Battling zero nitrates fish?

[Hallowhead]

Howdy,

I know this this topic comes up often but I'm battling zero nitrates all of a sudden... My tank for the past 4 months was happily at 10 ppm and all of a sudden some brown diatom slime has been forming on the substrate the last month. I've started to dose alk and ca BRS two part - nothing else has changed. I'm trying to understand why the sudden drop. I stopped doing weekly water changes to help my nitrates remain detectable.

I've thought about dosing sodium nitrate to just keep my nitrates at 5 but fear that I'll throw nitrates way the other way.

I have two clowns two Cardinals and a orchid Dottyback it's a 30 AIO... should I add more fish?

 

[Spare time]

What kind of filtration do you have? You can buy a bottle of nitrate from brightwell too (that is what I did).

 

[Daniel92481]

This will work too, just do the research. Lots of helpful threads about it.

 

[Hallowhead]

What kind of filtration do you have? You can buy a bottle of nitrate from brightwell too (that is what I did).

I have filter floss in floss holders

 

[Hallowhead]

But do you both think adding another fish would help the issue naturally ? It would take a month to QT one so I'd have to dose to help in the meantime

 

[landlubber]

But do you both think adding another fish would help the issue naturally ? It would take a month to QT one so I'd have to dose to help in the meantime

more bioload is how I managed to elevate mine.
I would strongly recommend collecting a sample of that new brown slime to make sure you're not dealing with dinoflagellates.

 

[Hallowhead]

more bioload is how I managed to elevate mine.
I would strongly recommend collecting a sample of that new brown slime to make sure you're not dealing with dinoflagellates.

I'd need to get a basic microscope. I just need to understand if another fish would be OK for my tank. I used to have an algae blenny but he died.. I'm considering a royal Gramma or a goby

 

[piranhaman00]

I would consider dosing KNO3 natural and you get way more control then just adding more fish or feeding more and hoping you dont over shoot.

 

[Spare time]

But do you both think adding another fish would help the issue naturally ? It would take a month to QT one so I'd have to dose to help in the meantime

Having more fish is the easier thing to do in the long run. Dosing nitrates (and phosphate if that was a problem) is just a quick way to get them up.