Phosphate, Nitrate, Nitrite HELP

[Dreichler]

So I'm having a bad cyanobecteria outbreak and i really hate it, its been going on for about 2 weeks now, I've done my normal water changes, i do feedings regularly and the same dosage, lighting has been the same timing since I've had the tank. I think my phosphates and nitrates and nitrites are a little whack. I have a JBJ 28 with an AI Prime. Ive noticed the back chambers are FILLED with this light brown, almost like detritus tiny ball algae. Also, my 2 filter heads inside the tank pumping the water have hair algae on them. So my questions are: 1. Should i remove all the algae in the chambers? 2. Whats the best liquid to remove phosphates, nitrates, or nitrites? I also dose Aquavitro calcification (one cap per week), Aquavitro eight.four (one cap per week), and Aquavitro fuel (half a cap per week).

[VW_TDI_02]

What are your parameters at? You won't know what the issue is until you test. Without knowing what you have to fix, you won't know what to prescribe.

[Dreichler]

What are your parameters at? You won't know what the issue is until you test. Without knowing what you have to fix, you won't know what to prescribe.

Lol the thing is I've never owned a test kit or ever even done one and have had the tank up and running over a year and never ever had any problems, and great growth of corals. I've had my friend test the waters ONCE and everything was literally textbook.

[HarryPotter]

Lol the thing is I've never owned a test kit or ever even done one and have had the tank up and running over a year and never ever had any problems, and great growth of corals. I've had my friend test the waters ONCE and everything was literally textbook.

I'd ditch the Fuel and clean out the rear chambers. Maybe blast the rocks with some water (via turkey Baster, power head, etc) to clean off the poo

[VW_TDI_02]

Lol the thing is I've never owned a test kit or ever even done one and have had the tank up and running over a year and never ever had any problems, and great growth of corals. I've had my friend test the waters ONCE and everything was literally textbook.

As long as things are going well with your corals, you don't usually have to test. I test maybe once a month and it is all in the right ranges. The issue is when stuff goes wrong and you can't really figure out what. The easiest way is to start testing your water for the basics. Phosphates, Nitrite, Nitrate, and ammonia are the usual tests and it's good to have the test kits just in case. They're pretty easy to do and within a few minutes you can see that maybe your phosphates are up and that's what's causing whatever issue.

 

You can also look at the symptoms and usually guess the problem. Cyano can also be caused by not enough flow. I had a small batch on my sand bed and I re-positioned my RW-4 and within a week it was gone. I get some brown algae on my sump baffles when I get towards the end of the life of my GFO so I know my phosphates are starting to go up so I should swap out the GFO. Once you get to know your tank you should be able to recognize what's going on but this isn't always the most reliable method so it's always nice to have test kits to fall back on in order to better pinpoint your issue.

 

In the end, there are a couple of ways to figure out what's wrong with your tank aside from simply testing. Testing is easy simply because it lets you know exactly what's going on with your parameters that often cause these issues. There are other indicators/symptoms but I think testing is the easiest way.

[Exodus]

Well the fact you don't have test kits or numbers makes it difficult to get an idea of exactly whats going on. I personally would not be dumping addiitives into your tank when you can''t even test the basics, this is just setting yourself up for a disaster.

 

you have mentioned both hair algae & Cyano, so the first thing we have to do is identify what exactly you have.

 

If you have Algae it feeds off of phosphates/nitrates/Silicates/photosynthesis. To sum it up you need to clean out all the algae, remove the excess crap in the tank, and cut down the light cycle till its under control or disappears.

 

If you have Cyano, increase the flow and hit it with Red Slime Remover. I know some might cringe but if your willing to dump all those other additives in there without testing, I wouldn't be worried about that, the stuff has been proven to eliminate it with several pictures out there to prove.

[dribblet]

+1 for testing your water. How can you know if your phos, nitrates, and nitrites are out of wack if you don't know what level they are at? Spend the $30, buy an API test kit.