Reef tank nitrate help!! Please!!

[CatDog]

Hello everyone, im having an issue with my tank its been going on for about 2 months. No matter what i do i can never bring my nitrates down. The tank is about 6-7 months old. I do a 30% water change every 2-3 weeks usually. I even had to do a 60% water change at one point because the Test tube turned blood red while i was testing nitrate. I didnt know my nitrate would get this high with only 3 fish inside. I think the nitrates are also effecting my corals growth and some are starting to develop white spots. This is what my setup is and my livestock.
salinity- 1.024-1.025

Tank and Equipment:
30g long
Filtration-Marineland penguin 350 holds blue carbon pads and polyfiber(rated for 70g), and a marineland penguin 200 which has the carbon, phosphate remover and chemi pure elite inside.
Lighting- 2 x 39W blue actinic HO bulb, 1 x 10,000k HO bulb, tank gets about 8-10 hours of light a day
Powerheads- Aquaclear 70 on one side and Aquaclear 20 on the other
Aqueon 100W heater temps stay between 78-81
Substrate- 1-2 inches of Reef Sand

Livestock:
Corals- 7 inch GSP, 3 small GSP frags, 3 inch Gonipora, 1inch goni frag, 3-4inch purple stylo, one inch purple stylo frag.
Inverts-Sea Apple
Fish- Blue Velvet damsel, Blue damsel, Cinnomin clownfish.
Cleanup crew- 3 snails

I feed my corals and inverts Phytoplex, Microvert and Zooplex. Corals get target fed once a week.
Fish get fed once a day in the morning. I was feeding freeze dried brine shrimp then i noticed the nitrates got high so i switched to Hikari Marine S for small saltwater fish.

 

[prattreef]

The tank and corals don't look bad. What are you using for makeup water? What test kits are you using and which other parameters are you testing for?

 

[CatDog]

i use api test liquid i test ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, calcium.
I have always used tap water with water conditioner because i dont have the space to make RO water with drums. and what could be making my nitrates high?

 

[prattreef]

You answered your own question.

 

[CatDog]

im still confused?

 

[jrjackson]

Tap water

 

[CatDog]

tap water causes high nitrates in saltwater tanks??

 

[edd]

stop using tap water.
api isn't accurate for phosphate or nitrate. i use hanna for phos and red sea for nitrate.

 

[CatDog]

okay thanks.

 

[Fasthackem]

Get an RO system STAT.

 

[oro50]

How come tap water has high nitrates?

 

[oro50]

That's what I'm using right now to start the cycling process of a 20 gallon long saltwater tank. 3 weeks going on 4 now.
How much is RO/DI water, and where can you get it?

 

[oro50]

I did treat the tap water though with a conditioner

 

[mguili1947]

you can buy Ro water at most fish stores

 

[Dogbed]

Also start testing your magnesium.

 

[greg 45]

How can you say that his tap water has high anything ??
Did you test for nitrates or phosphates this might help
Not all tap water has issues.
I have 0 nitrates and phosphates through the roof
CHECK at the tap and show us some numbers

 

[Tonyscoots84]

also are you using crushed coral substrate?

And RODI is the best for your reef (no matter what anyone says).

I really didn't look over the entire thread but what is your

Filtration?
Water change schedule?
Feeding?
How many fish and livestock?
Do you have a fuge?

Just a few questions to get the ball rolling

 

[sgdcover]

Before you try the tap water change... TEST IT! Make a fresh batch of saltwater and test all its parameters. That will tell you if it's the water introducing Nitrates.

I've never heard of tap water introducing Nitrates. Phosphates, metals, yes. Nitrates? Never heard of it.

How often are you changing the pads on your filters? Those pads and even chemi-pure and anything else in those bags can get packed full of waste at the same time that they are supposed to clean your water. All that waste will be turned to Nitrates very quickly.

Anyway, before jumping to conclusions, test the tap. You should probably test your water with a different test, take it to an LFS, just to make sure it's not the test that's bad.

 

[greg 45]

tap water

Using this as a quote

I've never heard of tap water introducing Nitrates. Phosphates, metals, yes. Nitrates? Never heard of it.


Test the tap water before making a batch of saltwater


Like I stated in the above post/I was chasing phosphates in my tank always trying to get them lower . Your source of making new saltwater starts at the tap weather you use a ro/di or not. I have three cartridges of di resin and it exhaust them quick. My (tap water ) has 2.5 ppm of phosphates coming in . This is why I recommend starting at the tap or even after the ro/di water is made. It can solve problems before they start.
Hope this helps.

 

[sgdcover]

Always good to know the quality of the source water. Ultimately if you take that approach and it comes out negative, still test the saltwater. It could be one of the additives, including the salt.