Help with nutrients, how did yo do it?

[NanoRookie]

Hi guys.

I have a 4 month old 40b tank. Amonia 0 nitrite 0 alk 10.3 constant with dosing pump and calcium 475.

My nitrates went up after removing a biopellet reactor (they said is better to have a fuge)

So my nitrates are constant 40 and phosphates are .90. All my corals and fish are healthy but not growing.

So i reduced feeding to once a day draining the liquit of frozen food to eliminate nasties. I made my hydor slim skim do heavier skimming, set up a cheato fuge and change filter socks/ filter floss every 2 days. Water change reduces nitrates and phosphates and they go back up. I also added seachem matrix to se if needed mor bacteria.

Im at a loss of what else to try. What else to diagnose.

Any help will be appreciated

 

[Jib]

I started dosing phytoplankton to feed some pods I got, and it completely bottomed out my Nitrates and Phosphates. Now trying to get them back up. Maybe start slow with some phyto?

I'm a new reefer to take it with a grain of salt. Just sharing my expierience.

 

[Daddy-o]

Hi guys.

I have a 4 month old 40b tank. Amonia 0 nitrite 0 alk 10.3 constant with dosing pump and calcium 475.

My nitrates went up after removing a biopellet reactor (they said is better to have a fuge)

So my nitrates are constant 40 and phosphates are .90. All my corals and fish are healthy but not growing.

So i reduced feeding to once a day draining the liquit of frozen food to eliminate nasties. I made my hydor slim skim do heavier skimming, set up a cheato fuge and change filter socks/ filter floss every 2 days. Water change reduces nitrates and phosphates and they go back up. I also added seachem matrix to se if needed mor bacteria.

Im at a loss of what else to try. What else to diagnose.

Any help will be appreciated

Are you sure of your numbers?

 

[homer1475]

You have a 4 month old tank, what did you expect to grow? You do realize this is a marathon, not a sprint? Corals do not grow that fast. Some don't even move in a year. Corals can go dormant in a new setting for a while, even though they are fully open and looking healthy.

Corals need time to adjust to a new tank, if things didn't at least start growing in another month or 2, then I would be looking at problems. Everything you have in the tank will appreciate the higher nitrates and phosphates. Leave them be, quit making a problem out of something that is not a problem.

 

[NanoRookie]

Are you sure of your numbers?

Yes, tested them yesterday, what number does not make sense for you? I can try to re-test it.

 

[Daddy-o]

Yes, tested them yesterday, what number does not make sense for you? I can try to re-test it.

Your sand just looks really clean

 

[Super Fly]

looks like there are some nuisance algae on the rocks... is the chaeto growing? what is WC schedule and r u using GFO?

 

[NanoRookie]

Your sand just looks really clean

Diamondback goby cleaning is a workhorse

 

[NanoRookie]

looks like there are some nuisance algae on the rocks... is the chaeto growing? what is WC schedule and r u using GFO?

Cheato im not sure its growing, but for 3 weeks it hasn’t died out with cheato grow.

WC 14% every week.

No gfo

 

[PatW]

Cheato im not sure its growing, but for 3 weeks it hasn’t died out with cheato grow.

WC 14% every week.

No gfo

Hmmmmm.......

With those nitrate and phosphate numbers, you should see chaeto growth in 3 weeks.

Chaeto requires a pretty heavy duty light. And that might be the problem.

Bulk Reef Supply has a bunch of videos on chaeto. They are not the last word and everyone’s system is different but watching some of these should give you an idea.

 

[Reefing Madness]

For 40 Nitrates your corals sure do look really good, phosphates that high and your corals still look that good?? Me thinks your chasing numbers. If your corals didnt' like the water they would tell you, you would definitely see it.
I dose vodka, and a pool phosphate remover.

 

[Uncle99]

Ya, I think you may wish to drop that nitrate number by at least half.
I think you really need to lower phosphates as .9ppm is roughly 10 times what others keep.

I don’t know why you stopped bio pellets, carbon dosing over time does reduce nitrates, and maybe a tiny amount of phosphate.

I reduced my nitrates from 50ppm to 5ppm.
I added significant surface area in the form of marine pure blocks. I increased the beneficial bacteria by carbon dosing, it took a couple of months.

I reduced my phosphate using GFO.

