We cannot get the nitrates to go low

[reneeL]

We do water changes. We could do them more but the weather is hot so getting the water cool enough after mixing is not easy.
I have a redsea roller, a diy algae scrubber, cheato, protein scrubber. A decent amount of the small rocks that are under the roller. The algae is growing well.
We are having difficulty getting our nitrates down on all 4 tanks.
The 20 gallon tank gets a 10 gallon water change which is half the water. The 180 has had a 40 gallon plus change. The 40 gallon tanks were changed out each 10 /12 gallons. The salinity was checked before adding the water but the tanks are higher in salinity than we like. They seems to always get higher after we put the water in the tank.
I have been feeding only as much as they can eat in a minute. 180 has 21 fish, 2 cubes when I feed. I have stopped feeding the baby brine. Do baby brine cause the nitrate problem? I am not going to feed bb until the nitrates get under control. We also had baby jellyfish hatching in all tanks. The bb is the only thing they were all had in common.
I do not dose anything. The CA is also high. See photo sheet with results. Wet chemistry and Hanna checkers were used to test. The nitrate and CA always are high.
I have a large clean up crew. Algae does not need cleaning off the glass often, no bad algae that I know of in the tank. We do have 3 tangs and lawnmower blenny.
The corals are open. Only the purple plating sponge seems to have slowed down. My maroon gorgonian seems to be opening less. Everything else seems to be doing well.
Can you help me with getting the nitrates lower? Is the high calcium a concern? I do not dose. Salt mix is Reef Crystals.
Tank 4 is the one with macro algae. Last 2 photos show the 20 gallon tank. The other photos are the 180 mixed reef.
High nitrate but no algae on the glass or sandbed.

 

[twentyleagues]

My on going war with phosphates.
Water changed. Now Phosphates are 2.4 checked many times and Nitrate 45.3. I have been feeding only enough. I am ready to give up on phosphates. My tank is clear the corals are open the fish are active.
Corals do not look like they are unhappy but I do not notice them growing much. Zoe that were added have have more heads. The Green star supposed take over stuff looks good but has not taken over the rock. My pulsing xenia same thing. Tank set up in January but rock has been with us since March 2024. Had a RS seam problem and we bought a new tank. Most fish and rock moved. Sand was cleaned during this change.
I did stop feeding bb live. Trying to see if they brought the phosphate up. I am giving it another week. My red finger gorgonian has not been doing well since stopping the bb.
So I will move it to another tank or feed the bb.

My sump does including RS roller, recent DIY algae scrubber, protein skimmer. I have a small jet in the pump area so the water gets current and air. Tank is a 180.
My cheato is under the DIY algae scrubber (growing well) the container under this is just so the cheato does not go everywhere and it is starting to grow ulva/sea lettuce.
I have a good clean up crew. Conchs, snails of all kinds. 3 jawfish that re arrange sand often.
The candycane coral is starting to expand. I moved them down about 4 inches. My sponge seems tree seems to be doing well. The turkey wing animals are still alive.

Perhaps those that say do not chase the numbers are correct. I am going to see if the phosphate goes up. I have not added anything but a big water change 60 gallons we were trying for 80 but I did not want so much out of water.
When I tried to stir up the tank I did not get hardly any junk. Even very debri from the sand cleaning along the glass.

Still waiting on the amphipods, I ordered a lot. They always helped when I started a tank along with conch snails.
This is more recent this month. The last is from early August before stopping the live bb. The red finger gorgonian has not been happy since. I took section photos because you cannot get a good whole tank photo of a 180. The lights are turned up in order to get a decent photo. As you can see no extra algae.
I would love to see more growth.

Everything looks great! I would not change a thing yet. Feed the gorg those are very hard to keep long term and for most short term. If its actively eating the bbs then feed the bbs or it will likely perish. Most of those are very "particular" about what they'll eat. If there is no movement when the polyp catches something it will usually not ingest it. Some will but most will not and the bbs movement must be enough. Typically they feed on rotifers and pelagic copepods possibly pelagic spawning of crabs and shrimp as well.

There are other ways to bring phosphates down as well but if it aint broke dont fix it. Lanthium and gfo will work but with Tangs lanthium chloride is like playing russian roulette, Tangs dont always do well with it. GFO will work as well but go slow small amounts at a time in a reactor is best just enough flow to get it to slightly move around in the reactor you dont want it tumbling. I dont know where this is going with that level of phosphate could be nothing could be yet to be seen. I myself would try to get it down a bit but I am not you and from those pics I see nothing wrong. My system years ago ran almost 2.0 for quite a while and I had no issues I could see either. Then the ulns became a thing and everyone jumped on board including myself once I got as low as I could I was sorry I was there.

 

[reneeL]

Everything looks great! I would not change a thing yet. Feed the gorg those are very hard to keep long term and for most short term. If its actively eating the bbs then feed the bbs or it will likely perish. Most of those are very "particular" about what they'll eat. If there is no movement when the polyp catches something it will usually not ingest it. Some will but most will not and the bbs movement must be enough. Typically they feed on rotifers and pelagic copepods possibly pelagic spawning of crabs and shrimp as well.

There are other ways to bring phosphates down as well but if it aint broke dont fix it. Lanthium and gfo will work but with Tangs lanthium chloride is like playing russian roulette, Tangs dont always do well with it. GFO will work as well but go slow small amounts at a time in a reactor is best just enough flow to get it to slightly move around in the reactor you dont want it tumbling. I dont know where this is going with that level of phosphate could be nothing could be yet to be seen. I myself would try to get it down a bit but I am not you and from those pics I see nothing wrong. My system years ago ran almost 2.0 for quite a while and I had no issues I could see either. Then the ulns became a thing and everyone jumped on board including myself once I got as low as I could I was sorry I was there.

Thank you for your comments. I wanted to stay away from chemical additions but...I really want to lower the phosphate. Nitrate came down from before and it would be ok but lower would be better. I am going to give the ROWA phos phosphate remover a try.
I am really confused about the lack of algae but I do have 4 tangs, 1 cbb who is my favorite, 3 jawfish, 1 mandrin, 1 lawnmower goby, 6 cardinals, 3 cleaner shrimp, 2 firefish, 1 filefish, possible 3 pistol shrimps (I only hear them) 2 clownfish that never stop protecting eggs (never have seen babies). I just do not know where the phosphates are coming from because 180 gallons should handle 20 something fish. I have not been feeding but bare min.
Almost feel sorry for them. Just nothing is left over.
Of course the tank does not have any algae, I have not cleaned the glass in weeks.
Only the gorgonian says something is wrong. Perhaps some mushrooms but other mushrooms are looking super.
I will post again after I give it time. Hopefully my gorgonian will decide to eat.
I have 3 other small tanks to place him in. The gorgonian went through the transfer from the RS fail to a temporary tank to this one. The 180 has been going since January. The rocks were kept wet and most fish had temporary small tanks until the 180 was completed.
I did add a few fresh pieces of live rock in May.