please help quick!!!

[bobboman]

i have a 24 gallon aquapod that has been running for almost 2 years.
i recently upgraded my light from the stock light 64w to a 150w mh 10000k light.
my NITRATES are spiking!!! its almost as if the tank is cycling again!! i cannot find anything dead in my tank, and all my corals are still looking healthy.
2 days ago when i tested the water nitrates were at 5, so i did a 5 gallon water change. i used a new type of salt because i ran out of my last time and the lfs didn't have the type of salt i was using. the salt i was using before was tropic marine. the salt i just added to my tank was called reef crystals made by instant ocean. could the salt be the problem??
the only thing i have changed in the past 2 weeks is the light, and the type of salt i use for my water changes.
2 days ago i tested water. nitrates were at 5ppm.
today when i tested nitrates were at 10 ppm!!
Is the test kit expired? it was bottled in november 2007.
also, i have been using ro di water from the supermarket for the past year and a half.. could the nitrate levels in this water have risen?

temp 78
ph 8.2
phosphate 0ppm
calc 440 ppm
dkh 8-9
NITRATE 10!!!

any possible solutions would greatly help

[Phurst]

Reef Crystals is a perfectly fine salt, likely no worries there. Have you tested your RO/DI water before and after adding salt? Could be that you need to replace some filters in your RO/DI unit. Have you tested ammonia and nitrite in the tank? That could help narrow down the source to either something happening in the tank, or something that's being added to the tank.

[bobboman]

my ammonia appears to be 0
i do not have a nitrite test kit.
and i would assume that my water source is good because it is glacier spring rodi water from the grocery store.
could my test kit just have expired and be giving me a inaccurate reading??

[Phurst]

It's possible that it's your kit. Does it have an expiration date? I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the grocery store water. They're notoriously bad about monitoring their quality.

[CarmieJo]

I would test the plain RO water. The store might be skimping on maintenance or just have a problem they don't know about. I'd also take a water sample to the lfs and have it tested for comparison.

[bobboman]

im going to test the RODI water i have been using.

i went to the lfs and got the water tested. they had the same results, but worse almost 20 ppm now.

something i dont understand, is that my corals have been looking great.

im going to go get a gallon of water from the grocery store and test it.

how much water can i change at one time, and if i dont fix this soon is my tank DOOMED?!?!?!

[bobboman]

its not my water source. i bought a gallon and tested it before i put salt in it, then tested it after i put salt and test still came out 0 for nitrates

[bobboman]

also, all livestock is accounted for! dang, wtf is going on.

one more thing that could be a problem is that since i got a new light i put screening over the top of my tank. some of that screening dipped into the tank and was soaking on the top of the water for about an hour. could this have any affect?

[V]

You changed from a stock 64w > T5, MH what?

There's nothing in your wording, other than light & blend, that have changed. maybe asking what the screening was made from, but even then, even submerged for an hour, the last thing you'd expect to see would be nitrate. I dont even believe its possible, but anyways.

At any rate, youve more that doubles your power output, which everything, including bacteria, are going to love. And if you've inadvertently changed your salt mixture for the better (americans, assist on that one) then it may contain a readily more available buffet of elements. This may allow a population increase or surge in your aerobic forms temporarily, which may explain your peak in nitrate. Kinda like being overridden by the masses. However under the circumstance if your nutrient input regime hasn't changed, this would be a short term occurrence & id expect to see the tank to regress into equilibrium again.

You definitely sure that's all that has changed? At any rate, keep them from going over 20parts, your tank will be fine, but id advise you keep the water recharge facility primed in advance for awhile.

[bobboman]

i know one more thing that has changed. i was using a marine land canister filter for about 6 months, and then i stumbled upon a forum about how cansiter filters were bad for the tank because they can produce a lot of nitrates, so i took all the filtering stuff out of the inside of the canister and now i only use it to run water through my chiller and back into my tank. i removed all the media out of it about a week ago. i don't see how this can be causing the problem though.

[CarmieJo]

How much LR do you have? How deep is the sand bed? What is your stocking list?

