Nitrates plummeted.. i see snot..

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Question first:



nitrates hit 0.0 after recent upgrades/modifications. Do i shut off filtration and call it good? just the roller mat? dose nitrates? Go a couple days now lights?(prefer not to as my acros are finally taking off, but to avoid dinos... i'll do it if I have to)



Back story:



So over the last few months, I slowly upgraded lights, addressed some chronicly low ph by switching from entirely AFR to now mostly kalk, and some AFR, and installing a co2 scrubber, and addressed upwards creeping nutrients via some GFO, and the installation a roller mat. After installing the roller mat, I tested nutrients a week later and my nitrates went from creeping up from 13 to 14ppm over the course of 2 weeks to 12.7ppm 5 days after installing it. So I put my pump on a timer and ran it 12hrs on and 12hrs off. Started seeing some bubbles the other day, and didnt think much of it. Till today when I saw some strings of snot.. Definitely dinos. So I have shut the roller mat off. I'm considering removing the cup from my skimmer, but leaving it running, just not pulling anything. I dont have a lot of dinos, so I think i've caught it early enough.. but man,.. I dont want to deal with this right now lol.. any advice? As of right now i'm just going to shut off the roller mat.

 

[Spare time]

You can:

1. Feed more. This is the easiest and most enjoyable imo unless your phosphates are an issue.

2. Dose ammonium chloride, amino acids, or sodium nitrate. This works well.

3. Stop using a roller mat and use something else to collect detritus.

 

[CHSUB]

First understand that 0 no3 on a hobby test kit means nothing. Dinos are generally caused by lack of maintenance and over feeding. So keep your aquarium clean and only feed your fish what they consume in a few seconds.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What I read is that nitrates were increasing, algae showed up, then nitrates dropped. It's classic. The great debate here is that some think the filtration dropped the nutrients to zero which in turn caused algae, but I believe its the nutrients (and dissolved organics) which cause the algae and the algae consumed the nutrients. I got dino's only once and my nitrates were well over 100, I brought my tank back to basics and maintained it that way, it took 5 months to beat the dino's then another 6 months for the tank to fully recover. As you mentioned there is a lot going on in the past couple of months, I would bring the tank back to basics until it recovers, just my 2 cents, good luck.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

What I read is that nitrates were increasing, algae showed up, then nitrates dropped. It's classic. The great debate here is that some think the filtration dropped the nutrients to zero which in turn caused algae, but I believe its the nutrients (and dissolved organics) which cause the algae and the algae consumed the nutrients. I got dino's only once and my nitrates were well over 100, I brought my tank back to basics and maintained it that way, it took 5 months to beat the dino's then another 6 months for the tank to fully recover. As you mentioned there is a lot going on in the past couple of months, I would bring the tank back to basics until it recovers, just my 2 cents, good luck.

Yea, i've shut off the roller mat, I only feed 3 cubes of food a day to a well stocked 120g and I have a auto feeder feeding pellets twice a day, sand beds cleaned, besides places I cant get to, so i'll wait and see if thats enough. Im hoping i'll dodge this bullet. Its just a few bubbles on the rockwork and then some slimy stringy bits on a gyre, a frag rack, and a probe holder, all up high in high light intensity areas. I wouldnt call it a full on outbreak as of yet, as much as i'd call it a sign of whats to come...

 

[CHSUB]

Its just a few bubbles on the rockwork and then some slimy stringy bits on a gyre, a frag rack, and a probe holder

Should be cleaned daily if necessary….many quote R. Ross high nutrient system without understanding his daily maintenance routine that involves removing nuisance organisms at first arrival, daily if necessary.

 

[jonelder68]

I’d dose DIY sodium nitrate to a minimum of 5ppm.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-nitrate-dosing-recipe.1111863/
As far as removing Dino’s? I’d manual remove all I could. With parameters back in check after dosing. See how that works.

Best option dose to get parameters in check, manually removal, 3 day blackout with UV plumbed direct in DT.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I’d dose DIY sodium nitrate to a minimum of 5ppm.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-nitrate-dosing-recipe.1111863/
As far as removing Dino’s? I’d manual remove all I could. With parameters back in check after dosing. See how that works.

I think this is my exact plan. I'm going to hold off on my regular water changes for a while as well.

 

[jonelder68]

I dose sodium nitrate if I need some quick adjustment but dose ammonium bicarbonate hourly to maintain. Both easy and super cheap thanks to Randy and Miamireef’s recipes

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I dose sodium nitrate if I need some quick adjustment but dose ammonium bicarbonate hourly to maintain. Both easy and super cheap thanks to Randy and Miamireef’s recipes

I was actually considering dosing ammonium eventually but have been preoccupied with momma and a new baby the last couple weeks so i put it on the back burner. Hence why my nitrates bottomed out while I wasnt paying attention lol. Geuss its time to get my nitrates back up and dial that in lol. Hopefully I got this in time!

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Should be cleaned daily if necessary….many quote R. Ross high nutrient system without understanding his daily maintenance routine that involves removing nuisance organisms at first arrival, daily if necessary.

I've got a pipette that I've been sucking off the power head with and blasting the rocks.

 

[jonelder68]

I've got a pipette that I've been sticking of the power head with and blasting the rocks.

Make sure you’re removing the Dino’s debris. Can use a fish net to catch them or even better a marineland magnum internal canister filter. Otherwise it’s just spreading it around.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Make sure you’re removing the Dino’s debris. Can use a fish net to catch them or even better a marineland magnum internal canister filter. Otherwise it’s just spreading it around.

That was supposed to say sucking off the powerheads* the only area i'm just blasting is the rocks, because o figured blasting them into the water column(lots of flow as I keep a lot of acros) was better than letting them sit and reproduce on the rocks