andrewkw
Active member
I am a little perplexed this problem is not fixing itself. I am awaiting new test kits that will arrive today but the problem of cyano is only getting worse and my most likely not expired nitrate test kits are showing 20ppm+
System is a 180g + a 40g plumbed together + sump of 20-30 gallons. ATI BM250 skimmer which although old is way overrated especially considering I've had NO fish in the system for weeks due to ich outbreak. 0 feedings and 2 water changes of 80 and 100g. I would have thought this would at least give me 33% nitrate reduction but the test kits barely budged colours. Thus I have ordered new test kits. I run carbon and gfo. Phosphate is for sure expired but showed .10 although I don't believe that for a second.
I've always had problems with nitrates despite having only about 15 fish (2 tangs rest small fish) in 200+ gallons of water but problems were just keeping it below 5-10. Taking all the fish out caused me to completely tear down the tank. Only one tiny anthia disappeared everyone else was removed. Cyano has steadily been increasing on the sandbed only in the 180. The 40 gallon has a haddoni anemone so it has a dsb but also macro algae so it's effectively a second fuge, in my sump I also grow cheato. The 180 has about 1" of sugar sized sand. Sand has only been in the tank a little over a year.
I have tried using 15 gallons of sand in a barrel and it helped but did not reduce nitrates to 0 or even near 0, unfortunately the bucket developed a leak and taking it offline means it will be months before getting back to working and it didn't even completely fix the problem. Nopox also didn't work which leads me to believe that phosphates were not an issue since I do change GFO regularly. Normally I measure phosphates with the milwaukee phosphate meter but all the regents are expired. I did feed frozen food daily but have not had phosphate or algae problems for many years.
I feel like all these water changes are just raising the alkalinity which is making the few sps corals I have unhappy. LPS and softies are more or less fine. It is also difficult for me to make more then 110 gallons of saltwater at a time as I only have 2 55g barrels.
The SSB is the only thing I can think of that is causing the problem with nitrates and phosphates especially since the dsb is very clean despite not having many sand sifting creatures in it. The shallow one on the other hand does have a new snails in it. I have really been blasting the rocks to get detritus off them and changing filter socks every 2-3 days.
Finally to eliminate lights I am running all led's and RO/DI filters changed recently showing 1 TDS before DI 0 after. November 6th is when my fish go back in and I'd really like this dealt with before that. Outside of getting more barrels and doing a 100% water change removing the shallow sandbed is the only thing I can think of. I also have several NPS corals that eventually need to be fed again. Thanks for any insight.
System is a 180g + a 40g plumbed together + sump of 20-30 gallons. ATI BM250 skimmer which although old is way overrated especially considering I've had NO fish in the system for weeks due to ich outbreak. 0 feedings and 2 water changes of 80 and 100g. I would have thought this would at least give me 33% nitrate reduction but the test kits barely budged colours. Thus I have ordered new test kits. I run carbon and gfo. Phosphate is for sure expired but showed .10 although I don't believe that for a second.
I've always had problems with nitrates despite having only about 15 fish (2 tangs rest small fish) in 200+ gallons of water but problems were just keeping it below 5-10. Taking all the fish out caused me to completely tear down the tank. Only one tiny anthia disappeared everyone else was removed. Cyano has steadily been increasing on the sandbed only in the 180. The 40 gallon has a haddoni anemone so it has a dsb but also macro algae so it's effectively a second fuge, in my sump I also grow cheato. The 180 has about 1" of sugar sized sand. Sand has only been in the tank a little over a year.
I have tried using 15 gallons of sand in a barrel and it helped but did not reduce nitrates to 0 or even near 0, unfortunately the bucket developed a leak and taking it offline means it will be months before getting back to working and it didn't even completely fix the problem. Nopox also didn't work which leads me to believe that phosphates were not an issue since I do change GFO regularly. Normally I measure phosphates with the milwaukee phosphate meter but all the regents are expired. I did feed frozen food daily but have not had phosphate or algae problems for many years.
I feel like all these water changes are just raising the alkalinity which is making the few sps corals I have unhappy. LPS and softies are more or less fine. It is also difficult for me to make more then 110 gallons of saltwater at a time as I only have 2 55g barrels.
The SSB is the only thing I can think of that is causing the problem with nitrates and phosphates especially since the dsb is very clean despite not having many sand sifting creatures in it. The shallow one on the other hand does have a new snails in it. I have really been blasting the rocks to get detritus off them and changing filter socks every 2-3 days.
Finally to eliminate lights I am running all led's and RO/DI filters changed recently showing 1 TDS before DI 0 after. November 6th is when my fish go back in and I'd really like this dealt with before that. Outside of getting more barrels and doing a 100% water change removing the shallow sandbed is the only thing I can think of. I also have several NPS corals that eventually need to be fed again. Thanks for any insight.
