help nitrate high and algae............

[Melt]

everything is at zero.but my nitrate are very high 40 t0 50..

what is the best way to lower it.....

aglae taking over my life sorry my tank..

it's a 120g can i do bout 30g water change two times a week?

 

[marrone]

The best way to get nitrates down is to do water changes but for the long run you need to find out what is the cause. This could be from excess feeding to having alot of fish in your tank.

To get rid of the algae try and suck out some of the algae out when doing the water change. Also you may need to take out some of the rocks and scrub them in a pal of saltwater, used from the water change, and using a tooth brush remove the algae. Then get some clean-up crew to help remove the algae.


Also is this a reef tank or a fish tank? If it's a fish tank than I wouldn't worry about nitrates in that range.

 

[alrha]

try regular water changes (say 30 gal/week) to maintain it.

 

[nilo]

yes, water changes, better skimming, less feeding, a refugium will also help.

 

[heuerfan]

You also need to remove phosphate. Try running some phosban.

Are you using ro/di water, or tap water? If using tap water that will contribute to your problem.

Good luck!

 

[Melt]

ok...my phosphate are down......andI also use Ro/di water...my TDS meter reading is 1 after the water filters...

it's my nitrates so i will be doing water changes all week..

Fish: I only have two (purple tang and hippo).

I might need to change my skimmer , I have an ETS reef devil 3 with modification.....

My wife told me if I can fix the problem she will give me 2 clams from Acropora.so later back to work

 

[marrone]

How offen do you do water changes? It's quite possible that since you weren't doing regular water changes the nitrate level has just increased over time. I would get the levels down and remove all the algae and make sure that the level stay low before adding any new corals, fish or clams. Unless you get the problem under control it's just going to keep coming back and you be throwing away money as your corals and clam will not make it.

 

[jackson6745]

Leon, water changes will help reduce the nitrates but you need a better way to keep them down. The fastest way you can change this is by getting a Big A$$ Euroreef skimmer like the CS-8 series, You will see a difference right away. You can check on h20tropicals.com for euroreef blemish models for cheaper prices.

 

[beyondnp]

I had the same issue a year ago... I would scrub out the algae...rock piece by piece...once i got ahead of the curve, it worked for me... now i only have purple algae to worry about!

good luck

 

[Melt]

well fellow reefers keep your eyes open for me.i amlooking for a euro skimmer.....

i alway say i will change my skimmer but I was putting it off .......just spend bout $500 on my tank......

so that mean i got to work longer hours this week for the skimmer.......so if you see any selling on reefcentral or this board let me know ASAP

 

[jackson6745]

Leon, check Rick (LOVEMYREEF) on this board. I know he had a big ER skimmer, not sure if its sold though...

 

[Frank]

Hi all,
I know everyone won't agree with me BUT... I had the same problem for years. I added two nitrex boxes inside my sump and in 3 months my nitrates were at zero and 6 years later are still at zero. I change out the nitrex media every 6 months. This is what worked for me and all my friends that tried it. I also only run a small M.T.C. skimmer powered by two air stones and a rio 800. See it on my web.
Frank

 

[Rebels23]

I have to agree with Jackson here. Once I put in my Euro-reef skimmer, my nitrates dropped significantly. It is at zero now, and I think my tank is what you would consider overstocked. Granted, I have a deep sand bed and a refugium too, but the skimmer makes a BIG, BIG difference. If you don't believe me, ask Joe V. on this board too.

HTH

 

[jackson6745]

Ray, do you have problems growing macros? Once I upgraded to a ER skimmer my macros stop growing/died off....