trying to control nutrients, Need help/advice

[AKreuzer]

Hey everyone, I have a 150g DT + 55g Sump18m old tank "well stocked" and I have been battling nutrients for a while, Nitrates spiking at or above 75ppm and phosphates around .63-.70ppm after tuning my filtration to be more affective I was able to get them down but still not as low as they should be "I think". I just recently reduced feeding and have seen some results which I will stick to but wondering if I need to wait more or look for an additional solution.

I guess the big questions is....will my issue resolve through waiting and waterchanges? or should i be doing something different?

Starting tests:
Water change ~30g: day 0
Nitrate/Phosphate: 1 Day after Waterchange
Nitrate 11.7
Phosphate .31
Nitrate/Phosphate: 4 Days after Waterchange
Nitrate 39.9 Total increase of 28.8
Phosphate .39 Total increase of .08

Reduced Feeding
water change ~30g: day 0
Nitrate/Phosphate: 1 Day after Waterchange
Nitrate 19.9
Phosphate .41
Nitrate/Phosphate: 4 Days after Waterchange
Nitrate 45.4 Total increase of 25.5
Phosphate .43 Total increase of .02

Feeding looks like
every morning they get 3/4 of a sheet of LRS Seaweed
every evening they get 1.5" x 1.25" piece of frozen LRS Reef Frenzy (thawed and diluted and then broadcast into the tank

Fish in tank
Tangs :
Purple, Naso, Maculiceps, Blue hippo, Chocolate, Powder Brown
FoxFace
Wrasse:
Adorned,Female Leopard
Starry Blenny
Brown Banded Sleeper (Dragon) Goby

 

[klc]

Feed less, skim more, increase flow in and around rocks, siphon out detritus, utilize and change out filter socks daily if necessary, be patient (its hard I know). Big water changes don't help that much and is not a solution to high nutrients. You don't mention corals and if this is a FOWLR tank I'd not be too concerned about it at all.

You could use one of the many nitrate absorbing resins on the market on a loop to and from the sump. The same goes for phosphate, GFO works pretty good at reducing it but at .43 your phosphate is not high imo.

If you get the numbers down to where you are comfortable with them, you can play with the volume of nitrate and phosphate removers to equal their accumulation.

One of the currently available algae scrubbers work good from what I read however I have not used one.

 

[Dan_P]

Hey everyone, I have a 150g DT + 55g Sump18m old tank "well stocked" and I have been battling nutrients for a while, Nitrates spiking at or above 75ppm and phosphates around .63-.70ppm after tuning my filtration to be more affective I was able to get them down but still not as low as they should be "I think". I just recently reduced feeding and have seen some results which I will stick to but wondering if I need to wait more or look for an additional solution.

I guess the big questions is....will my issue resolve through waiting and waterchanges? or should i be doing something different?

Starting tests:
Water change ~30g: day 0
Nitrate/Phosphate: 1 Day after Waterchange
Nitrate 11.7
Phosphate .31
Nitrate/Phosphate: 4 Days after Waterchange
Nitrate 39.9 Total increase of 28.8
Phosphate .39 Total increase of .08

Reduced Feeding
water change ~30g: day 0
Nitrate/Phosphate: 1 Day after Waterchange
Nitrate 19.9
Phosphate .41
Nitrate/Phosphate: 4 Days after Waterchange
Nitrate 45.4 Total increase of 25.5
Phosphate .43 Total increase of .02

Feeding looks like
every morning they get 3/4 of a sheet of LRS Seaweed
every evening they get 1.5" x 1.25" piece of frozen LRS Reef Frenzy (thawed and diluted and then broadcast into the tank

Fish in tank
Tangs :
Purple, Naso, Maculiceps, Blue hippo, Chocolate, Powder Brown
FoxFace
Wrasse:
Adorned,Female Leopard
Starry Blenny
Brown Banded Sleeper (Dragon) Goby

Nutrients shouldn’t be controlled by starving the fish.

The situation is simple to understand. Your current system cannot handle the input of nitrogen needed to sustain the live stock. Water changes can work but the rate of water change might get expensive. Your fish are growing and feeding will need to increase. There are methods to reduce nitrogen (ammonia, nitrate) in the water, but not all methods are equally appealing to everyone.

All methods involve growing things, bacteria or slgae, that are then harvested to remove the nitrogen they extracted from the water. You will need to figure out which method appeals to you.