Hello all, i recently added a diamond goby and now my nitrates are testing 75 on my Hanna checker. Would you recommend a 100% water change or a 3 30% water changers over a period of 3 weeks?
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Doing a Water change WILL lower the nitrates as will addition of ChemiPure elite to sumpHello all, i recently added a diamond goby and now my nitrates are testing 75 on my Hanna checker. Would you recommend a 100% water change or a 3 30% water changers over a period of 3 weeks?
So would you recommend I siphon the entire sand bed then do some larger water changes? I’ve hardly touched my sand in about 6 months since setting the tank up. I was under the impression the sand bed held a lot of beneficial bacteria so I didn’t want to disturb it a lot. But 75ppm nitrates is really high. My corals are stressed, some are dying and I’ve lost 2 fish so far.Randy’s article specifically says water changes won’t help (rebounds quickly due to location source not changed) I’d consider its alternate offers:
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Aquarium Chemistry: Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium
This article provides background on nitrate in the ocean and in aquaria, and describes a number of techniques that aquarists have successfully used to keep nitrate levels down to more natural levels in reef aquaria.reefs.com
also, make sure you’re sand is cleaned. The fish can eat pellets, he’s not existing on sandbed waste it’s just something they sift through looking for bugs
It does no good to battle nitrates while simultaneous storing them up as sandbed waste.
That's a 20 year old article talking about keeping nitrates < 1ppm, and describes 0.9ppm as "elevated nitrate levels". Water changes do indeed make THAT goal difficult. But that's also a VERY outdated goal by most standards today. Multiple large water changes will certainly be able to have an impact on lowering nitrates from 75ppm.Randy’s article specifically says water changes won’t help (rebounds quickly due to location source not changed) I’d consider its alternate offers:
![]()
Aquarium Chemistry: Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium
This article provides background on nitrate in the ocean and in aquaria, and describes a number of techniques that aquarists have successfully used to keep nitrate levels down to more natural levels in reef aquaria.reefs.com
also, make sure you’re sand is cleaned. The fish can eat pellets, he’s not existing on sandbed waste it’s just something they sift through looking for bugs
It does no good to battle nitrates while simultaneous storing them up as sandbed waste.
That's a 20 year old article talking about keeping nitrates < 1ppm, and describes 0.9ppm as "elevated nitrate levels". Water changes do indeed make THAT goal difficult. But that's also a VERY outdated goal by most standards today. Multiple large water changes will certainly be able to have an impact on lowering nitrates from 75ppm.
This is a 30 gallon tank that is 6 months old. Already cycled added corals yaddayadda. Now I’m getting a diatom bloom on my sandbed. I recently got a Hanna nitrate checker and it’s the first time I tested my tank for nitrates since the cycle. Tested 70 ppm. I blamed the addition of the goby for the high nitrate level though. Now my goby is nowhere to be found and my nitrates are maxing out my Hanna checker at 75ppm. Here is a picture of the sand bed in the tankWhat size is the tank? And did it just spiked from out of nowhere or you didn't test it before?
Doing a water change won't fix the nitrate issue, we need more information like current bioload, what filtration are you using, how old is the system. You have to know how the nitrates went so high in the first place.
Lets just assume it is a small nano tank brand new and this is your first fish and you just cycled it - do 4, 25% water changes in 2 weeks. If you do a 100% water change you will probably kill or stress out the fishes.
I think it will be difficult to help @SolarReefer until they share more information about their setup and practices. From what I read from their other posts is that this is a 6 month old 30g AIO running on RODI filtered well water. That’s the extent of the known details. And that there’s likely a dead shrimp in the AIO sump section![]()
This reply made me laugh haha. You are correct 6 month old aio with a most likely dead shrimp and now very possibly a dead goby. Haven’t seen him in a few days. 30 gallon tank running carbon and chemi clean in a media basket, skimmer and filter media. Here are my most recent parameters.I think it will be difficult to help @SolarReefer until they share more information about their setup and practices. From what I read from their other posts is that this is a 6 month old 30g AIO running on RODI filtered well water. That’s the extent of the known details. And that there’s likely a dead shrimp in the AIO sump section![]()
Very interesting. Yeah I’m really trying to get to the bottom of it. Hoping it’s not my well water. It comes out at nearly 700 tds out of the tap so I know my rodi system is working overtime but my tds meter always reads 1tds on line 3. I have 2 clowns a fire fish and a cleaner shrimp as well as a CUC. Recently had a royal gramma, tomini tang and diamond goby die. Pulled all of them out immediately other than the goby. He’s just disappeared.What other fish do you have? What are your nitrates “normally?” What is your salinity and temperature. TDS of your outgoing ro/di water?
tested for ammonia or nitrites?
I’ve run a perfectly clean (looking) reef with corals and fish at 60ppm. I’m not sure 75ppm (while high) is what’s killing your world.
IMO...six fish in a 30 gallon is your "problem" with high nutrient load. What were your nitrates and phosphates before you added the additional 3 fish?Very interesting. Yeah I’m really trying to get to the bottom of it. Hoping it’s not my well water. It comes out at nearly 700 tds out of the tap so I know my rodi system is working overtime but my tds meter always reads 1tds on line 3. I have 2 clowns a fire fish and a cleaner shrimp as well as a CUC. Recently had a royal gramma, tomini tang and diamond goby die. Pulled all of them out immediately other than the goby. He’s just disappeared.
This reply made me laugh haha. You are correct 6 month old aio with a most likely dead shrimp and now very possibly a dead goby. Haven’t seen him in a few days. 30 gallon tank running carbon and chemi clean in a media basket, skimmer and filter media. Here are my most recent parameters.
I did do a fish less cycle. Cycles with microbaxter 7 & ghost fed. I did about a 40% water change after the cycle.What method did you use to cycle your tank? Did you perform a water change after cycling?
Fishless cycling usually relates to high nitrates post cycle and the first water change is important when not employing other methods to reduce nitrate.
Yeah I only have 3 fish now. Don’t plan on adding anything anytime soon.IMO...six fish in a 30 gallon is your "problem" with high nutrient load. What were your nitrates and phosphates before you added the additional 3 fish?
Either cut back fish load or up your waste management.