Ever since I took over my husband’s reef tank and got it under control (about 5 months)I have struggled with constant slightly high nitrates (.5ppm) and phosphates (.25 ppm). I do weekly water changes at about 20%. I just last weekend upgraded my tank from a 55 gal to 75 gal and set up a 55 gal sump. I have a fuge, seaclone skimmer carbon sock, and live rock. Although I am not sure about how much. Hubby just bought without measuring. verdict_in
My bioload is quite small. I have:
clown
Yellowtail damsel, bicolor goby
algae blenny, scooter blenny
condilactas(sp??)anemone
small kenya tree, mushroom polyps
Candycane coral and about 15 red leg hermit crabs and a small spiny sea star.
I don’t know what to do to get these levels down. Everyone has been doing fine but I don’t like the levels. ANy suggestions?
Are you growing unsightly algae or cyanobacteria, or having significantly slow growth rates on your corals? If not you are probably fine. There is a topic on “ich help” in the recent threads where we discussed similar topics recently.
.5ppm nitrates and even 5ppm nitrates may be ok depending on the other conditions in the tank and the type of live stock you are keeping.
You don’t mention it, but what are using to test these things? Also have you tried running any phosphate remover media?
If everything is fine don’t worry about the numbers too much. Do you have any pictures of your aquarium or videos to share?
Let me just say too that the old tank had crushed coral and I switched the new tank to aragonite. THere is already a bit of brown film on the back and front glass but thats about it. I had an algae bloom just before christmas but that was gone shortly thereafter. I was doing 40% water changes weekly. Back then the po4 and nitrates spiked but came back down. I am using api test kits for everything-always rinsing the heck out of the test tubes with tank water before I test so I know it isnt residual readings. I use rodi water. All other params are spot on.
I have pics but I am having trouble uploading them to my post. I’ll keep trying!
with a new tank, new aragonite, and new set up, all those surfaces are clean and open ground to be colonized by cyano and bacteria. cyano always seems to show up first. but in time the good bacter makes a bio film on everything and cyano, if not too far gone should not take hold. part of the bio cycle. colonizing all the surfaces and sand pores. the fuge should take up a lot of the nitrate/phos. but sinces it is constantly produced, and flow through the fuge takes some time. there is always a little in the water. you could try some GFO to remove the phosphate.
aeration is helpful too. Seaclones are ok. I use 3 of them. Have you fixed the air valve on yours? The air control valve they provide is not very good. replace it with a simple airling valve,
then you can fine tune the bubble size and the Seaclone will work much better. the one dollar fix.
Also take a look at your food. What are you feeding?
Flake foods are notorious for adding phosphates and nitrates to a tank. Some frozen foods will as well but not generally as much as pellet or flake foods. I’ve tried Formula 1 and 2 food pellets and each time I try them I end up with a cyano bloom.
Make sure you’re changing your carbon at least monthly, and run som GFO to get your phosphates down.
Try to avoid water changes larger than 10% as anything larger than that can cause a great enough parameter fluctuation that you could stress / hurt the livestock in the tank.
Yea. Unfortunately with the skimmer. I am stuck with the sdid open the air valve on the skimmereaclone until I can come up with the funds for a new one or find one on ebay. I had been feeding them flake food but I just stopped that this week. I am feeding small amt of pellets and frozen brine shrimp. I did open the valve on my skimmer as much as I could. And am going to replace carbon today. I am going to test again tomorrow and ill let u all know what I get! Thanks for all the advice guys!
Have you tried running any phosphate remover media? Some work better then others, but there isn’t a bad phosphate remover out there. GFO, Aluminum Oxide, or resin, all will work and will help.
So Gordonious-You say that slow growing corals and absolutely no coraline algae growing-not a good thing. My corals do not grow-they all seem healthy but have not grown-ever. What causes this?
Define “ever”. Two weeks? A month? Could be over a billion things causing slow to no growth, but it isn’t healthy. Healthy corals are like a healthy garden. Those who keep healthy reef tanks are faced with keeping corals pruned back to prevent them from growing over each other or filling in the display too much restricting the flow of water and the swimming room for fish.
