Nitrate reduction in a 5g LPS nano tank?

[lucyretz]

Hey reefers

I have a 5 gallon nano, which is probably the worst tank for me because I love to feed corals lol. All jokes aside I started noticing my corals weren’t as happy as they could be and pulled out the test kits. Nitrate sits between 40-80ppm (API, I know I know. Will buy a salifert or Red Sea this weekend). Yikes. Big yikes.


Now I’m panicking because I’m not sure what my first course of action should be. I vacuumed the tank out last night and disconnected the refugium that I’ve been neglecting. My last water change was 30% on Saturday.

My refugium is 0.5g, I’m going to grab a purple plant light from my dads so it will be full of cheato by the weekend lol but is that going to cut it?

My stock list is heavy and I’m going to have to cut it.
Skunk shrimp
Arrow crab
Small jester goby
Small royal gramma
(There was a larger maroon clown in the refugium I’ve brought to my dads this morning)
About 10 pin head sized hermit crabs
A single snail

This is what the tank looked like yesterday. Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[sde1500]

You had three fish in there? That’d definitely be part of the problem. Way too much for a 5g esp that maroon. Don’t panic though, nitrates are an easy fix on a tank that size. Do a thorough cleaning of the rocks and sand bed, then do a large water change. 100% if you want.

 

[timrocks311]

I think your stock is fine (minus the maroon clown). In a tank that size it's easy to do a large water change and fix the problem for now. Ongoing is another story. I'm a fan of refugiums but I'm not sure one that size makes a big difference. You'll have to consider how to export nutrients either with regular large water changes, a skimmer, NoPox, etc.

 

[lucyretz]

I think your stock is fine (minus the maroon clown). In a tank that size it's easy to do a large water change and fix the problem for now. Ongoing is another story. I'm a fan of refugiums but I'm not sure one that size makes a big difference. You'll have to consider how to export nutrients either with regular large water changes, a skimmer, NoPox, etc.

I’m debating a skimmer, but can’t find one that is small enough and won’t take up room on the actual tank. Considering the bubble magus nano but it may be too big. Pretty sure I need a skimmer to dose nopox as well don’t I?

 

[Kali]

Start doing 50-90% water changes weekly and you'll have reasonable nitrates and phosphates without adding more equipment that needs maintenance. Only reason I don't say 100% is because of the fish. If it was coral only I'd suggest as close to 100% WC in the DT as possible.

 

[cracker]

I would think water changes will be the easy way to go. Then no need for a bulky skimmer.