High phosphates and nitrates

[PurplePeopleEater]

10 gal aio reef tank. It has been set up for about a year but has been seriously neglected until about 2 months ago. I was only adding top off water to it while it was neglected. Even the top of water was just dasani drinking water. But i am back to ro/di water now.

About a month ago I started getting the rust color brown algae/diatom ? It is covering every top surface in the aquarium.. top of rocks, sand and aquarium glass. Most of my corals are shedding it off but it just keeps getting worse.

I have been feeding the aquarium once or twice a day a small chunk of brine shrimp for my yellow watchman goby and second feeding of a small pinch of powdered general mix of reef food for the few corals I have. When I was neglecting the tank only got some brine shrimp every few days. So my feeding has increased.

I just got new hanna test kits. It took 3 weeks because the kits were on back order from the company.

Salinity 334ppt
Calcium 404ppm
Phosphate .75ppm
Alkalinity 8.8 dkh
Nitrate 75ppm

I know to bring the nitrates down I need to do water changes. But what about the phosphate? And what else should I be checking for?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

 

[blaxsun]

First question is what are you running for filtration? Is the goby the sole fish you have? Second, what do you have for cleanup crew in the tank? (snails, etc.) Water changes will help a bit, but filtration is the first thing you can focus on that will have immediate results. After that, you can look at some chemical remedies like NOPOX and some mechanical options like carbon and GFO.

 

[PurplePeopleEater]

First question is what are you running for filtration? Is the goby the sole fish you have? Second, what do you have for cleanup crew in the tank? (snails, etc.) Water changes will help a bit, but filtration is the first thing you can focus on that will have immediate results. After that, you can look at some chemical remedies like NOPOX and some mechanical options like carbon and GFO.

It's in an all in one tank but I have removed the filter media. So the only filteration is 27 lbs live rock.

The yellow watchman goby is the only fish. For inverts their is a huge brittle starfish, my guess would be 10" across. 2 emerald crabs. 2 peppermint shrimp. About 8 various snails. About 6 blue leg hermit crabs.

 

[PurplePeopleEater]

I did do a 1 1/2 gallon water change which brought my nitrates down to 57.5ppm and my phosphate down to .44ppm

AND I did the tests improperly the first time. I didn't wait the alotted time before reading the results.

 

[PurplePeopleEater]

I sprayed off all my rocks with a powerhead and removed the diatoms, from view anyway. I guess I will keep doing water changes until I get the numbers down more. Should I do them every day or is that overkill?

 

[PurplePeopleEater]

It's in an all in one tank but I have removed the filter media. So the only filteration is 27 lbs live rock.

The yellow watchman goby is the only fish. For inverts their is a huge brittle starfish, my guess would be 10" across. 2 emerald crabs. 2 peppermint shrimp. About 8 various snails. About 6 blue leg hermit crabs.

I should mention that I just removed the filter media today while cleaning the aquarium as it has been in the aquarium since day 1.

 

[blaxsun]

Filter media is essential to removing nutrients. If you don't periodically replace it, whatever it's absorbed simply breaks down and passes back into the tank.

When I ran my nano tanks I ran filter floss (pre-cut to fit) in the top tray of my media basket and ChemiPure Blue below that in the second tray. I also ran a second regular filter sock. Filter floss was tossed every 3-5 days and the filter sock was replaced with a clean laundered one once a week. I also ran some MarinePure 0.5" hexes in one of the other chambers.