Algae and Cheato not growing

[lv_reefer]

Hello,
my tank has dirty water.
Nitrate 100ppm
Phosphate 4ppm
Apparently they are out of ratio and way too high.
Water change is not feasible at the moment.
I started an algae scrubber for weeks and seeded it with hair algae.
But not growing.
Today I added cheato to the sump hope it will grow.
Red / Blue LEDs are on 12 hours.

Should I add nitrate remover to lower nitrate or should I add phosphate?
Again, a massive water change of a 300gal tank is not possible at the moment.

Any suggestions?
Thank you

 

[kharmaguru]

Is there algae growing in the tank? Is it a DIY scrubber or brand name? Chaeto needs iron - brightwell chaetogro works well.

 

[Reefing102]

Those are definitely high. How established is the tank as far as coral and other life? If not much or any coral, I’d throw some GFO on there and carefully dose NoPox - NO3: PO4-X

Please read the instructions carefully. Overdosing a tank with NoPox can be harmful to its inhabitants (up to and including death)

 

[lv_reefer]

The tank has been vacant and running for years. Just live rock. Right now I am trying to lower nitrate and phosphate before introducing livestock. Eventually I want it to be a mixed reef tank. Scrubber is this one on eBay.

 

[lv_reefer]

I am coming back to this hobby after the 300gal tank crashed few years ago and killed all livestocks. That's why it has dirty water. I am also setting up new nano reef tank to start learning about corals and anemones. Eventually, when my big tank is stable, I will move some corals from nano to big tank. Also I just setup a freshwater plant and guppies tank in my workplace. Quite busy with all the fishy business..

 

[griss]

Since you only have live rock in the tank now, I would follow @reefing102 advice combined with regular water changes.

Those are definitely high. How established is the tank as far as coral and other life? If not much or any coral, I’d throw some GFO on there and carefully dose NoPox - NO3: PO4-X

Please read the instructions carefully. Overdosing a tank with NoPox can be harmful to its inhabitants (up to and including death)

 

[369Augold]

Hello,
my tank has dirty water.
Nitrate 100ppm
Phosphate 4ppm
Apparently they are out of ratio and way too high.
Water change is not feasible at the moment.
I started an algae scrubber for weeks and seeded it with hair algae.
But not growing.
Today I added cheato to the sump hope it will grow.
Red / Blue LEDs are on 12 hours.

Should I add nitrate remover to lower nitrate or should I add phosphate?
Again, a massive water change of a 300gal tank is not possible at the moment.

Any suggestions?
Thank you

You might want to read what 369Augold has to say. (May 17, 2023) It sounds to me like you need to add some nitrogen via ammonium chloride. I had macro-algaes also NOT growing, until I started adding ammonium chloride.