Quote:
Originally Posted by sks4613
...No livestock in the tank so no problem with that. Just curious what could be the cause as their is nothing that has ever been fed in the tank. Should I do a water change or just wait till the nitrites go away? What could have caused the nitrates to jump so high?
|
This is normal from die-off on the rock in a new system with new live rock. The new live rock often brings in many organisms that will not live in a closed system, as well as the die-off due to collection/shipping processing of the rock (holding at the dock, or sometimes it may sit in a box on the tarmac at an airport for hours in hot sunlight).
If it really concerns you, then it's time for a large percentage WC, then monitor nitrate as your sandbed and rock begins to denitrify available nitrate. This is not necessary however, as the nitrate load is a stimuant to anaerobic bacteria in the deeper parts of the sand bed and the core of live rock. Their populations will catch up with the nitrate load and you should see the nitrates drop off as these denitrifying bacteria begin to process nitrate. The water change IS beneficial in removing phosphate to prevent sinking in your sand and rock, as there are no means of biological phosphate dissipation as here is with nitrogen gas that results from the denitrification process. It might be a good idea to use GFO with a reactor if your die-off produced this much nitrate (because if the nitrate is high, then phosphate will also be proportionally high, Redfield ratio is ~106:16:1, bacteria and algae will scavenge the free phosphate or it will be adsorbed to calcareous substrates), and not worry about the nitrate.
Slow to start, but effective.
HTH
