Ananananda

Hello all, i've recently started a SW tank a week or so ago and only today purchased an API saltwater test kit. I tested pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates to find that i have a nitrate reading of about 30ppm.

this seems pretty high for a brand new tank and i'm wondering if anyone has any idea on why this would be the case.. seems odd i would have a brand new tank with "old tank" syndrome lol.

the tank has been sitting for about 3 days with some fully cured live rock and a few dead rocks/mostly uncured LR in it so i'm wondering if maybe the cycle was just that fast due to the great LR i got from a LFS or am i missing something? any advice is appreciated! thanks!

just fyi
its a 55 gallon with 300w MH lighting
ammonia tested close to 0
nitrites 0
and PH at about 8.0
salinity is about 1.024

there is no life in the aquarium outside of what is growing on my live rock, which is actually pretty covered in live stuffs!

JRDroid

It is possible that the rocks cycled your tank if you bought them cured. I would test your tap water though to make sure that it is not the source of the nitrates.

locoyo386

Hi there,
Well first off, Yes the cycle could well go fast due to well cured LR. However this would not explain the high concentration of Nitrates. I agree, you need to test your water suplly, even if it's RO water. If you find that's not the culprit, then two other possible reasons for high nitrates;
1.) The specific test kit is not working correctly. Take the water to be tested at a local fish store or retest with a different kit.
2.) Your tank really has that high Natres and can be due to high initial die-off.

No matter what the reason, unless is it is your water source, it is not a problem just simply do water changes to bring it back down.

Ananananda

thanks so much, my tap water is the problem i believe as i just tested some and it is showing nitrates. not as much as in the aquarium but a noticeable amount still. i guess its possible it could be the test kit but i can find out easily by getting some good water i trust and testing that.

either way i'm on the right track with this, thanks for the replies! It had never occurred to me nitrates would be present in the tap water. Once i'm 100% certain its not the test kit i guess i will be buying a filter for my water, which i was considering anyways.

thanks again for the speedy help!

locoyo386

Hi there, not sure part of the US you are at, but here I beleive the tolerance level for nitrates is around 10-20 pmm or so. My tap water reads close to 10, thus 30 would not be far from what the tank would be at with the additional nitrates rfom the tap water, I use RO water by the way.

Stang Man

You need to use R/O or D/I water not good to use tap. There are many chemicals in tap water that is not acceptable for reef use.I would try testing in a week and a couple times the next weeks to come it takes afew months to establish at full strenght to sustain the load of coral life.

Ananananda

yes i've done a lot of work today getting to the bottom of this, my test kit is fine so i'm certain it is just my local alabama skunk water that is to blame.

i've been reading up a lot on here and around about RO/DI units, they defenitely seem to be the way to go especially as i want to eventually build up to a full reef setup. I ordered a 5 stage air water & ice RO/DI so hopefully that will get my little fish bath straightened out!

cheers everyone and thanks for the advice!

Stang Man

Is this for your refrigerator? Write back!!!

Ananananda

The site airwaterice.com said I could hook it up under the sink, I believe. They have a section specifically marked for reefkeepers, the brand name of the RO/DI system is Typhoon. Hopefully this will solve the problem of terrible tap water/high nitrates. Haven't received it yet, but will post more once hooked up and running! Thanks

Stang Man

I have never heard of the brand that you have. so it is a under sink unit. Does it have three or four cambers with a ultraviolrt light

Ananananda

It says it has a five stage system, the last of which is for de-ionization. Still have not received it; not really sure about the uv light.

Stang Man

Cool!! keep us informed!!!

Ananananda

i have the unit set up temporarily and sure enough it is reading a clear 0ppm. the unit itself was very easy and intuitive to get hooked up and came with everything i needed.

still have to get some cabinets/tables or something going for the RO/DI itself and all the bins i'm using but for now i'm good to go!

thanks again for all the help.

Attached Images

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locoyo386

Sounds great.

Stang Man

Were did you find this unit? How much was it

Ananananda

www.airwaterice.com

they have a section titled "reefkeepers" where they have several RO/DI units from ~$100 to over $500. I have the one that is just under 200 and says it does 75-100 GPD but mine seems a bit slower than that which could be my water pressure.

also after i ran it for an hour one of the hoses popped off and shot water everywhere as it wasn't securely fastened when it arrived. this wasn't a huge problem though, i just popped it in real snug and it hasn't had any issues since. I should have checked them better before i started it!

other than that as far as i can tell its a good unit, it definitely got my nitrates down to 0.

zeeter

I have the same RO/DI unit. It's really great. The only problem I had was that there were absolutely no instructions for it. Was easy enough to figure out, but the documentation didn't tell me what each canister was for.

Also took a while to figure out that I had the system on Flush mode so I was making like 1:20 clean water. Turned the flush off and it worked much better.

Stang Man

Cool Thanks for the info!!!