Phosphate/Nitrate remover

[Nasabeau]

So, Having a bit of trouble here, hoping for some advice. my phosphate has been sitting around 0.5ppm and my nitrate around 30-40ppm basically since I started the tank, regardless of water changes and increased stocking of the tank. I have noticed purple algae-like hair growing all over my sand (mostly on one side of the tank) which I believe to be cyano, and its getting worse by the day. tried manually removing some last water change and it was all back the next morning. should I start thinking about adding a nitrate/phosphate remover like this one? https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-nitrate-phosphate-reducer.html. is there anything else I can do to stop the growth? do I need to do anything at all or will it clear on its own? what are your thoughts on red slime removers? I really don't have time to do more water changes than I'm already doing (right now at 25%/week)

Edit: I should mention that this is a 75 gallon tank, so not only would it be a huge burden to keep up with a bigger water change schedule, it would also be really expensive

 

[lion king]

The best nitrate/phosphate remover is macro algae, hands down. There are choices like a refugium section in your sump, hob refugiums, and algae reactors.

NoPox does work but it is not overnight and does take some fine tuning.

 

[Nasabeau]

The best nitrate/phosphate remover is macro algae, hands down. There are choices like a refugium section in your sump, hob refugiums, and algae reactors.

NoPox does work but it is not overnight and does take some fine tuning.

So, to be 100% honest, I am fairly certain a lot of what's in there was due to me not using RODI to mix when I started the tank. I am now for water changes, but since I've never seen either reading low (even before adding fish), I am guessing that's where that came from, so the fact that it hasn't really gone up or down makes me think removing it once will make it stay low (in other words, While I can't be certain, I have my suspicion that once its under control it will be easier to keep under control with w/c. until this week I was doing bi-weekly water changes and have not seen nitrate or Phosphate change at all, even when testing 4 times a week). all my fish seem happy, so I'm not looking for a quick fix, and I don't have a sump, so reactors and refugium's aren't going to work unless its an HOB refugium and that's really out of my budget.

Edit: does red slime remover like this actually work? I know its supposed to be a fix for the cyano not for the cause of the cyano, but is it actually worth it? https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ultralife-red-slime-remover.html

 

[George81]

ive used red slime remover back when I set up my tank.it does work but you need to heavily oxygenate the water.

what Are you doing for nutrient removal? if Your not running a sump, do you have a skimmer?

just a suggestion and this maybe unsightly but look into adding brightwell bricks or marinepure blocks in your display.

 

[Nasabeau]

ive used red slime remover back when I set up my tank.it does work but you need to heavily oxygenate the water.

what Are you doing for nutrient removal? if Your not running a sump, do you have a skimmer?

just a suggestion and this maybe unsightly but look into adding brightwell bricks or marinepure blocks in your display.

I did just recently save up and get a reef octopus classic 90 HOB skimmer that is currently breaking in. collecting nothing yet. the way I have my aquascape it would be hard to put blocks in that aren't really small. also vaguely concerned about the fish attempting to eat the bricks since both the coral beauty and the new tang both have a propensity to try and eat off the rocks and glass... I would be worried about them eating the chemicals in the bricks

 

[Nasabeau]

ive used red slime remover back when I set up my tank.it does work but you need to heavily oxygenate the water.

what Are you doing for nutrient removal? if Your not running a sump, do you have a skimmer?

just a suggestion and this maybe unsightly but look into adding brightwell bricks or marinepure blocks in your display.

looking into those bricks, they seem to be for bio-filtration, IE beneficial bacteria, which right now I have in spades in teh rock and filter media. my understanding was that those bacteria convert ammonia and nitrite into nitrate, and that algae turned the nitrate into proteins. am I missing something in all that? I very well might be, I am very new to Salt Water systems, there is probably a lot I do not know

 

[lion king]

So, to be 100% honest, I am fairly certain a lot of what's in there was due to me not using RODI to mix when I started the tank. I am now for water changes, but since I've never seen either reading low (even before adding fish), I am guessing that's where that came from, so the fact that it hasn't really gone up or down makes me think removing it once will make it stay low (in other words, While I can't be certain, I have my suspicion that once its under control it will be easier to keep under control with w/c. until this week I was doing bi-weekly water changes and have not seen nitrate or Phosphate change at all, even when testing 4 times a week). all my fish seem happy, so I'm not looking for a quick fix, and I don't have a sump, so reactors and refugium's aren't going to work unless its an HOB refugium and that's really out of my budget.

