Really high nitrates, and I need help

[ZachariahBeanz]

Hi, so I’ve had a couple of posts about similar things before, like a white algae looking thing in my tank, and my nitrates being high. However that was a couple of weeks ago and nothing had really changed. For background, I have a 20g AIO with three fish, no light, or CUC. My tank has been set up this way for a couple of months, and I do a 10% weekly water change. I tested for nitrates and they were quite high, above 50ppm. My pH is a bit low, it’s currently at 7.8-8.0. Everything else is within normal ranges. My only thought to these high nitrates would be my feeding. I didn’t really think of my feeding as a problem until I was feeding my fish one night. I only feed the fish once a day with frozen mysis shrimp. I use an entire of those frozen cubes, and I thought that there was no way my fish eat all of this, so I decided to cut one of the little cubes in half and feed one of those each day (I made that change yesterday).

This is also the algae(?) I was talking about, it doesn’t show up the best on camera but it’s looks similar to algae just with no pigment, and it’s on a lot of my rock work, and some of my glass.
Sorry for the long post, but if you have any idea how to help, or any suggestions, I would be very grateful

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

How long has the tank been setup?

 

[Lavey29]

Are you planning to add corals? Once you get a light and a few corals then they will help lower nitrates. Bump to 20% weekly water change also.

 

[feelingfishy]

Your tank looks so new but it may be Chrysophytes. I’m not 100% just throwing it out there.

 

[PopBot16]

What are you doing for nutrient removal ATM?

 

[Lavey29]

What are you doing for nutrient removal ATM?

He mentioned it was AIO so probably just weekly water changes.

 

[Lavey29]

Hi, so I’ve had a couple of posts about similar things before, like a white algae looking thing in my tank, and my nitrates being high. However that was a couple of weeks ago and nothing had really changed. For background, I have a 20g AIO with three fish, no light, or CUC. My tank has been set up this way for a couple of months, and I do a 10% weekly water change. I tested for nitrates and they were quite high, above 50ppm. My pH is a bit low, it’s currently at 7.8-8.0. Everything else is within normal ranges. My only thought to these high nitrates would be my feeding. I didn’t really think of my feeding as a problem until I was feeding my fish one night. I only feed the fish once a day with frozen mysis shrimp. I use an entire of those frozen cubes, and I thought that there was no way my fish eat all of this, so I decided to cut one of the little cubes in half and feed one of those each day (I made that change yesterday).

This is also the algae(?) I was talking about, it doesn’t show up the best on camera but it’s looks similar to algae just with no pigment, and it’s on a lot of my rock work, and some of my glass.
Sorry for the long post, but if you have any idea how to help, or any suggestions, I would be very grateful

Also, just so you know, you will have a variety of ugly phases in the tank throughout most of the first year so expect various algae to come and go.

 

[PopBot16]

He mentioned it was AIO so probably just weekly water changes.

Sounds like more will be needed then. 10% weekly will not lower them significantly.

 

[feelingfishy]

Also, just so you know, you will have a variety of ugly phases in the tank throughout most of the first year so expect various algae to come and go.

This is great advice.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

An entire cube of mysis - even a half cube - for only 3 fish is a waste, they can only eat 4-5-6-7 pieces each, all the rest will rot in the water.

To give you an idea, I feed a half cube to my 3 tanks with total 18 fish. half a cube feeds all that, and I usually still throw a little away.

Thaw a small piece of cube in a glass, then use a turkey baster to add just a few pieces of shrimp. If they eat it all, then add a few more.

I think your problem is heavy overfeeding and under filtering.

 

[ZachariahBeanz]

What are you doing for nutrient removal ATM?

Also, just so you know, you will have a variety of ugly phases in the tank throughout most of the first year so expect various algae to come and go.

Yeah, currently I’m only doing weekly water changes

 

[ZachariahBeanz]

An entire cube of mysis - even a half cube - for only 3 fish is a waste, they can only eat 4-5-6-7 pieces each, all the rest will rot in the water.

