Nitrate Levels!!! Help!!!

[chrisdamage]

Hey everyone... I've had my BC14 up and running now for about 3 and a half months. I have 14 to 16 lbs. of live rock and a 1" sand bed. I do weekly 30% water changes using Instant Ocean salt and Distilled water I buy in the gallon jugs from Publix. My daily tests of the nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, and pH have been as follows for the past 3 weeks:

Nitrates: 40ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Alkalinity: 240 to 300ppm
pH: 7.8 to 8.0

I have also taken out the sponge in the sump because a guy at my LFS told me that it should help reduce my nitrates. I took it out about a week ago and I havn't noticed a difference yet. Should I take out my Bio balls and replace them with liverock? I'm willing to try anything at this point because it is really begenning to frustrate me. As a side note, I have a true perc, a dottyback, and a blood shrimp as my inhabitants and I only feed them as much as they can eat in a few minutes once a day. Thanks. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[dobejazz]

Are you sure there was only 1 sponge? In my nano cube I thought I had 2 but it turns out there was another one way deep in the middle compartment.

[kyrie_eleison]

I would take out the bioballs and replace them with biorings instead.

[matt24]

Hi Chris,
I have the same tank running at the moment(6 months). I agree with kyrie take out the bioballs and replace w/ live rock rubble if you have it.
I also using filter floss on the tray in the middle chamber. It catches uneaten food before it has a chance to decompose. Just make sure you replace it at least weekly.

[donna53w]

Hi, Are you using distilled water or ro/di water?
Donna

[chrisdamage]

Distilled... I know I need to get an RO/DI filter system

[hng]

Welcome to TRT Donna53w!

Chris - the distilled water should be fine for now. I think you're feeding too often, if you're feeding daily and it takes a few minutes for the fish to eat it all. I also believe you should get rid of the bioballs. Do NOT replace the bioballs with biorings. That will not help you very much. Continue with the water changes, that will help you until the tank matures more. I don't think your tank has a skimmer so this is what I would recommend as well - put the sponge filter back on, but clean it out at least once a week (twice a week would be better). That way, you can at least remove some of your particulate wastes. Before cleaning out the sponge, use a turkey baster to blow detritus off the rocks.

[Loverotties]

I'd get rid of the bio balls,because you have LR.Distilled is as good as RO/DI which both have 0 TDS.

[chrisdamage]

so the basic consensus I have gotten from multiple sources is that I should definately remove the bioballs... but, should I just leave them out? replace them with LR rubble? or some other filter media? also, is it possible to just take out the Bioballs and just add the LR rubble and then add some chaeto algae and some copepods and have a fuge? or is that not a good idea?

[PHIL GUY]

Originally Posted by chrisdamage

Hey everyone... I've had my BC14 up and running now for about 3 and a half months. I have 14 to 16 lbs. of live rock and a 1" sand bed. I do weekly 30% water changes using Instant Ocean salt and Distilled water I buy in the gallon jugs from Publix. My daily tests of the nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, and pH have been as follows for the past 3 weeks:

Nitrates: 40ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Alkalinity: 240 to 300ppm
pH: 7.8 to 8.0

I have also taken out the sponge in the sump because a guy at my LFS told me that it should help reduce my nitrates. I took it out about a week ago and I havn't noticed a difference yet. Should I take out my Bio balls and replace them with liverock? I'm willing to try anything at this point because it is really begenning to frustrate me. As a side note, I have a true perc, a dottyback, and a blood shrimp as my inhabitants and I only feed them as much as they can eat in a few minutes once a day. Thanks. Any help is greatly appreciated.

THIS IS WHY i went with a large tank..the smaller the tank, the harder it is to get your water perfect..i would leave the bio balls for now untill your tank is more mature enough. i would feed your fish every other day and do a 20% water change every 3-4 days untill your levels are better..never do over a 50% water change cause your tank will go through a small cycle and mess your water readings up even worse!!!.when your tank is about a year old i would add about 6-8 onces of lr ever week and start taking a lil of your bio balls out untill you have no more.id add the 6-8 onces of live rock untill you reach about another 5 pounds

it worked for me