[bobboman]

25-30 lbs of LR, sandbed is about 2.5 inches thick.

1 clown
1 purple striple psudochromi
1 bicolored blenny
3 turbo snails
2 margarita snails
2 blue legged hermits
1 coral banded shrimp
1 zebra turbo snail

as for coral
around 10 mushroms
some xenia
green torch

[CarmieJo]

The media in a canister filter supports aerobic bacteria like on the surface of the rock and in a shallow sand bed. Aerobic bacteria is responsible for converting ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. If you aren't seeing an ammonia spike or nitrite I don't think this is about removing the media in the canister. From there anaerobic bacteria that lives inside the rook and at the bottom of a deep sand bed breaks the nitrate down into nitrogen gas that is harmless. You have enough rock for denitrification, I think you just have to get over this hump.

Those corals are relatively tolerant of nitrate so I wouldn't panic. Did you cut back on the amount of time you are lighting the tank when you upgraded the lights?

[bobboman]

i had the lights on for 8 hours and reduced it to 5 when i got the new light.

[CarmieJo]

I think I would back it down some more. If you had the common 50/50 PC bulbs you probably have 3-4 times the light with the MH.

[bobboman]

well the thing about backing off on the lighting is that i have 2 layers of screens over the top of my tank. i started with 4 layers a week ago and have removed 2 layers so far. is this still to much light?

[CarmieJo]

Based on V's analysis (which makes sense to me) and the fact that your nitrates are climbing I'd say yes. Or, more correctly, it is not really that it is TOO much light but that it is a major increase in light and your tank has to get acclimated to it. Kind of like if you live in the north and are used to getting 8 hours a day of sunlight, then you go to the tropics, get 5 hours of sun and wear sunscreen you are probably still going to get a sunburn because the light is more intense.

[bobboman]

alright, i'll try that out. i'll back it down to 4 hours.
good analogy!

[V]

Just as a side note, in its simplest form, whether it be rockwork, a DSB or something abit more complex like a de-nitrator, the fundamentals are all the same. The aerobic stuff will always surge ahead given the opportunity, but in doing so, they consume O2 during the ramped growth essentially doing themselves in to a degree. As a result A) favourable conditions open for anaerobic forms & B) left on the battle field is fat, tasty & bust 'd cell snacks to consume by the millions.

It would be beautiful to watch actually. The power struggle happens constantly in the tank, even though my test tube here says zero, doesn't mean it not in there, its just currently getting converted at the same or faster pace than what's in the system. Even in equilibrium its still a dog eats dog world, whether its between the 2 zones or within each respective camp, it still comes down to only the strong survives. The only difference is they have a finally worked out the 'Standard Operating Procedures Manual' and only replicate as much as needed.

[bobboman]

i just want to confirm something. will the nitrates go back down on their own or do i need to do weekly water changes of 5g until they are back to 0?

also, yes it would be interesting to see if it wasn't going on in my tank!! i love microbiology. currently i am a bio major at cal state fullerton.

[V]

Good work. Doubled so if you enjoy it.

Water changes are still needed bud. Dilution is always the solution. In respect for the topic at hand, then one would assume the tank will settle on its own accord.
Just take into account you have a captive environment that is geared on some elses tried and proven model before you. Nothing more. We could have the same tank & nothing would run parallel

Dealing with tanks is one massive game of variables, visualisations and processes of eliminations. Its so complex that im surprised the general Aquarius even know's half of this stuff, but we do, and even then methodologies can randomly change mid year due to some new discovery - or worst, enough people jumping on the band wagon and treating it as gospel.

Make no mistake, so many elements are hinged and dependant on each-other & we are technically running absolutely blind to the hilt. Mother nature pulls it off with relative ease. She keeps it simple in the most paradoxical way and elements take care of themselves. There's a lesson in that I believe.

[CarmieJo]

I am not a fan of big water changes, I believe they upset the osmotic environment and really impact your micro critters. Once things are in balance I would back down to 10% weekly water changes.