Nitrates super high!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Corvette Reefer]

My dad tested the water today in his 65 gallon tank he said it was as high as the kit could read, probably around 200 PPM. We can only do 18 gallon changes at a time with a 5 gallon bucket, what other things can we do, i remember reading about vodka dosing to lower them fast? could that be a possibility if any ones got a link to do so? And any other help is great, thanks.

btw all other tests were prefect, we running a redsea skimmer and phosphate reactor and a hob filter with carbon.

[card16969]

personally go buy a couple 5 gallon buckets and go and get some water and do massive water changes, imho jumping into vodka dosing is very dangerous

[kgood1]

+1 on the massive water change.

[Manoj's Reef]

Negative on Vodka Dosing.

you can do more water changes frequently and less feeding for couple of days.

[iyachtuxivm]

You may want to get a double check on that test before you do anything crazy. Maybe the test is bad.

[jimsflies]

I agree with water changes as an emergency measure. However, in the long term we need to figure out why they are that high or it will likely happen again. You either have too many nutrient inputs (fish) or not enough nutrient exports (filters).

How is your livestock looking? Did you only have nitrates or ammonia and nitrite also?

When you get a chance fill out a Reef Showcase (located in your UserCP at the top). This will allow us to see at a glance what all you have going on with your setup.

Since we don't have that yet, how large is your system, how old, how many fish?

[Sir Patrick]

Sand bed get blown around? Can cause huge nitrate spikes.

I would do a 10-15 gallon water change a day, for about 4 or 5 days- and watch to see the nitrates drop.

How old is that test kit? They are most of the time good for a year- then become inacurate/untrustworthy.

[Kenbow]

I agree, water changes are your safest bet, 30-40% would be safe, if animals are in distress i would do a larger change, good luck.