Ok Another Nitrate and Phosphate problem

[Chrisz]

I have had my reef set up for about 2 years now, and my Phosphates and Nitrates are creeping up on me. I had a sand bed in my sump that I removed Sunday, it was collecting a lot of gunk I thought that might be the source of my problem. I am now running it basically as a bare bottom tank in the sump with some macro algae in it. I have been changing out my socks every couple of days but it has not seemed to make any difference. I checked my parameters today they are at:

• 92 gallon corner tank with 20 gallon sump
• Not sure how much live rock, see pictures it is quite a bit
• Phosphate .08 Red sea test kit
• Nitrite 0.0
• Ammonia 0.0
• Nitrate 2.0 Red sea test kit, it appears to be rising by the day. Yesterday it was at 1.0 I think, the colors are hard to distinguish
• PH 8.4
• DKH 7.5 (I put Reef builder in my top off water but I can never get it to stay any higher than DKH of 7.0)
• Cal 420
• Mag 1200

I have 5 fish (biggest fish about 3") a small clean up crew and a bunch of corals. I feed one cube of rinsed frozen food a day and a couple pieces of seaweed each day. I change out about 15 gallons of water every week, and I do clean my sand bed, I have been told cleaning your sand bed is bad from some people and others said it would not be a problem as long as I keep it up.

I run a Reef Octopus 160 SX Skimmer it is the biggest I could fit in my sump and a NextReef filter with GFO (need to change again)


Everyone in my tank seems to be happy at the moment, not sure what I should do next other than more water changes, Suggestions anyone????

 

[scooterc268]

Here you go. Kinda says what I was gonna post

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/di...e/a/Phosphates-In-Your-Saltwater-Aquarium.htm


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Chrisz]

Good info, I clicked on one of the other links in that article an never thought about checking my freshly mixed salt water to see what I am really putting in my tank.

http://0.tqn.com/d/saltaquarium/1/0/6/a/1/comparisontableofelelmentsenh_500.JPG

 

[beaslbob]

IMHO get the macro or other agaes thriving.

just my .02

 

[Chrisz]

I want to pick up some more macro algae but I don't have a quarantine tank sent up right now, do you think I would be taking a chance of picking up Ick if put the algae strait in my tank?

 

[Downbeach]

I used to use the Red Sea PO4 kit, but could never get it to read below .08. You might want to invest in a Hanna checker for PO4. What is your salinity? What do you use to check it with? Is it calibrated. Your other parameters, although within an acceptable range are a little low. This can be caused by a device giving improper salinity readings, causing you to underdose your salt mix when you are making up your WC water.

 

[Chrisz]

My salinity is at 1.027 a little high, but I will adjust with this weekends water change. I am using a portable refractometer, a cheep one made in China. I have calibrated it with the solution you buy over the Internet.

The PO4 is increasing according to the red sea test kits I am using, you might be right a Hanna might be a good idea. I thought those red sea test kits looked like a quality product, I purchased a couple of them but there is no way for me to tell if they are giving accurate results.

I have not yet tried the bio pellet thing, do you think I can run those in my R1 NextReef filter? It is designed for GFO, I am not sure what the difference is between the one designed for GFO vs the one for the bio pellets.

 

[Pkunk35]

Wow that tank looks spotless from that pic.

If everyone is happy, i would keep doing what you are doing, IMO.

Double checking your params against diff test kits isn't a bad idea either.

 

[Downbeach]

It might be worthwhile to get a second opinion on the salinity. Do you know someone nearby who uses a decent refractometer, or maybe a reputable LFS? Are you having a problem in your tank, or did you just notice that your P's and N's seemed elevated? It's possible that the sand bed you just removed was part of your biological filter, and now your system has to catch up somehow. You could try to do some carbon dosing, or go to bio-pellets. Is your skimmer in good working order? Use a GAC reactor?
I have/use the Red Sea kits for Ca, Mg, Alk and NO3, and think they are reasonably accurate. The only one I had a problem with, as well as other brands, was the PO4 kit.

 

[Supra97]

Wow that tank looks spotless from that pic.

If everyone is happy, i would keep doing what you are doing, IMO.

Double checking your params against diff test kits isn't a bad idea either.

+1 if every thing looks good, I wouldn't chase numbers. Also I've never got red sea to read lower than .08 either. That's interesting

 

[Chrisz]

We don't have much for LFS around here, I may half to purchase a better refractometer, it is the only time a small town sucks. I wish I would of measured my parameters before I removed the sand bed in my sump, I am not sure if the change is what is causing my problems. I thought that my live rock in my display tank was enough surface area to keep the biological system going, now I am not sure.

My skimmer is producing good stuff, it takes a while to fill the collection cup, two weeks. I have not noticed any change in the fish or corals, I am mixing GFO and GAC in my reactor just because I am out of space to run two reactors.

It is suppose to get -20 below out side this weekend so I think it is going to be a good time to stay inside and work on the tank.

 

[Pkunk35]

It is suppose to get -20 below out side this weekend so I think it is going to be a good time to stay inside and work on the tank.

Oh man, that sounds COLD!! I agree, perfect time for tank work.

 

[Chrisz]

-20 is real cold even for up here, if you throw a glass of water up in the air it will freeze before it hits the ground!

As for my tank, it usually looks pretty good except for the brown algae on the aragonite that shows up a day after cleaning, I just cant get that stuff to go away. I am going to check my mixed batch of water to see what the heck is in it, the tank has been set up for 2 years now I cant believe there are still silicates coming from the live rock.

 

[jayhawk]

Along with all the good advice already given, I have a few suggestions. I couldn't see how the rock was configured towards the back of the tank but that may be an area to look at. Increasing the surface area that the water can flow through will help flush out waste and prevent build up. I would also suggest adding bacteria. Moving establish rocks blows but if you feel ambiguous, I would arrange it, flush it with a baster, do a water change, and add bacteria. Good reefing

 

[Chrisz]

I have about a 6" space all the way around between the glass and the rock work with some pumps blowing down the sides toward the front. I have never been very happy with my aqua scape, it just looks like a pile of rocks, I could not come up with something that looked good in that shape of an aquarium.

I actually picked up some bacteria tonight and am going to add it to the tank after a water change, I have a hard time believing there is actually anything alive in that bottle.

 

[fjpod]

If everybody is happy and healthy, I would do a few 25% water changes weekly for a while to get the nitrates and phosphates down by 50%. Don't over do it.

 

[Chrisz]

Did a 25% water change yesterday but it did not change my nitrate or phosphate readings at all. How big of a water change do you need to make to see a change?

I checked my freshly mixed water and the readings where 0.0 on the phosphate and nitrate, so I think my test kits and RO system is working properly.

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