In need of serious assistance!

[Zack K]

I am this close to giving up. I have a 64 gallon corner tank and I can't seem to get nitrates down. I incorporated this tank from my father who is getting out of the hobby. He never had coral in the tank because he didn't want to drop money on lighting. He had in the tank for 3 years a pink tailed trigger,foxface,and a marine beta. I then incorporated it in November with only the foxface left. I set up a sump and the tank had a big cycle. (Lost the foxface) so from thanksgiving to about Christmas I only had 3 chromis in the tank while I learned more about salt water. Then I had a good friend of mine give me some GSP. The nitrates were at 160ppm. Not good. I do bi weekly 30% water changes,have a fuge, run a skimmer, and have been doing it for close to 3 1/2 months. Still at 160ppm. My current livestock list is:
3 chromis
1 firefish
1 lawnmower Blenny
2 peppermint shrimp (which are about to leave)
1 Gold Headed sleeper goby

My current parameters are:
PH- 8.1
Ammonia- 0ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 160ppm
Phosphate- 3ppm
Calcium- 450ppm

 

[sureal00]

You have to do bigger water changes .I would say do about 2 or 3 50% water changes in a span of a week and check nitrate.

What test kit are you using.

Are you using new sand?

 

[Zack K]

Not new sand, API and NYOS both say 160ppm and will the 50%x3 in a week harm my little coral/fish I have?

 

[twilliard]

As long as your WC is matched you can do a 75% change and not harm anything.
No3 will drop as larger changes are done.
Be prepared to be stocked up on salt
Review your filtering and feeding methods.

 

[Zack K]

I have a 5 gallon pal of salt so all good their. I will do a water change mon wed fri and keep you fellas informed. If this doesn't work what do you think about putting fish and corals in big Rubbermaid container and put in a fresh sand bed and re aquascape?

 

[Brew12]

Are you growing Cheato in your fuge?

 

[twilliard]

I have a 5 gallon pal of salt so all good their. I will do a water change mon wed fri and keep you fellas informed. If this doesn't work what do you think about putting fish and corals in big Rubbermaid container and put in a fresh sand bed and re aquascape?

If you spread out the changes doing say.. 25% for 3 days you will not see the result of doing one 75% change as you are dealing with dilution.

 

[Brew12]

If you spread out the changes doing say.. 25% for 3 days you will not see the result of doing one 75% change as you are dealing with dilution.

People often forget this.

1 water change of 75%
160ppm starting ends with 40ppm.

3 water changes of 25%.
160ppm has 120ppm after first change, 90ppm after second change and 67ppm after the 3rd change.

Much less effective than a single large change.

 

[twilliard]

People often forget this.

1 water change of 75%
160ppm starting ends with 40ppm.

3 water changes of 25%.
160ppm has 120ppm after first change, 90ppm after second change and 67ppm after the 3rd change.

Much less effective than a single large change.

Thank you my friend it's early here and still waking up!

 

[jsker]

My I suggest running some type of bio media in the sump, along with a type of carbon. I would suggest running some Red Sea NOPOX with either spiorax, zoevit, or life bio fil in a high flow area in your sump along with regular water changes you will start seeing a drop in the nitrates in about 2 to three weeks.

 

[Zack K]

Are you growing Cheato in your fuge?

Yes

 

[Brew12]

Yes

Is it growing well? Your phosphate is high also so algae should grow like crazy

 

[Zack K]

Is it growing well? Your phosphate is high also so algae should grow like crazy

Well, it is not growing like crazy, been growing slow to tell you the truth.

About a month and a half

 

[Brew12]

Well, it is not growing like crazy, been growing slow to tell you the truth.

About a month and a half

That isn't an algae I am familiar with. Might be a slow grower.
How are you lighting it?

 

[Zack K]

That isn't an algae I am familiar with. Might be a slow grower.
How are you lighting it?

Yes, my LFS says it is Cheato, I got a handful for free from him. Is about 150% of the size since I got it. And yes I am lighting it with the eshopps fuge light

 

[rtparty]

Definitely not chaeto. Your LFS doesn't know their algae if they think that's chaeto. Looks more like caulerpa (sp?)to me

 

[Flippers4pups]

Looks like caulerpa to me. IMHO I wouldn't have that in my system. If it goes sexual it will be everywhere! Chaetomorpha is your friend.

That isn't chaeto.

 

[rtparty]

Looks like caulerpa to me. IMHO I wouldn't have that in my system. If it goes sexual it will be everywhere! Chaetomorpha is your friend.

That isn't chaeto.

Yep.

It can destroy a tank when it goes sexual. I'd pull every last bit out and keep an eye on it.

Chaeto is stringy and hard. Looks like spaghetti noodles all balled up

 

[laga77]

I run caulerpa in 3 tanks. In fact, I feed it directly into my 120G FOWLR. Pull a small amount out every month and it will be fine. Been doing this for years. Although your nitrates are high and I would bring them down also. There are many people running FOWLR tanks with nitrates that high. In fact, Paul B`s reef tank has nitrates that high, and has been for years. Look into vodka dosing as a way to bring them down.

 

[3mm3]

I also ran that caulerpa in a refugium on two different systems for years. It was my tangs favorite meal.