Sooooo yea this might be a problem...

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Well I’ve gone and done it!

Been out of town for almost 3 months this year and these past 2 months was most of the time. Well it didn’t fair well for the reef!

How you ask?

Algae has taken over and so for the first time in years I actually checked my nitrates. Well they are off the charts and over 75ppm.

So what are all the young kids doing these days to help get your Nitrates down?

I’m thinking a few water changes and less feeding. The problem was I had someone feed the tank every two days and it was big chunks of frozen food each time so I know there was a ton of unconsumed food.

Any thoughts?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Oh and I’m only currently feeding once a day.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Water changes and more water changes to bring your levels down. Have you ever considered incorporating a fuge for natural nutrient export?

 

[Billldg]

Water changes and a good deep cleaning of the sand bed would be a good start. I would clean the sand bed in sections to make sure you don’t release what may be in the sand bed to quickly into the water column.

 

[ihavecrabs]

I dosed ATI “C” on a doser at 1/3rd the recommended does and it dropped my nitrates down to 0! Haven’t dosed them since and have been dosing sodium nitrate to keep it up.

 

[RJKain-777]

Water changes, and a good fuge.

 

[Salty Lemon]

You gotta change the water and vacuum that garbage out of the sand. 20% every other day.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

I agree with siphoning all the "junk" out of the tank. Other then water changes like mentioned above, I use Quantum nitrate remover. Works like a charm everytime.

 

[DSC reef]

I wouldn't make changes to fast, more frequent water changes instead of a large one including basic cleaning. I wouldn't add chemicals at this point, the tank just needs to return to it's normal balance. I would choose manual removal for the algae versus anything that will kill it, as it dies off it will release stored nutrients.

 

[Aheinz]

Better than the scare i had, My return pump didnt kick on and my parents freaked out apparently nto cleanign the return pump for 3 years finally caught up to me xD the return pump is up and running again. nitrate control dunno but the water changes are always a good starting point

 

[User1]

I wouldn't make changes to fast, more frequent water changes instead of a large one including basic cleaning. I wouldn't add chemicals at this point, the tank just needs to return to it's normal balance. I would choose manual removal for the algae versus anything that will kill it, as it dies off it will release stored nutrients.

I tend to agree. Remove what you can manually and do your normal water change. Then check again and see how it fairs. High nutrients are not a bad thing but it depends on what your tank normally runs at.

Outside the nutrients and visible algae how does the rest of the tank look?

 

[Auquanut]

I would manually remove as much of the algae as I could, do moderate water changes at least a few days apart, give the inhabitants a break from the gluttony they've been exposed to by not feeding for a day or two (they'll help clean up) and monitor. Don't want to make too big of changes too quickly. Just my .02.

 

[HM3105]

Personally I'd probably ride it out unless things are looking unhappy. If your tank was net neutral on consumption or was using more than you we're adding it'll self correct. Harvesting the algea would be a good idea though and will help remove some nitrates.

 

[immortl]

I was gone for 6 months and came back to something similar. My tank is only 29g BioCube though to it was fairly straight forward to take care of. 2 large (~80ish percent) water changes, a week between them. During the changes I took most of the rocks and corals out (into container of fresh salt water) and vacuumed the sand bed thoroughly. I've always vacuumed the sand bed when doing tank maintenance (tank has been up for about 8 years now) and haven't worried about 'bad' things being released when doing so. I get the 'avoid large scale fluctuations' concept, but have pretty much always done large scale water changes (nearly down to sand bed just enough left for fish to stay upright) and haven't had any issues. I also have an algae reactor plumbed in and I cleaned that out. All was back to normal pretty quickly.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Well I’ve gone and done it!

Been out of town for almost 3 months this year and these past 2 months was most of the time. Well it didn’t fair well for the reef!

How you ask?

Algae has taken over and so for the first time in years I actually checked my nitrates. Well they are off the charts and over 75ppm.

So what are all the young kids doing these days to help get your Nitrates down?

I’m thinking a few water changes and less feeding. The problem was I had someone feed the tank every two days and it was big chunks of frozen food each time so I know there was a ton of unconsumed food.

Any thoughts?

Being into NPS, heavy feeding, 46 gallons dt, 46 gallons sump. My nitrates at 25ppm

1. Water changes
2. Good CUC
3. sulfur denitrator in 2 weeks or less down to 3ppm.

 

[robbyg]

Clean the sand bed and rock work first and then do several 20% water changes one week apart. I am also a fan of sulfur reactors but that will take time to get it running properly.

 

[Smarkow]

For manual removal, consider letting the glass go a week or so without scraping. Then once there is a thickish mat of algae scrape it off the glass while siphoning for a water change. It’s like running algae scrubber that doesn’t need broken in

 

[Jase4224]

I don’t know about stirring up the sand bed too much if it’s not something you would normally do.. that’s just another potentially destabilising event.

I would stick to water changes every few days (20%) and sucking up any detritus in the top inch or so but no deeper. Remove algae by hand, not feed fish for a couple of days and see how it rides out.

I’m a huge fan of sulphur, however I wouldn’t add a reactor or make any changes to your setup unless you can get the situation under control for a while. Your tank obviously works when it’s business as usual, and you know the cause of your problems. The more ‘drastic’ steps you take the longer before your tank finds stability IME.

 

[ScottR]

I’ll just be straightforward, there’s no magic cure to remove nitrates. There are so many sources in a tank that could be responsible. I’ve tried the fuge, adding bacteria, blasting off rocks, WC, skim heavy, reduce feedings, and the list goes on. Takes a long time to dial it back in. But with slow and steady changes with some dedication, it happens but not quickly.

 

[robbyg]

I’ll just be straightforward, there’s no magic cure to remove nitrates. There are so many sources in a tank that could be responsible. I’ve tried the fuge, adding bacteria, blasting off rocks, WC, skim heavy, reduce feedings, and the list goes on. Takes a long time to dial it back in. But with slow and steady changes with some dedication, it happens but not quickly.

Yep I was trying to explain that to another reefer last week and he predictably ended up listening to the advice of another forum member who suggested dumping in a bottle of Magic Elixir.
I have been on the forums Sixteen years and in 95% of the cases when a tank owner is told by seasoned vetrans to do it the slow proven way that takes months and months they will always go with those couple of posts about some product that can rid the tank of algae in one day. If I had a dollar for every one of those products that have come and gone from the market I would be rich.