0 nitrate, .25 phosphate

[Mikeand Mel]

60g tank running for 10 months, cycled fine.
Livestock: Parameters:
3 green chromis Temp 78
3 firefish salinity 1.026
1 midas blenny Amm 0 API test
1 4" blue tang Nitrate 0(has been since cycle) API
snails Phosphate .14 (after water change) to .32 Hanna checker low range
blue legs Ph 8.1 Pinpoint
1 cleaner shrimp
1 emerald green
Live rock
sand bed

I feed once a day 1 frozen cube mysis.
LED lights blue on 12 hours, white 10
Have protein skimmer, filter sock(change weekly).
2 gyre 230 for circulation.

Have been battling green hair and bubbvle algae....and losing!!
Last water change took few rocks out and scrubbed with brush...didnt help much.
Have no other phosphate export.....Help please.
Thanks, Mike and Melanie

 

[aquaman30k]

I’d cut back feeding to every other day then check to see if the food was the source. If not, it could be trapped in the rock or substrate. From what I’ve read, the only way to extract po4 from the rocks and substrate is the lower the level in the water column. This can be done with mechanical filtration such as GFO or lanthim chloride (phosphate RX) or with an algae scrubber.

I’ve been running gfo, xport po4, LC, and feeding every other day and can’t get mine to stay less than .08. Following along to see what Randy has to say.

 

[jsker]

I would suggest enlarging the clean up crew to one per gallon.
What test kit are you using for Nitrates? with the green hair algae the nitrate would be testing higher.
You can use products with lanthanum chloride to get the phosphates down and then control the phosphates with GFO
Turn down the white spectrum of your light to 6 hours. What type of LED light do you have so we can get your percentage set on the white. Running the white spectrum to high and too long will grown nuisance algae
Doing these things should get you fixed up

 

[SPR1968]

You could try running GFO with a reactor and that will definitely bring the phosphate down for you and keep it down.

I use Rhowaphos in a Deltec FR509 reactor and phosphate is locked down at around 0-03ppm and I have a very high bioload of fish.

You may need to change the GFO regularly (every few days/week) when you first start using it as the phosphate bound up in your rocks will start to leach out and be absorbed by the GFO but then once under control you change less often. I change around every 3-4 weeks as soon as the phosphate level rises.

This should slowly kill of the GHA as well but it takes a while. If you want a quick fix you could also look at Vibrant and there is a large thread on that. I used it for 2 doses and it killed the GHA within 2 weeks.

I would also try and raise the Nitrate up a bit as you don’t want 0 otherwise you may risk Cyno Bacteria outbreaks, and if you have corals they will also love you much more, if indeed it is 0 and not being masked.

Just one point if you have corals, just be careful not to drop the phosphate to quickly otherwise they may be damaged so maybe just use smaller am0unts of GFO to start if you go down this route.

 

[Mikeand Mel]

Thanks everyone....that was fast! We have been reading alot on this....I have 2 nitrate test kits (API,Salifert) both read 0...is that bad?
One more thing! Our tank gets hit with sunlight at least 3-4 hrs a day.
The LED light I have is a no name brand....not sure if this could be part of the problem.
Can GFO be run in a Phosban 150 reactor?
Last but not least.....we just started a experiment for Mels science fair.......to see if an algae scrubber can eliminate the blooms from lake water.
When the experiment is done I will have the scrubber available for the tank. Somehow it was ok for us to spend the money on equipment for the experiment rather than the tank!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Zero nitrates isn't necessarily bad. It could mean that the nuisance algae has used all the available nitrates. The only reason this would be bad is if corals are showing the typical stress responses associated with low nutrients.

GFO and liquid lanthanum chloride as mentioned above are fine choices. Another option would be a refugium with chaeto or another macro algae. If your tank has the correct nutrient profile to support nuisance algae growth, a properly set up refugium would likely help remove nutrients as well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Can GFO be run in a Phosban 150 reactor?
!

Phosban is a brand of GFO.

It is a fine way to reduce phosphate, especially when nitrate is low.