I maintain my N at 2-5ppm and phosphate at 0.03 -0.1ppm, you can see just how high your phosphate is in comparison to mine.
Hi phosphate brings nuisance algae’s and slower coral growth.

 

[fish farmer]

I had similar nitrate and phosphate numbers in a 29 gal DT with 20 gal sump. I did 10% WC's every couple of weeks, reduced feeding and had a ball of chaeto lit by a 9 watt Feit grow bulb from Home Depot. I got my levels down after a few months, the chaeto grew really well for a couple of months then slowed, I kept the light really close to it...enough to get a little salt spray on it.

I used GFO briefly, dropped the phos too quick for my liking.

Where did your rock come from? It may be leaching phosphates which could be why it goes back up after doing things. I felt that was my battle for a while since my rock was over 10 years old.

 

[stanlalee]

You don't have a single coral pictured that's bothered by 40ppm nitrate.
You can easily get nitrates down with aggressive water changes but I don't recommend it at 40ppm or even think you have a problem with 40ppm at 4 months. I went from too high to read (at least 160) on a neglected 12 year old skimmerless, water changeless, one fish, no coral tank to 10ppm in 2 months with weekly 50% water changes and putting a new skimmer back online. This caused a complete new set of problems worse than the nitrate problem (which you really don't have IMO). all you need too do is the basics (have a good skimmer, do regular moderate % water changes, don't overfeed, don't overstock with fish and WAIT.

As for growth do yourself a favor and take pics now then 6 months later compare your tank to the 6 month old pictures. Your never going to see it looking for it every day and listening to all these cats bragging about theirs "growing like weeds". Corals are like Capitalism: Either they are growing or they are failing. If you have adequate lights, acceptable parameters and they look healthy they will not stay looking healthy and not grow.

 

[Flippers4pups]

4 month old tank looks fine. Your nutrients aren't a issue with those numbers.

As others have said, corals take time to adjust and start growing, especially in a new system. Depending on coral type, some can take months if not longer to take off.

Be patient and keep doing what your doing. Trying to change your water parameters to a certain "number" will only cause them to stress and possibly even slow down in their acclimation.

 

[Orm Embar]

How big is your refugium, and what kind of lighting are you using for it? If your refugium is going to be your main biofilter, it needs to be well lit to work. I use a TaoTronics 36w LED grow bulb; while it isn't sold on Amazon any more, any LED grow bulb that draws at least 24-36 watts should work reasonably well.

 

[NanoRookie]

Trying to answer some of the questions: The refugium is in one of the overflows I added a intank basket added some rock and a ball of cheato im ussing and innovative marine cheato grow light 18w. I have hydor slim skim skimers there are some days with a lot of foam and some days with no foam so i thought that might be causing the issue.

I mights wait out the nutrients, keep changing filter floss and socks every 2 days. And keep the water changes weekly.

What i was confused was slow grow in cheato with such high nutrients and a decent light, but i added rocks to the fuge to see if it helps.

i removed the biopellet reactor because people were saying that it was like having crutches and that it would never allow the tank to develop fully, and that it should be used later down the road if i had problems.

Did not run gfo because i am worried that it will kill my slow growing cheato. Is this the case??

Thank you all for the recommendations and the great conversation here!

 

[Orm Embar]

Trying to answer some of the questions: The refugium is in one of the overflows I added a intank basket added some rock and a ball of cheato im ussing and innovative marine cheato grow light 18w. I have hydor slim skim skimers there are some days with a lot of foam and some days with no foam so i thought that might be causing the issue.

I mights wait out the nutrients, keep changing filter floss and socks every 2 days. And keep the water changes weekly.

What i was confused was slow grow in cheato with such high nutrients and a decent light, but i added rocks to the fuge to see if it helps.

i removed the biopellet reactor because people were saying that it was like having crutches and that it would never allow the tank to develop fully, and that it should be used later down the road if i had problems.

Did not run gfo because i am worried that it will kill my slow growing cheato. Is this the case??

Thank you all for the recommendations and the great conversation here!

Refugium light is the 9w or 18w version of Personally, I'd consider either of them underpowered. Examples of "cheap" refugium lights would be more like a 100-150w Growstar or . The TaoTronics I use isn't on Amazon anymore (not sure why); specs here https://www.leaffin.com/taotronics-led-grow-lights/. I'm behind on the latest/best cheap refugium lights, but a search of the boards should give you several options.