To give you an idea, I feed a half cube to my 3 tanks with total 18 fish. half a cube feeds all that, and I usually still throw a little away.

Thaw a small piece of cube in a glass, then use a turkey baster to add just a few pieces of shrimp. If they eat it all, then add a few more.

I think your problem is heavy overfeeding and under filtering.

Thanks, I had no idea how much I was over feeding with the cube, I can probably cut the cubes into fourths, but it would get harder to go smaller than that. Would that be a good enough size?

 

[ZachariahBeanz]

Also, just so you know, you will have a variety of ugly phases in the tank throughout most of the first year so expect various algae to come and go.

Yeah, I was expecting a large amount of algae to start appearing once I put on my light and stuff, but didn’t quite expect it without one.

 

[Doctorgori]

your tank looks pretty far from disaster and btw who said high nitrates causes problems …
Yes I’ve parroted this but in three decades I’ve yet to see any study proving it
btw on a hypocritical note, I have high nitrates and I’m trying Tropic Marin’s line of stuff and it’s working:
Reef Actif, NP Bacto pellets and NP minus

 

[ZachariahBeanz]

your tank looks pretty far from disaster and btw who said high nitrates causes problems …
Yes I’ve parroted this but in three decades I’ve yet to see any study proving it
btw on a hypocritical note, I have high nitrates and I’m trying Tropic Marin’s line of stuff and it’s working:
Reef Actic, NP Bacto pellets and NP minus

I think my tank looks fine currently, and for the nitrates, I just wanted to get them down to normal since I’m new to this. And I didn’t want to have very high nitrates when adding corks incase it stresses them. Also, what’s the Tropic Marins stuff?

 

[Lavey29]

your tank looks pretty far from disaster and btw who said high nitrates causes problems …
Yes I’ve parroted this but in three decades I’ve yet to see any study proving it
btw on a hypocritical note, I have high nitrates and I’m trying Tropic Marin’s line of stuff and it’s working:
Reef Actif, NP Bacto pellets and NP minus

Nitrates aren't harmful in reef aquaria unless extremely elevated for an extended period of time. The OP 50 nitrates is nothing to worry about and easy to remedy with increased percentage of water change. My tank runs elevated nitrates and that's where I want it to.

 

[Doctorgori]

Also, what’s the Tropic Marins stuff?

yeah I’m cleaning this tank up before a large purchase also… just in case and why not
I’m not endorsing it per se but thought I’d try it. So much snake oil floating around but the price/ risk was low, and the products promise and premise seemed reasonable.
Reef Actif
NP Biopellets
Elimi NP

again just saying since implementing 1 week ago my nitrates dropped by 10 - 20 ppm in both tanks from “out of range” - 79ppm
the other tank 95 - 75 ppm during the same period
this data set is early

 

[ZachariahBeanz]

Nitrates aren't harmful in reef aquaria unless extremely elevated for an extended period of time. The OP 50 nitrates is nothing to worry about and easy to remedy with increased percentage of water change. My tank runs elevated nitrates and that's where I want it to.

Yeah, I’m not too worried about the elevated levels since I only have fish. But I’m also trying to find the root cause, because it seems that my levels are just going to keep increasing.

 

[jhadaway117]

Thanks, I had no idea how much I was over feeding with the cube, I can probably cut the cubes into fourths, but it would get harder to go smaller than that. Would that be a good enough size?

I have 4 fish in my 35 gallon and 2 in my 13.5. One cube last me 4-5 days. Place the cube in a little Tupperware cup and thaw it out with tank water. Put a lid on it and stick it in the fridge! I only feed a small portion twice a day to each tank.

 

[ZachariahBeanz]

I have 4 fish in my 35 gallon and 2 in my 13.5. One cube last me 4-5 days. Place the cube in a little Tupperware cup and thaw it out with tank water. Put a lid on it and stick it in the fridge! I only feed a small portion twice a day to each tank.

Thanks for the info. Oh, also, I have a fish that doesn’t really like to be out in the tank when I’m near it. So, how do I issue that it gets fed too?