For starters significant phosphates and Nitrates can cause slow growth. Take a look into Phosphate absorbers. I don’t work for a company that makes them. Just see that you asked how to reduce phosphates, but haven’t stated yet if you are using a phosphate remover.
As in “never” I mean months to a year. I took the tank over for my husband who took the just set it and forget it approach with the tank. There were no water changes, very little testing done and many coral and fish deaths. It was a miserable mess covered in hair and filamentous algae, red slime and nitrates off the charts. I am surprised ANYTHING survived in there. so I fired him as care captain of our little ocean. It was in Extremely bad shape. I have cleaned and changed water. And tested religiously and have the tank almost rehabilitated. Our tank has bed iteen up for about 2.5 yrs but I upgraded it about 3 weeks ago. As I learn more I fix more. Now as you pointed out slow groth is not good. :~S
I did pick up a phosphate media today with some new carbon.
Well best of luck to you and welcome to the hobby. As I am sure you are finding out the more you know often the more you figure out how much you don’t know, lol. Replicating the most complex and misunderstood environment in the world in a little glass box isn’t too simple. It can certainly be an enjoyable and educational experience.
Do you know the common names for the corals you have? It’s not likely you’ll identify the corals to species, but you should at least know the common names and find them in a good book. See if you can post the common names for the corals here and we’ll help examine the specific needs of the corals. Not all are created equal.
Good call on the media. Do you know what brand of carbon you picked up? I haven’t met a phosphate media that would harm a tank unless grossly over used, but some cheap carbons can actually leach phosphates into the water.
welcome to a very aggrating at times hobby, the biggest piece of advice i can give you is to SLOW down . In earlier replys ,you said that you were changing 40% of the water, it really sounds like you’re in a constant cyling stage. let nature take it’s course.the corals and fish will survive and alage is not the end of the world. slow and steady improvements in the long run will do your tank wonders.
Yes. It is aggravating! But I am determined to get it right. I went away overnight and the tank was pretty clean . But when I came back tonight the entire back glass was covered in brown algae and my yellow encrusting monti is covered too. I am going to move him into a higher flow area and see if that helps. I did buy 5 pretty big mexican turbos the other day and they seem to help a bit. I am tempted to try another sea hare but I don’t want to go through the toxic tinkle being released into the water again_hence the 40% wc!
I have learned so far that its anybodys guess and everything is trial and error. As Dori in “Finding Nemo” said “Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming” :GOLD)
There is an awful lot we don’t fully understand, but many people will listen to the advice of LFS employees who are paid to sound like they know what they talk about, but often don’t and listen to random people on the internet. There is plenty of things which are not mystery and hard facts exist. Many of them are written in books and most hobbyist I encounter don’t often like books. Nothing is usually as simple as we would like it to be, but then again none of us want simple looking aquariums. Gold fish are a lot simple in both needs and looks, but we’re not a part of the Delaware Reef Club to find others who maintain gold fish aquariums.
Seems a bit early to be keeping Monitpora capriconis. I’d stay away from brining in any stony corals until things are a little more stable.
Seems a bit early to be keeping Monitpora capriconis. I'd stay away from brining in any stony corals until things are a little more stable.Actually, I have done a lot of research in "books" that say that montis are very hardy and easy to keep. Why I have a monti that has been growing,albiet very slowly, from a liverock that I have had for 2 years in Very low light,very uninhabitable conditions!
many people will listen to the advice of LFS employees who are paid to sound like they know what they talk about, but often don't and listen to random people on the internet. There is plenty of things which are not mystery and hard facts exist. Many of them are written in books and most hobbyist I encounter don't often like books.Not sure what "hobbyists" you are talking to but all the hobbyists I meet seem VERY concerned and very educated about their reef tanks. I for one soak up as much knowledge I can about the oceans in general, you have a few years to catch up honey. So in the meantime maybe you should limit your posts to [b]constructive criticism[/b] and actual knowledge instead of trying contradict me and others that are new to the hobby and trying to discourage us. Everyone was a beginner once-I assume you didn't come out of the womb with an infinite knowledge of reefkeeping. ChillPill