Nitrates and phosphates keep going up

[gabriel21946]

I am trying to see if I can get some guidance on this matter. I am almost about to give up. Everything I try doesn't help me get my NO3 and PO4 down. I currently have NO3 25ppm and PO4 .55. I have tried everything possible from gfo, to carbon dosing and can't seem to get them down. Currently I have a pax bellum n18, I dose tropic marin Elimini NP and I recently added a chemi pure blue and I try to do a 10% weekly water change and I still can't manage to get my mutrients low. Any other suggestions.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I am trying to see if I can get some guidance on this matter. I am almost about to give up. Everything I try doesn't help me get my NO3 and PO4 down. I currently have NO3 25ppm and PO4 .55. I have tried everything possible from gfo, to carbon dosing and can't seem to get them down. Currently I have a pax bellum n18, I dose tropic marin Elimini NP and I recently added a chemi pure blue and I try to do a 10% weekly water change and I still can't manage to get my mutrients low. Any other suggestions.

Just curious is this a new tank?
Do you have sand?
Was this system started with live or dry rock?
What do you feed daily?

 

[gabriel21946]

Just curious is this a new tank?
Do you have sand?
Was this system started with live or dry rock?
What do you feed daily?

The tank is reaching a year now, I have a sand bed although I have been removing sand to keep it around an inch. I started with dry rock, they are starting to get some color to them and I mainly feed mice shrimp once a day and have seaweed for the tang fishes. Forgot to mention I have a 91 gallon tank

 

[efilho]

Tried many solutions for my 120gl and gave up: only water changes kept no3 levels as desired w/o side consequences and expenses (other than salt). In my tank the % of water changed means almost same % of nitrate lowered, then I run gfo in reactor until 16:1 no3/po4 ratio is achieved, which works for me. Average 30% water changed twice a month.

 

[sixty_reefer]

What size protein skimmer do you have? How much algae growth do you get?

 

[gabriel21946]

What size protein skimmer do you have? How much algae growth do you get?

I have a nyos quantum 120, I also have a clarisea s5k roller, in the pax bellum the algae wasn't growing as expected so I recently completely changed the chaeto. I also just started to dose iodide once a week to help with the chaeto

 

[sixty_reefer]

I have a nyos quantum 120, I also have a clarisea s5k roller, in the pax bellum the algae wasn't growing as expected so I recently completely changed the chaeto. I also just started to dose iodide once a week to help with the chaeto

That’s a fairly large skimmer, I would personally go back to the elemi-NP and follow the instructions, you could tray and reduce skimming for a wile to allow pelagic bacteria to stabilise in the water column. There is a possibility that you may be over filtering the tank too much, do you have any algae issues in the tank by the way?

 

[gabriel21946]

That’s a fairly large skimmer, I would personally go back to the elemi-NP and follow the instructions, you could tray and reduce skimming for a wile to allow pelagic bacteria to stabilise in the water column. There is a possibility that you may be over filtering the tank too much, do you have any algae issues in the tank by the way?

There is some algae but minor traces, no kind of out break. Do you really think I could be over filtering. I thought if I over filtered my nutrients would be close to zero, never the other way around where the fikteration is not allowing the bacteria to form. I can give this a try. The nyos 120 per the specs is for about my tank size. I thought it was under provisioned and may need a 160

 

[sixty_reefer]

There is some algae but minor traces, no kind of out break. Do you really think I could be over filtering. I thought if I over filtered my nutrients would be close to zero, never the other way around where the fikteration is not allowing the bacteria to form. I can give this a try. The nyos 120 per the specs is for about my tank size. I thought it was under provisioned and may need a 160

Don’t just take my word for it, you may find this article interesting

Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration

What are the bacteria populations in the water column of reef tanks, and how does that value compare with bacterial counts in authentic reef water? Does carbon dosing indeed increase water column bacteria populations (i.e., is growth carbon limited)? Does mechanical filtration (protein skimming...

reefs.com

The experiment in this article has shown that reef aquariums that do heavy skimming will have 10 times less free floating bacteria than systems that don’t skim. By removing all this free floating bacteria that would of been competing with the algae for nutrients it allows for some invasive species to start to hold fast. Protein skimmers have they’re advantages although if too large they may work against you in regarding nutrients. In addition as you start to dose carbon most of that bacteria will be pelagic.

 

[gabriel21946]

Don’t just take my word for it, you may find this article interesting

Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration

What are the bacteria populations in the water column of reef tanks, and how does that value compare with bacterial counts in authentic reef water? Does carbon dosing indeed increase water column bacteria populations (i.e., is growth carbon limited)? Does mechanical filtration (protein skimming...

reefs.com

The experiment in this article has shown that reef aquariums that do heavy skimming will have 10 times less free floating bacteria than systems that don’t skim. By removing all this free floating bacteria that would of been competing with the algae for nutrients it allows for some invasive species to start to hold fast. Protein skimmers have they’re advantages although if too large they may work against you in regarding nutrients. In addition as you start to dose carbon most of that bacteria will be pelagic.

I will definitely be reading this and give it a try. Thanks