bacteria to control nitrate

I have high levels of nitrate in my 12 gallons reef tank. Is it good to put bacteria to control that? I did 2 water change al ready but after the second water change the nitrate levels went up. My tank its new, i set it up like 3 weeks ago.

Are you sure they are nitrates? Not nitrites? If they are nitrates the source of the problem could be the water itself. Some water supplies have very high readings of nitrates so that could be the problem. There is a blog on this site about the nitrogen cycle which is when beneficial bacteria establish themselves in the tank. As for the bacteria, their is no bacteria that will convert nitrates. Also, did you stock your tank yet?

nirtate can be high but nitrite level must be zero.. to do this you can change 40 5 water regularly untill it goes tp the stable condition..also use test kit to check this level.

well now im not sure if what i have its high levels of nitrate or nitrites. i did the test and the one that is high give me a purple color and it should give me a light blue. Im confused because some aquariums told me to stop doing water change cuz my tank did not finish the cycle, and recommend me to put bacteria on. And some other aquariums just told me to do water change. but i believe that 2 water change for a 3 weeks tank old seems to be a lot. Don't you think the same

since you have high nitrite (i think it'll be nitrite) levels, so do it change regularly untill it stables. then do 40% water change in every week. but now you have to do it to reduce the nitrite level.

What you can also do is seed the new aquarium with bacteria from another tank. This can be accomplished by getting things such as decorations into the new tank. Also there is a seeding product on the market called Bio Spira. I have heard it works.

well that is actually the product that i have. its just that I'm not sure if that will help to control the nitrites in my tank or even do worst to the tank. if you can help me with that i'll appreciate!!

Do you know about stocking capacity and such? If not, you may have too many fish in your tank and that is causing an overload in waste so even more bacteria need to be established. Also, Bio Spira has an expiry date and needs to be kept in the fridge I think so you may have a bad one. Also, when you use Bio Spira, at first you'll experience a spike in ammonia. Then the ammonia goes down and then you'll see a spike in nitrites, then that goes down. The spikes only last about 2 days, or so I have been told. My personal opinion is just to do a lot of water changes. It may seem a pain at first but once you get into a habit, it is easy. Good luck!