Can't get nutrients up to save my life...

[ATXreefer]

As the title says, I can't get my nutrient levels up even a little. Tank is 29g breeder, no sump, no skimmer , no macro algae, no filtration of any kind. I've been doing a 25% water change every week, but will likely go down to a couple of gallons/week. I have 5 small fish in the tank: pair of clowns, pair of gobies and a juvenile red coris wrasse (I would imagine that's plenty of bio load...?). Miscellaneous cuc; a couple trochus, hermits, cleaner shrimp, purple pincushion urchin. Feeding two to three times per day (includes half cube of PE mysis and PE pellet food). The left half of the tank has a good amount of GHA, which I actually covered with a cardboard cut out for the last week in the hopes it would stop it from consuming any available nitrates/phosphates. I believe the other half of the tank is GHA free due to much better flow. I REALLY don't want to dose nitrate/phosphate and adding more food than I am already just seems wasteful. My most recent strategy was adding the pincushion urchin hoping it would mow through the GHA, but of course it hasn't touched it since adding to the tank. no corals, just one bta. Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[TuxUrchin07]

What test kit are you using?

 

[Jekyl]

Reducing white light and removing the GHA by hand is your best bet. The GHA is where all of your nutrients are going.

 

[ATXreefer]

What test kit are you using?

Salifert and nyos both. Haven’t been testing phos because I don’t have a tester

 

[ATXreefer]

Reducing white light and removing the GHA by hand is your best bet. The GHA is where all of your nutrients are going.

Will the gha consume nutrients even though it’s not getting light?

 

[Duffer]

Will the gha consume nutrients even though it’s not getting light?

Yes, algae feeds on the nutrients

 

[Duffer]

Will the gha consume nutrients even though it’s not getting light?

Yes, algae feeds on the nutrients

 

[Jekyl]

Will the gha consume nutrients even though it’s not getting light?

Not sure how much light is required by them. Your tank is still really new and you're in the rollercoaster of the ugly phase. Remove what you can by hand and don't let nutrients get too high.

 

[Jekyl]

5 fish in a newer tank with no filtration with lots of feeding means there's no way nutrients aren't getting in your system. They are being consumed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Will the gha consume nutrients even though it’s not getting light?

Not for long. Algae cannot grow without light, and so has no ongoing need for nutrients in the dark.

 

[blasterman]

First toss a turbo snail in there. Some algaes they won't touch. Others they devour. The faster the algae grows the more turbos tend to like it.

With no corals try Vibrant at 4x the dose. Can't hurt anything.

Last, pull a chunk of rock out per day thats full of algae, pour some hydrogen peroxide on it, let it sit for 5 minutes, and put it back in the tank. This kicks the toughest nuisance algae in the butt. And after a day or two it will turn grey and start dieing.

And stop feeding 3x a day.

 

[ATXreefer]

First toss a turbo snail in there. Some algaes they won't touch. Others they devour. The faster the algae grows the more turbos tend to like it.

With no corals try Vibrant at 4x the dose. Can't hurt anything.

Last, pull a chunk of rock out per day thats full of algae, pour some hydrogen peroxide on it, let it sit for 5 minutes, and put it back in the tank. This kicks the toughest nuisance algae in the butt. And after a day or two it will turn grey and start dieing.

And stop feeding 3x a day.

Do you think dosing vibrant at higher than recommended concentrations will negatively impact the BTA?

 

[Jekyl]

Do you think dosing vibrant at higher than recommended concentrations will negatively impact the BTA?

Going to be really tough keeping a BTA in that new of a system. They need stability most of all and new tanks don't provide that.