High Nitrates

[wildstyle4]

hi there hope eveyones great!

I need some help.
I have a 54litre tank been running successfully for nearly 4 years, i have 2 true clowns mated pair and hoted there bubbletip, blue yellow tail damsel, royal grammer, boxer shrimp and 1 turbo snail, also have a few mushrooms and polyps.
Have got a fluval 105 exturnal filter, fluval 3 series heater. nano tmc skimmer and uv steriliser.

0 nitrites, 0 amonia, ph is a bit low at 6 or 7 but i am getting to the normal of 8- 8.5 but nitrates are high at 20ppm - 40ppm
I have just bought an api liquid test kit thinking it was my old test kit out of date but it still says high nitrates, i have kept up with weekly or biweekly 25 -30% water changes, but have done a 50% water change on one day and the next day aswel, and still no change, but the thing is all fish are well, my clowns are spawning and i have had no deaths for 2 years.

Can anyone help me if thi is just me being picky on wanting to get the nitrates to near enough the lower end of the scale or is there a problem.

cheers

 

[nkd5024]

It honestly might be the API test kits.
They are pretty inaccurate and should only be used either in freshwater where the exact reading aren't as important or just to get a ball park idea of where all your parameters are at.
If you can get your water tested with a higher quality test kit, it might read differently.

I would just watch how much your feeding you tank and make sure your not overfeeding.
I did notice that you do not have a protein skimmer.
A skimmer would help immensely in keeping your water clean.

Do some research on refugiums too if you have some free time.

Nick D.

 

[ozzie2011]

As above but 20-40 nitrate isnt a big deal with what your stocking, if you had sps or lps I would work at bringing the nitrates down. Many softies prefer some nitrates.

Invest in some Salifert test kits, worth the expense

 

[steelhealr]

If your fish are doing fine and you've had your tank for years, I wouldn't fret too much. If fish appear sick, corals closing and diatoms increasing, I'd be concerned. SH