nitrate help old live rock

[Chris82]

Bought a used tank about three years ago and as a newbie used the four year old sand bed and live rock.
Tank was a cyano disaster and very neglected.
I got cyano prob fixed and started with some lps .
I have always had an issue with high nitrates but had not been to adverse on the LPs.
I have now decided to give sps a try and have been trying to get nitrates down and for a year been an impossible feet.
I belive my lr and sand bed are saturated.
I am at the point if just taking all live rock out and Sand and turfing it and starting from scratch.
I have bought a new tank that is is the works that I will be transferring all the corals and fish to when it's ready.
In the interm would it be okay to just pull the lr and sand out of my tank that running and leaving it more or less empty or will this shock my system and kill the corals or fish?
Please chim in with opinions and facts on doing this.

[Reef_Geek]

nitrates are solutes (in other words, they are in the water, not in the rock)

Unless there's a ton of decomposing debris in the LR and sand... I don't think they are the 'source'

typical source of nitrates is high bioload... having lots of fish that requires lots of feeding... and not balanced by enough water changes.

[Chris82]

I am very conscious of feeding and honestly don't even feed enough at this point.
Doing fifty to sixty percent water changes twice a month.
After w/c nitrates go from twenty five to about ten then with in two days back up. And if I do another large WC they do same thing.
Running a skimmer.
Its just not possible IMO to have nitrates continue to increase so rapidly if they are not coming from a source.
Just don't know.......

[Reef_Geek]

just for clarity, could you post a photo of your tank?

ideally, showing the rocks, the sand bed (granular size and depth), and fish population.

What do you feed, how much, and how often?

What filters?

[mike31154]

Similar experience buying a used system over 6 years ago. Previous owner only had 2 very small powerheads going so very low flow. Took years to get the hair algae to the point where it's now bearable and controllable with regular maintenance. I'd say it's quite possible that there's a good amount of gunk in your sand bed that is contributing to the nitrate issue. What size is your tank & how much sand is in there? Something that may help is to ensure you vacuum down into the sand bed at each water change, not all of it at once, but a section at a time. This will help remove some of the trapped detritus down there, if that's an issue. Pulling all the sand & rock at once is definitely not recommended. You need to be patient & soldier on. Perhaps start your new tank with some fresh LR & sand, then gradually transfer sand, rock & livestock from the current system. Oh yeah, although you may not have sps that need high flow at the moment, increasing flow will help a great deal in transporting nutrients by keeping things stirred up. So if you can add a powerhead or two, that might not be a bad idea.

[Reef Pilot]

I inherited a 10 year running tank when we bought our current house 3.5 years ago. I had the same problem with high nitrates, and other problems as well. You can take a look at my tank journal in my sig at the bottom to read how I got it under control (can start at post #14).

[Reef_Geek]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

I inherited a 10 year running tank when we bought our current house 3.5 years ago. I had the same problem with high nitrates, and other problems as well. You can take a look at my tank journal in my sig at the bottom to read how I got it under control (can start at post #14).

whoa... those softies were frightening! I'm going to have nightmares from that sight. I can just imagine the stuff that must have accumulated over 10 yrs of neglect.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Reef_Geek

whoa... those softies were frightening! I'm going to have nightmares from that sight. I can just imagine the stuff that must have accumulated over 10 yrs of neglect.

Yup, you could barely see any rock, with it covered in algae, detritus, and cyano.

[Reef_Geek]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Yup, you could barely see any rock, with it covered in algae, detritus, and cyano.

but I can see how your wife could overlook the aquarium for that kitchen. What a nice kitchen!

[Chris82]

Thanks guys!!