Tank looking gross after nitrates bottomed out

[Chortanator]

I've been having low nitrates (around 0-1 ppm) for a few weeks but I increased my feeding to try and raise them. Last week I made DIY coral snow to try and improve water clarity and that might have exacerbated the situation. My skimmer and filter sock aren't getting the calcium carbonate out, but I have also noticed this cobweb-like stuff growing on the rocks. I clean brown slime off my glass twice daily and use a turkey baster on the rocks every day but everything has quickly started to go downhill. What can I do?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Sounds like you may have Dino's. Hard to tell from the pictures, but the description is spot on. Check out this thread to get rid of Dino's.

 

[dvgyfresh]

You need more nitrate , I would look into dosing neophos / neonitrate

 

[Dav2996]

I've been having low nitrates (around 0-1 ppm) for a few weeks but I increased my feeding to try and raise them. Last week I made DIY coral snow to try and improve water clarity and that might have exacerbated the situation. My skimmer and filter sock aren't getting the calcium carbonate out, but I have also noticed this cobweb-like stuff growing on the rocks. I clean brown slime off my glass twice daily and use a turkey baster on the rocks every day but everything has quickly started to go downhill. What can I do?

If your carbon dosing stop doing that and scrub it up. I get these white stringy stuff everywhere when I use too much nopox.

 

[Chortanator]

If your carbon dosing stop doing that and scrub it up. I get these white stringy stuff everywhere when I use too much nopox.

I'm not carbon dosing, I only have my skimmer on to try and get the calcium carbonate/coral snow out of my tank, other than that my only waste removal is chaeto but I need it for growing pods for my mandarin.

 

[Reeffraff]

I've been having low nitrates (around 0-1 ppm) for a few weeks but I increased my feeding to try and raise them. Last week I made DIY coral snow to try and improve water clarity and that might have exacerbated the situation. My skimmer and filter sock aren't getting the calcium carbonate out, but I have also noticed this cobweb-like stuff growing on the rocks. I clean brown slime off my glass twice daily and use a turkey baster on the rocks every day but everything has quickly started to go downhill. What can I do?

Were you having any of these problems before increasing feedings and the 'coral snow'? I'm just curious why you decided you needed to change anything in the first place. Your original nitrate was already much higher than natural seawater.

 

[Chortanator]

Were you having any of these problems before increasing feedings and the 'coral snow'? I'm just curious why you decided you needed to change anything in the first place. Your original nitrate was already much higher than natural seawater.

I was having these issues before dosing coral snow, except for the particulates in my water, but now the problem is about ten times worse. What do you mean by my "original nitrate"? It was about 100 ppm a few months ago and I couldn't keep anything alive so I water changed until I got it down to 10, but instead of it staying steady at 10 it plummeted to 0 and I wasn't able to get it back up.

 

[Reeffraff]

I was having these issues before dosing coral snow, except for the particulates in my water, but now the problem is about ten times worse. What do you mean by my "original nitrate"? It was about 100 ppm a few months ago and I couldn't keep anything alive so I water changed until I got it down to 10, but instead of it staying steady at 10 it plummeted to 0 and I wasn't able to get it back up.

All you said in your original post was that you had low nitrates (0-1) for weeks. Nothing about high nitrates shortly before. It sounds like your tank has been going through some pretty dramatic changes for some time. As someone who's been in this game a long time my advice would be try to avoid quick fixes and chasing numbers. Low nitrates aren't a bad thing of you're feeding the tank regularly. My 180 has never had nitrates above 1.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Have you got those plug on wall smell diffusers?

 

[sixty_reefer]

did you use the coral snow recipe with mb7 and calcium carbonate? Looking at your rock a little better it looks like it could be precipitation residual and mb7 will reduce nutrients, not advised to use if you already struggling with nutrients.

 

[Chortanator]

Have you got those plug on wall smell diffusers?

No I don't, does that do something to the water?

did you use the coral snow recipe with mb7 and calcium carbonate? Looking at your rock a little better it looks like it could be precipitation residual and mb7 will reduce nutrients, not advised to use if you already struggling with nutrients.

Yes I did, I've been trying to get it out because it seemed like other people were having good success with it so I gave it a try, but I guess it wasn't the best thing for my tank

All you said in your original post was that you had low nitrates (0-1) for weeks. Nothing about high nitrates shortly before. It sounds like your tank has been going through some pretty dramatic changes for some time. As someone who's been in this game a long time my advice would be try to avoid quick fixes and chasing numbers. Low nitrates aren't a bad thing of you're feeding the tank regularly. My 180 has never had nitrates above 1.

I didn't think that was relevant information to share, I was confused what you meant by "original nitrates", if you went through my post history and saw I had high nitrates a few months ago. I wasn't chasing numbers, I just literally couldn't keep anything alive because my nitrates were so high

 

[IslandLifeReef]

No I don't, does that do something to the water?


Yes I did, I've been trying to get it out because it seemed like other people were having good success with it so I gave it a try, but I guess it wasn't the best thing for my tank


I didn't think that was relevant information to share, I was confused what you meant by "original nitrates", if you went through my post history and saw I had high nitrates a few months ago. I wasn't chasing numbers, I just literally couldn't keep anything alive because my nitrates were so high

Again, it sounds like you may have Dino's. See my post above. All information is relevant to solving your problem. These things don't happen in a vacuum. What was going on in your tank a month ago and what you did to help the issue could be very relevant to your current issues.

 

[Chortanator]

Again, it sounds like you may have Dino's. See my post above. All information is relevant to solving your problem. These things don't happen in a vacuum. What was going on in your tank a month ago and what you did to help the issue could be very relevant to your current issues.

I ordered NeoNitro yesterday and it's on the way. My only other option is removing all my chaeto, which I don't want to do.

My nitrates were high because I was lazy, my methods for removing the nitrates were water changes. Maybe the chaeto is giving me too much nutrient export now because it's used to my high nitrates

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My only other option is removing all my chaeto, which I don't want to do.

My nitrates were high because I was lazy, my methods for removing the nitrates were water changes. Maybe the chaeto is giving me too much nutrient export now because it's used to my high nitrates

Why not just light it less hours per day?

 

[Chortanator]

Why not just light it less hours per day?

The chaeto? I have reduced the light on it, it gets maybe only 5 hours a day now as opposed to 10 hours

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The chaeto? I have reduced the light on it, it gets maybe only 5 hours a day now as opposed to 10 hours

Could drop to 2.