Struggling with nitrate

[Greg P]

Sorry I was trying to give as much info as I could without boring everyone

Yes I angled that up a couple of weeks ago. Lots of surface churn

No worries ... good start. Next time start with your struggling fish questions ...

 

[Greg P]

Wet skimming is achieved when you raise the level in the neck enough that some liquid spills out into the cup.
This can help remove unwanted 'stuff'

 

[WisconsinReefing]

No worries ... good start. Next time start with your struggling fish questions ...

Understood. The good news is the other fish seem great, and the corals are doing far better than I anticipated.

 

[Backreefing]

40 gal at 8 months old . My guess is your just 1-2 months away from nitrates balancing out . My 37 took 9 months . And 20ppm ain’t so bad , trust me in a while you’re gonna get 1-5 ppm . Good luck

 

[Greg P]

Are your fish still struggling?

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Are your fish still struggling?

Not heavily. And it’s just the clowns. They might just be weirdos.

 

[sfin52]

It's because of your bioballs. It is well known they are nitrate factories
Sidenote: 20 nitrates is fine. I have 100+ in my sps tank and no side effects

Am over 100 I would be overjoyed for 40.

 

[Greg P]

Still a bit odd with them laying on the sand.

Are your bio balls in a bag or otherwise just in the sump, or are they pellets in a reactor?

 

[hyprc]

It doesn’t seem to be doing a lot. What is skimming wet mean?

high, watery production, consistency of a weak black tea.

low skimmer production is indicative of it not being a bacterial bloom..

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Still a bit odd with them laying on the sand.

Are your bio balls in a bag or otherwise just in the sump, or are they pellets in a reactor?

Sorry. To clarify laying on their side at top of tank. Not on the sand.

 

[Greg P]

Sorry. To clarify laying on their side at top of tank. Not on the sand.

OK, maybe they are just being picked on by the other fish and not suffering O2 deprivation.
Still, I'd want to continue with the bacterial discussion

Are your bio balls in a bag or otherwise just in the sump, or are they pellets in a reactor?

If you are running pellets, this could be the cause of a bloom.

Is the cloudy water 'white-ish' or more 'green-ish' ?

 

[WisconsinReefing]

OK, maybe they are just being picked on by the other fish and not suffering O2 deprivation.
Still, I'd want to continue with the bacterial discussion


If you are running pellets, this could be the cause of a bloom.

Is the cloudy water 'white-ish' or more 'green-ish' ?

Definitely more white ish

 

[Wolf89]

Am over 100 I would be overjoyed for 40.

Yeah same

 

[Greg P]

So, bio balls, or bio pellets?

 

[Jason2.5]

I am constantly struggling with keeping my nitrates in line. I don’t believe that I’m overstocked, and I’m certain that I don’t over feed.

I use Hannah testers except for nitrate I use API


Ammonia: 0 ~
Calcium: 531 ppm.
Phosphate: .02 ppm.
Alkalinity: 8.6.
Magnesium: 1340.
Salinity: 1.025.
Temp: 77.6

The API tester is showing me over 20 and maybe higher than that. Which i know is real bad. It’s also strange that my Ammonia reads at or near zero at the same time.

I’m doing 5% water changes 2x per week. I’m currently running bio balls, carbon and pyrogen synthetic filter resin.

My tank is 40G. About 8 months old. I have a good amount of LPS and soft coral and the following ;
2 ocelaris clowns
1 Pygmy dwarf angel
1 royal gramma
1 peppermint hogfish

1 rainbow BTA

Blood shrimp
Cleaner shrimp
Fighting conch
2 ruby crabs
Several assorted snails

My primary question is should I try a nitrate sponge or something similar.

Thanks in advance

Hy bud, your ammonia will show zero or close to it as it has gone from ammonia to nitrite to nitrates

Nitrates @ 20 ppm is pretty standard for a healthy reef tank, even mixed Softies/LPS/SPS.
As long as you have some PO4, of which you have at least 'some'.
As per you NH3 thoughts ...
Ammonia will not be readable with test kits if it's being properly and rapidly converted to NO2 and then NO3.

You're doing fine.
If you're not suffering any major nuisance algae issues, carry on.

I agree, your doing fine your ammonia is low as it’s being consumed by bacteria into nitrite and then nitrates.

Maybe do a 25% water change every week and yes run your skimmer a bit wetter.

If you have a uv light filter it should stop the bacteria bloom you are having.

I am still very new to this hobby but this is what I would be trying if i was you.

Do you have a refugium? This might help with consuming excess nutrients.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Hy bud, your ammonia will show zero or close to it as it has gone from ammonia to nitrite to nitrates
I agree, your doing fine your ammonia is low as it’s being consumed by bacteria into nitrite and then nitrates.

Maybe do a 25% water change every week and yes run your skimmer a bit wetter.

If you have a uv light filter it should stop the bacteria bloom you are having.

I am still very new to this hobby but this is what I would be trying if i was you.

Do you have a refugium? This might help with consuming excess nutrients.

I don’t believe so, as I don’t know what a refugium is lol

 

[Jason2.5]

I don’t believe so, as I don’t know what a refugium is lol

 

[Backreefing]

A refu beat me to it

 

[Greg P]

Definitely more white ish

So it's most likely bacterial and not algae.
Either can lower O2, but with bacterial ...
If you're running bio pellets in a reactor, maybe someone here can help you out with that as I think that's where the blooms are coming from.
If you're running bio balls as you initially wrote then this won't have any bearing.

I'd still consider running some carbon to remove the bloom and get the tank's O2 levels back up.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

So it's most likely bacterial and not algae.
Either can lower O2, but with bacterial ...
If you're running bio pellets in a reactor, maybe someone here can help you out with that as I think that's where the blooms are coming from.
If you're running bio balls as you initially wrote then this won't have any bearing.

I'd still consider running some carbon to remove the bloom and get the tank's O2 levels back up.

I bought an air stone. Should I try that?