Locating Nitrate Sources

[Dom]

I'm pretty obsessive about my tank. It isn't large, but, it is important to me and why I put in the effort. As I mentioned in my tour, total water capacity is about 25 gallons. I do a 20% water change (5 gallons) every 7 days.

I have a host of snails and crabs as a cleaning crew, about 5 frags (which I can't identify), and two tomato clowns.

I also purchased a Green BTA in October which split about 6 weeks after I purchased it. This made the clowns happy as there was now one for each!

Lately, I've been having 2 problems; pH which is dipping down to about 7.8 and nitrates which are always up around 20.

When I do tank maintenance, my routine is as follows:

1. Glass scraping to remove any haze.
   
2. A gentle yet thorough churning of the sane to release any nitrate bubbles and general refreshing.
3. I then let the water circulate (about 3 hours) to pick up any heavy debris floating in the tank from my work.
4. Power off the filter and power heads.
5. Remove 20%.
6. Replace filter media.
7. Add new buffered water.
   
8. Power up filter and heads.
9. Clean up salt creep from edges, plumbing and lights.

With all of this, lately, I can't seem to get my nitrates down and my pH up. I've been supplementing my new water with Kent buffer, which has helped the pH. But the nitrates are becoming a real problem.

My nems have shrunken to about the size of a 50 cent piece. I think nems are a good indicator of water quality.

I just received my REEF OCTOPUS CLASSIC 110 SPACE SAVER PROTEIN SKIMMER today as I felt my old and tired protein skimmer may be part of the problem.

What might I look at for causes of the above mentioned issues?

Thanks
Dom

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea you need air, and maybe a bacterial boost

 

[Dom]

Okay... I use an air stone in my protein skimmer.... should I add air stones and if so, where?

Also, bottled bacteria is something I tried, but admittedly, I didn't have much left, so it may have been insufficient.

Is there a way to test that my bacteria base is sufficient? Based on what is in the tank, I don't believe there is a heavy bio load.

 

[twilliard]

Nitrates are a byproduct of food which breaks down to doc's then from there to your no3 and other elements/compounds

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

you can drop an airstone right in the tank. esp for the ph , A back corner so you dont see it or the sump on full blast. I would do that now
.Are you using outside air?
And how old it the tank.
And yea the skimmer was a problem.
What salt are you using.
Water source?

Sorry I cant figure out how your having such a PH problem. Ive had so many little tanks without a hitch. FWIW Ive never buffered water.

The nitrates say to me bacteria/bio filter not being up to snuff. Plus crummy skimmer(been there)

Hi Todd. His PH? weird right?

Second and third opinions?

 

[twilliard]

The ph at 7.8 isn't bad depending on the high swing.
Alkalinity has a lot to do with the ph buffer.

 

[Dom]

Ugh; overwhelming!

I'm shopping on line. Going back to using chemi-pure.
Also going to purchase pH buffer and Kalkwasser and start regular dosing.

About dosing: ph Buffer, Kalkwasser or both?

 

[Naiad]

Can you open your windows for a day or so? Fresh air is important! My ph runs low too. Don't worry sooo much about it as long as your not swinging and everything else is ok. As for nitrate. What is your feeding routine?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ugh; overwhelming!

I'm shopping on line. Going back to using chemi-pure.
Also going to purchase pH buffer and Kalkwasser and start regular dosing.

About dosing: ph Buffer, Kalkwasser or both?

me I use outside air. A little Kalk.
in a system that small, no need to pull out the big guns IMO

Kalk will "buffer" so will air. Using all the above makes the system unstable.

If it were me, Id take out any chemipure or gfo. Change to Instant ocean salt. Less alk swing
Get some Dr.T eco balance or Mb 7, Im A Fiji mud guy. Live bacteria is good.

buffers and chems can make rapid changes to a system and in such a small system thats bad. In my 30g one half teaspoon GFO makes the candycanes melt and the toadstools pout almost instantly.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

My 30g when I set it up (a transfer rehab) had low ph probs too. I put the air pump outside, dosed Small (3-5 mil?)kalk, and added a refugium. Stopped dosing kalk after 7 days.
Mr Farley was quite helpful with this.

 

[Dom]

Well, I just ordered supplies...

Kalk, Buffer and Chemipure.

I agree; small steps. I wouldn't add all of this at one time but still good to have on hand.


I expect this will help resolve some issues.

 

[sonubhai]

@Dom +1 on the RO skimmer. I added one to my 40 gal cube last month and my phosphates come down to < .02 and no detectable nitrates. This sucker pulls out a lot of junk.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Funny how many methods there are. My 20g dsb ran for 1.5 years sumpless w an aquaclear hob and hob fuge. Only ran carbon and dosed 2 part and really sloppy WC's. My 30g dsb upgrade stayed sumpless ran the same for 3 years. 2 years on a 5gal nano.
Only certain foods gave me nutrient probs.

 

[Dom]

I use a feeder and feed a small amount of flake once per day at around 8pm. I understand flake is a source of phosphates, so I've turned off the feeder and have been feeding food from a frozen variety pack.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

all food has Po. some just seem to blow up more. I saw chem tests once, out of like 12 dry n froz they were all ok. Pretty sure some are just junk though.
Marine snow gives both my tanks fits.

I do have to admit, the little hob refugium my wife pitched way back then really worked. Almost immediate(in this hobby 2 weeks) results, you could see a difference in the amount of green algae glass.
So Ill never run a tank now with out a fuge. That one ran on air.
http://www.amazon.com/Marina-Hang-O...F8&qid=1462558379&sr=8-2&keywords=hob+breeder

Its on my newish (dec) 30g SPS tank right now.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I finally put a skimmer in last week.

Im also running a canister right now as the 6 mo old coralife air pump slowed down while i was outta town. a bunch of macros died of from no flow and nearly croaked some corals.

 

[ksc]

If you've been dosing Ph buffer I'd bet your KH is sky high. Have you tested KH? Forget PH, there's no reason to even test for it. If you want to drop your nitrates, simple water changes are the best and cheapest fix with that small water volume.

 

[Dom]

That's the problem; 20% water changes on a weekly basis and my NO3s are still at 20.

 

[Dom]

all food has Po. some just seem to blow up more. I saw chem tests once, out of like 12 dry n froz they were all ok. Pretty sure some are just junk though.
Marine snow gives both my tanks fits.

I do have to admit, the little hob refugium my wife pitched way back then really worked. Almost immediate(in this hobby 2 weeks) results, you could see a difference in the amount of green algae glass.
So Ill never run a tank now with out a fuge. That one ran on air.
http://www.amazon.com/Marina-Hang-O...F8&qid=1462558379&sr=8-2&keywords=hob+breeder

Its on my newish (dec) 30g SPS tank right now.

Can you provide a few pics of the HOB?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

That's the problem; 20% water changes on a weekly basis and my NO3s are still at 20.

yea, thats weird. makes me say again, bio filter probs, bacteria. Or something dead or rotting.
stuff like that happens to me when the 55g sump gets funky spots or the hob fuges need cleaning.

Are you getting cyano or algae outbreaks?

Can you provide a few pics of the HOB?

in the big pic above, back right and in the link.