waitin on the first algae bloom

R

reef tank 2.0

Member
I have had my tank cycled and up and running for two weeks now with two clown fish as the sole residents.

My parameters are as follows:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates 50-75
Ph: around 8.1
Phosphates: undetectable, 0
Salinity: 1.025
Temperature: 80

With my nitrates being so high, how soon before I start getting any type of algae bloom? I'm waiting to wake up one morning and see a film of something or other all over everything.

I have zero lights for my tank right now. My first of three will be here Tuesday the latest. I am sure once I have the light in place and turned on I'll start seeing some type of algae. I hope not but I'm waiting.

So, with that....when can I expect an algae outbreak? I am doing small water changes every other day or two trying to get my ntrates down, but it's a slow process. I do about a 26 gallon change each time.........So far, they are not dropping..........
 
Just keep a watchful eye on phosphate. Once that starts to go up, the algae will show up.
Don't let it get out of control tho, if it gets close to the .025, start planning a way to handle it in a way that doesn't cause massive swings in params
 
ok, so if i don't turn on lights, then I won't get it? So if I leave the lights off till I get the nitrates close to zero, I can miss that whole outbreak?

I placed a clump of chaeto in my sump to help but it's only been 4 days or so.
 
Last edited:
Not necessarily,

The phosphate issue might not become an issue until 6 months down the road, maybe a year. Some people get it right away too.

It's all really a waiting game in the end, as long as the tank cycles, and params are kept in check, you should be fine as long as you maintain good water changes. Like weekly %10
 
I'm doing 15% (26 gallons) every other day in hopes of these nitrates decreasing.........

Once I get them down, I'm shooting for 15% once a week
 
How often do you feed the fish?

Nitrates are often found from food that doesn't get eaten, or something in the rock is providing nutrients.
And finally, if it is a new tank, you may just not have enough of the biological filtration system established.

Keep calm. It will heel itself
 
Any way to do a bigger water changes? I've read about people having success with az no3 to reduce nitrate quickly. Sounds like carbon dosing and requires a good skimmer. I got algae outbreaks with my nitrate about 5 ppm and undetectable phosphates. Let me tell you, it's not fun. My advice is to do anything any everything you can do to prevent massive outbreaks. When I cycled my tank I had to do a 100% water change to get the levels down because they were high like yours are. I didn't even get any algae blooms for almost a year. Then it turned into wave after wave. I hope it's finished!
 
With the water bins I have, the most I can do at one time is 50. But that's still less than a 50% water change. I'd have to do 85 at one time to hit 50%.

I feed my clowns twice a day. frozen and pellets
 
Do you thaw the frozen tabs? I know the juice they are frozen in is jammed with nutrients, and many reefers prefer to swish it around in a cup and strain out the solids to avoid all those uneaten nutes.
 
Do you mean that the tank has had water in it for two weeks? Or that it was cycled for a while and the cycling completed two weeks ago. I'd imagine doing the huge water changes you're doing would have to be helping. You might just need to stay up with the changes for a while. I have a 29 gallon tank and I was changing 10 gallons a week for a few months to try to keep the nitrate down. But I know in a big system like yours that's a lot of salt to go through. I still do 50%-75% changes every now and then to keep the level low. Still have never seen it under 2 ppm on a salifert kit! Read up on the az no3. Might help.
 
I use the LFS frozen food slab. I cut off a small piece, thaw it in a cup of tank water, and pop a lid on it. I make enough for a week. But no, I don't strain the water since I thaw the food with tank water.

the food looks very clear. I think I read on their site that the food is clear of any added nutrients, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
 
Virtual Balboa said:
Do you mean that the tank has had water in it for two weeks? Or that it was cycled for a while and the cycling completed two weeks ago. I'd imagine doing the huge water changes you're doing would have to be helping. You might just need to stay up with the changes for a while. I have a 29 gallon tank and I was changing 10 gallons a week for a few months to try to keep the nitrate down. But I know in a big system like yours that's a lot of salt to go through. I still do 50%-75% changes every now and then to keep the level low. Still have never seen it under 2 ppm on a salifert kit! Read up on the az no3. Might help.
Click to expand...

The DT has actually been cycled a couple weeks prior to the 20th of December. I never added fish to the tank hoping to get the nitrates down. But these nitrates have been at 50-100 ever since the cycle. Now, my water changes may be helping but, it's ever so slight.

I'm trying to get my hands on two more brute containers so I can do a 100 gallon change. But for now, I will stick to my 25-50 gallon changes.
 
Like someone already mentioned, I know most people strain their frozen food before they add it to the tank. Wish I could be more help and I really wish more people with bigger setups would chime in. Sooner or later I'll have a tank the size of yours and I might encounter the same issues. So I'm tagging along.
 
Iv'e posted a similar thread to this before asking questions how to lower the nitrates but it's always the same answer. I need larger water changes. SO I'm working on that part. Until I get more or larger brute bins, Not much I can do.

But a large water change is my friend.

I'm just waiting for this algae break out, when my world will come crushing down :)
 
Tomorrows another big day.......get to wake up to do another 50 gallon water change..........sigh.

:celeb3: :fun4:

kinda off topic here but for those of you that have a few large containers to store salt water for these changes......do you have a powerhead and a heater in every single one of them? You'd have to, right? Only way to have the water circulating and at the right temperature.....

man, water storage is pricey.
 
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