Edit: does red slime remover like this actually work? I know its supposed to be a fix for the cyano not for the cause of the cyano, but is it actually worth it? https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ultralife-red-slime-remover.html

I have never heard of that one, but be very careful and do tons of research before using any of these products. I have found that high phosphates in relationship to nitrates is a very common cause of cyano, and most phosphate test usually register lower than it actually is. Phosphate could be coming from your water supply, and can sometimes leach from rocks. Using gfo for phosphate control may be a try, and if you are looking to bring down the phosphate faster, check this product out: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/phosphat-e-liquid-phosphate-remover-brightwell-aquatics.html
I've used it safely with great results.

 

[Nasabeau]

I have never heard of that one, but be very careful and do tons of research before using any of these products. I have found that high phosphates in relationship to nitrates is a very common cause of cyano, and most phosphate test usually register lower than it actually is. Phosphate could be coming from your water supply, and can sometimes leach from rocks. Using gfo for phosphate control may be a try, and if you are looking to bring down the phosphate faster, check this product out: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/phosphat-e-liquid-phosphate-remover-brightwell-aquatics.html
I've used it safely with great results.

yeah I am super warry putting any chemicals in my tank. I am terrified of hurting my fish! I am not necessarily looking for removing it quickly, its not ridiculously high, 1.5 isn't dangerous levels yet and that's 3 times my reading, I was just curious if I should use a product like NOPOX that removes both at once since they're both high or if it would be better to do GFO and Seachem prime to deal with each one separately. on one hand, dealing with each separately has the problem of adding more chemicals, but it also allows me to more closely tailor to each value. just curious on thoughts there. I am fairly certain most of the phosphate and nitrate are there from my original water source (tank is under two months old) since I used tap from my well to mix when starting, then found out that was not the best idea and picked up an RODI. I am exclusively using RODI now and religiously check the TDS so I know my water source for changes is fine.

 

[lion king]

yeah I am super warry putting any chemicals in my tank. I am terrified of hurting my fish! I am not necessarily looking for removing it quickly, its not ridiculously high, 1.5 isn't dangerous levels yet and that's 3 times my reading, I was just curious if I should use a product like NOPOX that removes both at once since they're both high or if it would be better to do GFO and Seachem prime to deal with each one separately. on one hand, dealing with each separately has the problem of adding more chemicals, but it also allows me to more closely tailor to each value. just curious on thoughts there. I am fairly certain most of the phosphate and nitrate are there from my original water source (tank is under two months old) since I used tap from my well to mix when starting, then found out that was not the best idea and picked up an RODI. I am exclusively using RODI now and religiously check the TDS so I know my water source for changes is fine.

Test your water source to see. I don't think prime will effect nitrates. Gfo is a safe and easy start to help manage phosphate., Nopox has it's cost as well, while I had good results using, if you research you will find some did not. I think nopox is also recommended for a more mature tank and usually for those requiring very low nutrients like sps tanks, or trying to manage very high nutrients. A clean water water source and some gfo may be all you need.

 

[Nasabeau]

Test your water source to see. I don't think prime will effect nitrates. Gfo is a safe and easy start to help manage phosphate., Nopox has it's cost as well, while I had good results using, if you research you will find some did not. I think nopox is also recommended for a more mature tank and usually for those requiring very low nutrients like sps tanks, or trying to manage very high nutrients. A clean water water source and some gfo may be all you need.

my current water source is RODI with a TDS of 0, so I'm not concerned about that. the problem is the nitrates remain between 30 and 40 doing 25% change 3 weeks in a row. I cannot afford to keep doing that and I worry about crashing my tank if I do a larger one

Edit: to be fair, they also stayed between 30-40 when I was doing bi-weekly water changes which is what I would prefer to do

 

[Nasabeau]

so, the more reading I do, the more I am seeing the most common side effect of nopox is cyano outbreaks. does anyone know why this is? I was going to try to use it to remove cyano, because I'm at least moderately certain the reason for my current outbreak is high nitrate and phosphate, which nopox removes... if it removes the nitrate and phosphate, shouldn't that starve out the cyano? obviously I also planned on vaccuming the sand to remove any that is there currently then remove the nitrate and phosphate with the nopox to keep it from coming back, but it would seem that this may not be a workable solution. any thoughts?