nitrates are driving me up the wall

68shelby · #1 05-26-2009, 03:44 AM

Any idea on how to get my nitrates down, 100g tank. Livestock consists of 1 yellow tang 4", 1 regal tang 3 1/2" ,2 clowns, 2 chromis, and 5 blue devils, 2 shrimp, 1 lobster, assort crabs, and 4-5 snails. all livestock other than the damsels are 1-5 years old. I only use RO water. My nitrates are consistently between 10-20 ppm. Regular water changes 160 gallons in 2 months. I have no filter media, skimmer is skimming the best it ever has. I have no hair algae but the brown and purple diatoms on the sand are constantly there. And I do not overfeed, however there main staple is mysis shrimp, which I rinse first and drain off. Once a day, and once a day Tangs get sea veggies, (other fish eat it too. As for the corals they get reef roids once a week. HELP PLEEEAAASSSSEEE

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Myka · #2 05-26-2009, 04:05 AM

What brand of test kit? How old is it or when is the "best before date"? What kind of skimmer? How long has this tank been setup? How old is the live rock? what the live rock bought from a previously setup tank? Is it all live rock or was some of it dry base rock? Do you run GFO? If so, what brand, how much, and how often do you change it out? If not, consider adding one in a reactor and use any of the brown GFOs, not the white kind.

It will help if you replace half the feedings with flake or pellet instead of frozen foods as they are loaded with phosphates and nitrates. The "purple diatoms" is probably cyanobacteria, not an algae. Both diatoms and cyano are caused by excess nutrients.

What kind of corals do you have? Consider skipping out on the Reef Roids until your parameters are back under control.

68shelby · #3 05-26-2009, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myka

What brand of test kit? How old is it or when is the "best before date"? What kind of skimmer? How long has this tank been setup? How old is the live rock? what the live rock bought from a previously setup tank? Is it all live rock or was some of it dry base rock? Do you run GFO? If so, what brand, how much, and how often do you change it out? If not, consider adding one in a reactor and use any of the brown GFOs, not the white kind.

It will help if you replace half the feedings with flake or pellet instead of frozen foods as they are loaded with phosphates and nitrates. The "purple diatoms" is probably cyanobacteria, not an algae. Both diatoms and cyano are caused by excess nutrients.

What kind of corals do you have? Consider skipping out on the Reef Roids until your parameters are back under control.

Test it is a hagen Test tube style not the strips. I replace mini bottles as I use them. Live rock was from an existing aquarium I moved up from a 50 to 100g a year ago march. What is GFO? I am a relative newbie to the forum. Thanks for the heads up on the mysis As for the skimmer I cant remember the brand but I asked about it recently at a LFS and it is more than capable for my setup.
As far as corals, frogspawn x2, hammer coral, bubble coral, acan lorde, brain coral, a couple different finger leathers, 3 different types of zoas, and a plate type coral that the name escapes me. I might have missed somethings, but that is basically it.

Myka · #4 05-26-2009, 04:34 AM

Ok. Try taking a sample of your water to the LFS for testing. Hopefully they will use either a Salifert or Elos kit to test it, and see if your readings are accurate. I have found Hagen kits to be fairly inaccurate.

GFO = granulated ferric oxide. It absorbs phosphates. This will help with the diatoms and cyano.

Please take a peek at your skimmer and find out the brand name and model, or take a picture of it and maybe we can identify it. Unfortunately, many (probably most) LFS employees are inexperienced and I do not trust their judgement without talking to them myself.

As for the corals, the bubble, acan and brain will all accept target feedings of mysis shrimp. The rest do not need to be fed. I would suggest either target feeding or not feeding them at all, but to avoid feeding the water column with the Reef Roids as too much ends up in nooks and crannies instead of in the corals' mouths so it lies and rots, and creates waste.

68shelby · #5 05-26-2009, 12:29 PM

My skimmer is and all seas g series. Getting the local fish stores to test, The 2 I most frequent, one uses the hagen kit same as mine, and the other uses the test strips, which I know are far less accurate.
I will discontinue the reef roids and switch to flake food for the fish with only occasional mysis feedings maybe twice a week.
I will also try the GFO

thanks again Rob

fishytime · #6 05-26-2009, 12:47 PM

I highly disagree with the flake food. Un-eatin portions will quickly dissolve into the water column becoming food for algae. Diatoms and red slime can also be a product of poor flow at the bottom of the tank. KZ (pohl's) makes a product called "coral snow" that helped make a huge dent in my diatoms. Do try and find either a salifert or elos test kit....or at the very least API....hagen kits are best left for the freshwater tank....or at the store.