High nitrates after adding fish

[Brandont21]

Double check salinity with a calibrated refractometer.

 

[stambo3]

Did you dump the water from the bags the fish came in into the reef when you added the fish?

The fish were quarantined for 2 weeks in a separate tank. They were then drip-acclimated with DT water and transferred with Fishnet, and the water discarded.

 

[stambo3]

Double check salinity with a calibrated refractometer.

Please explain to me, it is not very clear to me, what will affect the high nitrates. I'm new and still learning and don't understand a lot of things.

 

[ReefingDreams]

Please explain to me, it is not very clear to me, what will affect the high nitrates. I'm new and still learning and don't understand a lot of things.

The issue of coral death is not necessarily due to nitrates. The nitrates are likely a symptom of a different problem. Nitrates could be the culprit of coral death, but I've run >100 NO3 in a euphilia dominated tank long-term and have had no issues myself. But I'm a sample size of 1. Definitely need to get your nitrates in control, but there has to be some other underlying issue. I don't see how 2 weeks of those fish in your relatively large tank with only 2 cubes of frozen per day and some spirulina would cause such a huge spike. Not denying your experience here, I just strongly believe there's something else going on. Any other changes to your tank within the past month? New additions of any kind?

 

[gbroadbridge]

The fish were quarantined for 2 weeks in a separate tank. They were then drip-acclimated with DT water and transferred with Fishnet, and the water discarded.

I honestly don't think your problems are related to the addition of fish or high Nitrate levels

There maybe some chemical contamination of your source water.

Have you checked the TDS out of your RODI system?
Any chance of contamination of water during mixing of your salt water?
Which salt are you using?

 

[stambo3]

The issue of coral death is not necessarily due to nitrates. The nitrates are likely a symptom of a different problem. Nitrates could be the culprit of coral death, but I've run >100 NO3 in a euphilia dominated tank long-term and have had no issues myself. But I'm a sample size of 1. Definitely need to get your nitrates in control, but there has to be some other underlying issue. I don't see how 2 weeks of those fish in your relatively large tank with only 2 cubes of frozen per day and some spirulina would cause such a huge spike. Not denying your experience here, I just strongly believe there's something else going on. Any other changes to your tank within the past month? New additions of any kind?

The only change in the tank is adding a UV lamp / Sun Sun CUV-136 --- 36W / 1 month before adding the fish.

 

[stambo3]

I honestly don't think your problems are related to the addition of fish or high Nitrate levels

There maybe some chemical contamination of your source water.

Have you checked the TDS out of your RODI system?
Any chance of contamination of water during mixing of your salt water?
Which salt are you using?

That's really the most likely reason I haven't thought to check. My RO/DI system does not have a built in TDS display, I had ordered a Chinese one at first but after it showed me 3-4 different values on the same water I threw it away. Now, after 8-9 months of use, the membrane and filters will obviously need to be replaced. I will buy an accurate TDS meter and adjust if necessary the consumables.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think you need to stop focusing just on nitrate. 80-100 ppm nitrate is not an acute fish or coral killer.

 

[Kzang]

Hello,
I have 8 LPS corals, mostly euphyllias and duncan, as well as two small clowns in a 160g tank. I decided to add a few new fish - Siganus Vulpinus Foxface -3.5', Chelmon Rostratus - 3' and Blue Tang - 1'. My nitrates skyrocketed and the corals started dying. I don't know how to reduce them, I try with vodka, they reduce a little, but the corals keep dying. How can I deal with the problem, apparently I made a big mistake somewhere and now I don't know how to solve the problem. Can you give me a hand?
Thank you !!!

It might not be the nitrates completely? My blue tang ate LPS out of the blue. I lost a lot of lps until I woke up one morning to it biting the tentacles and skeleton of a torch. I guess he didnt like waiting for his nori breakfast

 

[stambo3]

It might not be the nitrates completely? My blue tang ate LPS out of the blue. I lost a lot of lps until I woke up one morning to it biting the tentacles and skeleton of a torch. I guess he didnt like waiting for his nori breakfast

I doubted Foxface could bite them. But watching them shrink gradually and not seem to have been bitten led me to think of doing quick water changes and starting to reduce the nitrates which had risen very sharply. I still haven't figured out exactly what they died of, but if I can I'll replace them with new ones...

 

[Troylee]

Are you running any kinda carbon on your tank? It sounds like the water got some chemical in it such as house hold aerosol sprays etc.. I don’t buy high nitrates at all for their demise.

 

[Uncle99]

Rostratus may nip at corals, clams and inverts.
Suspect someone is tasting.

 

[themcnertney]

I think you need to stop focusing just on nitrate. 80-100 ppm nitrate is not an acute fish or coral killer.

This. And slow down. Intervening is causing way more stress then helping, just from what I read.

 

[stambo3]

Are you running any kinda carbon on your tank? It sounds like the water got some chemical in it such as house hold aerosol sprays etc.. I don’t buy high nitrates at all for their demise.

Now when I rewind the tape the following happened. There was a lot of fogging on the tank/ you couldn't see the fish inside/ so I bought a UV lamp and installed it. After 3-4 days of running the lamp, the green fog disappeared and the water became crystal clear. But I noticed that all the algae and the little cyano in the tank disappeared. I was happy and released the new fish. Apparently something happened after the fogging and the UV lamp, algae and cyano are gone but the stones started to turn black and all the corals died / I only have LPS/. The only parameter I saw change with my tests was nitrate.