actually only put some of the corals in the 10g, because I have a ton of hammer and candy cane, and a lot of pavona that would not fit in there. I have been meaning get rid of that excess stuff, but there was the algae in the tank for a long time so I couldn't unload them, and now stuff is all pale because of me not knowing how to adjust the LED fixture, and possibly worse because of the nitrate (yesterday, before I discovered the nitrate issue I took that LED fixture down and put a T5 fixture on the tank so I won't have to deal with adjusting anymore). Those PG hammer corals were so beautiful before I got that LED fixture, now they are ugly.

Edited July 21, 2018 by treesprite

[mari.harutunian]

I had a 100+ Nitrate spike like this because i didnt realize my RODI filters were exhausted and leaching ammonia. Maybe check and make sure all 4 filters are up to date.

 

 

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[treesprite]

I replaced my filters not that long ago (relative to water usage). However, the idea of faulty filters is why I tested my new mix salt water for nitrate last night. It has zero nitrate.

[Lowefx]

I replaced my filters not that long ago (relative to water usage). However, the idea of faulty filters is why I tested my new mix salt water for nitrate last night. It has zero nitrate.

What about your Di? I had a silicate issue because my di resin was 75% depleted. BRS has a video with facts and test that show the di does leach after a certain percentage. I cant try to look for that video if you're interested?

 

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[treesprite]

There is no nitrate in the water coming out of it.

[madweazl]

Was there anything that could have trigger a cycle? It would have had to of been pretty major but that is the only thing I can think of that would lead to a sudden, large spike in nitrates. The only other thing I can think of is test error; are phosphate 0 by chance? With one (or both) at/near zero, cyano can take hold because it is extremely adept at pulling what little amounts are in the water to survive. Measurable values of nitrate and phosphate seem to keep this at bay. Carbon dosing with vinegar doesnt usually promote cyano but vodka can so that doesnt make much sense. 

[treesprite]

I am wondering if the algae removal is related to the nitrate spike. Whatever wasn't growing on the rocks that I removed, died off (there had been growth in the sand bed and on glass). Cyano was not growing when I had algae, but it is now with all the nitrate.

Edited August 1, 2018 by treesprite