nitrates

[sillygoose]

OK - I'm going nuts. We have a 90 g reef with 30 g refugium. We can't get our nitrates below 20; they used to be at zero. We're battling brown-looking cyano. This is what we've done:

Aggressively skimmed with a Reef Octopus from SWSW

50% water changes every four weeks for the last three months

10-20% changes sprinkled in among that schedule

Vacuumed at least half of the gravel bed each water change

Removed affected (browned) gravel and replaced with clean gravel as needed

Cut feeding back

We are not overpopulated. We have 6 small fish - the largest is a 2-3" yellow tang - a cleaner shrimp, a sand sifter, and a large brittle star. We also have a small clean-up crew. We also have some LPS, mushrooms, and zoos.

What am I missing?

 

[ynnhoj86]

How do you run your refugium lights and how long have you had your tank?

Have you tired using another test kit? I've had problems with some test kits and have two to make check if something seems off

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

have you thought about vodka dosing?

 

[Tanque Verde]

What and how often do you feed? Could your food have gone bad?

Could something big be dead or or could there be some other lode of decaying material?

 

[sillygoose]

While the vodka dosing sounds the most fun, probably the least helpful...

I feed with one cube of frozen mysis and there is never uneaten food. I think they would probably eat another one if I put it in.

I run the fuge lights 12 hours alternating with the solaris on top, although sometimes if we work in the fuge, the light gets turned on down there for a longer period. Should I light the chaeto for more hours?

I think we will cut down to 10 hours of light for the top tank.

I have tested with a couple of kits - good thought though.

I want to drop nitrates of course, but I'm more concerned about the icky brown stuff than a particular nitrate level.

It seems like our sand sifter used to keep this stuff under control. Now it is not only on the sand but on some of the rocks.

 

[sillygoose]

Oh yeah - the tank has been up and running for almost a year and a half.

 

[ynnhoj86]

i think you should try to run your fuge light 27/7 and see if it helps. also do you have just chateo? or different types of calupa.

i been using Seachem De-Nitrate Nitrate Remover for my FOWL tank and it seems to be helping control it to be around 5-10 ppm nitrate. i have a huge 2 liter that treats 200g if you want to try it out. its brand new $20.

also where do you get your water for top offs?

 

[Tanque Verde]

The vodka dosing was a legit suggestion. Some reefers have made regular vodka dosing part of their system. No joke. But it's not a one time fix, as I understand it. It's a way of reefing.

Turning attention away from nitrate numbers and toward your cyano, I personally get much better results with a far more limited light cycle. 5-8 hours. On my LPS tanks, I've had very good luck beating cyano with monthly three day blackouts, described below, but my zoas don't like this treatment much and I don't know how SPS would respond.

day 0: regular lighting
day 1: blue or moonlight only
day 2: no light
day 3: blue or moonlight only
day 4: regular lighting

You should research to find out whether this is right for you. You're solaris should be good for light reduction regimens.

Finally, many reef keepers point out that those frozen cubes are full of pollutants and that you should rinse the mysis before putting it in your tank. I don't do this, but it might be worth a shot.

Finally, Finally, I'm a huge believer in carbon (I prefer chemipure elite) and phosphate reducer (I like rowaphos and bulk reef supply). For a tank your size, I recommend a reactor. Compared to other pieces of equipment, they are relatively cheap and they do help with nuisance algaes and cyano.
Good luck

 

[robot2222]

in regards to your cyno problem . i suggest going to reefcleaners.org . they have many different critters listed on there site and wil tell you whitch snail eats detrius and whitch eats cyno and whitch eats alge . maybe you can stock up on the snail that eats cyno bacteria .even if you don't order from them you can at least find out what critter might help you out the most and find them at lfs . that being said i did order a cuc from them and had them do a custom cuc for me . everthing arived alive and in a timely fashion. they also have many different macro alges so you can kill 2 birds with one stone. the way you are skimming aggressivly vodka dosing might work well for you in removing nitates. good luck let me know what you think of there site if you check it out . good luck

 

[jjk_reef00]

reefcleaners.org is a great place to order from, great customer support though email

 

[fishaholic911]

i think you should try to run your fuge light 27/7 and see if it helps. also do you have just chateo? or different types of calupa.

i been using Seachem De-Nitrate Nitrate Remover for my FOWL tank and it seems to be helping control it to be around 5-10 ppm nitrate. i have a huge 2 liter that treats 200g if you want to try it out. its brand new $20.

also where do you get your water for top offs?

Johnny - How did you manage to fit 27 hrs in a day? :spin1: Please let us in on your secret.

As johnny said might help running your fuge light 24/7. I get all kinds of growth in the fuge doing this.

Another good suggestion I saw below was to run GFO in a reactor.

 

[richpoolboy]

GFO is a great idea for cyano, when i had a cyano problem I found that phosphates were the main culprit once i got the phosphates to nill the cyano was GONE anyway thats where i would start personally. hope all gos well