 

[Mikeand Mel]

Just ordered Phos ban. We are going to do another water change now....algae is growing like crazy!
Phosphate at .11
We have a phosban 150 reactor including screens and a new bag of NPX biopellets that came with the tank. Should we

set this up?

 

[wopadobop]

That sure looks like dinoflagellates to me . Which would fall in line with having po4 and 0 nitrates.

 

[Mikeand Mel]

Is the treatment for this still the same?
Reduce phosphate.

 

[Mikeand Mel]

Is the treatment still the same?
Remove phosphates.

 

[wattson]

raise your No3 to 7-10 by dosing it .plenty of threads here about dosing Potassium Nitrate ,and remove the gfo and let your tank take care of itself for a little while..Monitor your Po4 and see if it drops on its own while the No3 is maitained 7-10 by dosing it...
My No3 is 15 plus and my Po4 test are always 0..Never had a PO4 reading on a test ever but visible algae tells me different..Ikeep a healthy sized CUC of snails and blennies..I just get a film on glass every 3-4 days and very little algae else where..I quit using GFO since my No3 is higher and never looked back at gfo so far..
i do a tiny water change every 2-3 weeks and run skimmer very shortly once a week..I keep all softies and palys/zoos
Plenty of varaibles here but start with the super obvious first. your tank is still young,,patience is hard but time is your best freind now..try not to change too many things at once or keep playing with chemistry..

 

[Mikeand Mel]

Wow just spent the last 2 hours reading about dinos.....scares the ---- out of us.
Just did another water test and N=0, P=.11
We have never had a N reading since after the cycle.
Will try to dose and havent had any GFO running yet.

 

[wattson]

you probably wont have a No3 reading since your tank is still newer.you can dose No3 to the required levels in a couple of doses in a few days (2-3) but keep an eye on your no3 levels dropping and keep testing and maintaining levels..No3 will keep dropping til it levels out holds steady ...

 

[Mikeand Mel]

Also, here is a photo of our finger coral, just blew it off with a turkey baster. in about 5 hours it will have a layer of brown algae, dino, who knows on it. You can almost see some on it now. This seems extremely fast.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'd stop with all the remedies and get some Cuc and a tooth brush. Some dr tims maybe.
Maybe feed a little more.
It's new tank uglies.

 

[wattson]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/potassium-nitrate-spectracide-stump-remover-dosing-steps.215730/

 

[Mikeand Mel]

Still reading like crazy. Can not figure out a couple things.
1. 10 months is still in new tank territory?
2. Nitrates should be higher than phosphates?
3. We feed 1 cube mysis/day....try 2?

This started with a couple pieces of bubble algae awhile back....we just popped them!
Next, we have bubble algae in quite a few spots plus some of the algae in photo above.
Took most of the rock work out while doing a water change and scrubbed it with toothbrush in old tank water.
Put it back, 4-5 days later its back with a vengeance. Just did another water change and this time scrubbed in place while siphoning.
Back in less than a week....Phosphate went from originally before scrubbing rock .30, to .14 to now .11, figuired dirty filter sock was to blame!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Bubble algae Should not be popped.
Is a plague.

Even with zeros you prob have some. No3 in the tank. But yea , you can just feed a bit more or remove nitrate reducing methods.

And yea , for some or most tanks , 10 moths is young. Esp if you're starting w dry rock.

After a year or so, it's quite a different tank.

I don't know what's up with your Po4 test. Scrubbing the rock and changing a sock shouldn't change it that drastically. Or at all really.

 

[Dogtown]

Wattson is right. Bacteria consume your phosphate. Then you skim out the bacteria with your skimmer. You tank is nitrate limited right now so you bacteria can only mupltiply so much. If you dose a little nitrate, bacteria will be able to multiply in much higher numbers. The higher numbers of bacteria consume both the phosphate and the nitrate. Then you skimmer pulls out more phosphate laden bacteria. Also read up on carbon dosing and the redfield ratio. After you learn about the science, it becomes much easier to control PO4.