high nitrates-30g

[aldooley]

I have a 30g and a 75g. Both have been set up for some time. I just removed all the inverts and fish and soft corals from the 30g to the 75g. There is nothing in the 30g but LR and hitchhikers. I did a large H2O change over a month ago. My sponges on the LR are starting to look yellow so I checked and my Nitrates are @ 30ppm. What is causing high nitrates in the tank? Is it hitchhikers dying cause I no longer feed the tank? Is it the sand bed that is only 1 in. thick and is harboring nitrates? If it is the sand should I remove it and put the sand in my 75g? Or should I just keep doing H2O changes till everything dies off? OR....since I plan to use the tank as a Q tank as well as growing chaeto (good algae) in it, should I just let it be-wait for my seed rock to take in the 75g then add it to the 30g so the chaeto can suck up the Nitrates?

So many questions...

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi and :welcome:

I'm going to move this thread to the GRD where you might get more responses.

I would try siphoning out your sandbed and see how nasty it is there. They can build up a lot of detritus. With water changes and some chaeto you should be able to get nitrate down to zero pretty quickly, especially in a tank with no fish.

 

[Anonymous]

+1

 

[leftovers]

I have a 30g and a 75g. Both have been set up for some time. I just removed all the inverts and fish and soft corals from the 30g to the 75g. There is nothing in the 30g but LR and hitchhikers. I did a large H2O change over a month ago. My sponges on the LR are starting to look yellow so I checked and my Nitrates are @ 30ppm. What is causing high nitrates in the tank? Is it hitchhikers dying cause I no longer feed the tank? Is it the sand bed that is only 1 in. thick and is harboring nitrates? If it is the sand should I remove it and put the sand in my 75g? Or should I just keep doing H2O changes till everything dies off? OR....since I plan to use the tank as a Q tank as well as growing chaeto (good algae) in it, should I just let it be-wait for my seed rock to take in the 75g then add it to the 30g so the chaeto can suck up the Nitrates?

So many questions...

Any advice would be appreciated.

You need to do water changes every few weeks not ever other month and clean any filters out....over time nitrates will naturally build up in a closed system. Fish waste is great food for other flora fauna in a tank so i suspect your tank is starving....

Your sand may be accumulating detritus but there are things that eat it and break it down... so do your water changes and your nitrates will drop...clean your filters and skimmer frequently