Algae scrubber and nitrates

[iforgot]

So I am trying to see if anyone has run into the situation I am in and what they did about it. I run an algae scrubber on my mixed reef tank and i have done so for about 4 years. My nitrates have always been undetectable....even when having gone months without water changes. Suddenly I have had a nitrate spike. For reasons unknown to me, (nothing changed that I know of) they went from 0ppm to 15ppm. I did notice that my scrubber wasnt growing algae very well a couple of weeks back but seems to be doing fine now. My current thought is that nitrates built up when the scrubber wasnt growing but thats just one of a million possibilities. Soooo long story a little longer, has anyone run into anything like this and if so, what did you do?

 

[MorganAtlanta]

If it goes back to normal on its own, I wouldn't worry about it. Like you said, it could be a million different things.

 

[Subsea]

So I am trying to see if anyone has run into the situation I am in and what they did about it. I run an algae scrubber on my mixed reef tank and i have done so for about 4 years. My nitrates have always been undetectable....even when having gone months without water changes. Suddenly I have had a nitrate spike. For reasons unknown to me, (nothing changed that I know of) they went from 0ppm to 15ppm. I did notice that my scrubber wasnt growing algae very well a couple of weeks back but seems to be doing fine now. My current thought is that nitrates built up when the scrubber wasnt growing but thats just one of a million possibilities. Soooo long story a little longer, has anyone run into anything like this and if so, what did you do?

In addition to nitrate, algae needs other nutrients to grow. It could be that you are iron limited.