Besides doing water changes, how can I lower nitrates in a 12 gallon aquapod with 12lbs of live rock & sand?

Question

I have 2 clown fish and a scooter blenny. My filter is chamber 1: polyfiber, chamber 2: live rock, chamber 3: one bag of chemipure. Could this set up be causing high nitrates? I wonder what I could be doing wrong?

Answer 1

Patience my child.  Your tank is probably just cycling.  How much do you remove per water change?  If you remove 100% each time you do a water change, your tank will start the nitrogen cycle all over again.  Keep up the water changes by removing 20% of the water every few days and the nitrate levels will settle.  Wait, when you say high nitrate levels, what are the actual readings?