Nitrate Reducers! Where can they be found??

[quiksilver5768]

I was reading how clams actually take out nitrates from the water. I am having a huge brown/green hair algae problem wwhich i have been fighting for months but to no prevail....its still there!!

 

Would some ppl please gimme some ideas on what critters or things can be added to the tank to make nitrates disapeer and steel all the nutrients away form the nuissance algaes growing all in my tank...

 

Also, I was thinking about purchasing a piccilo skimmer since I have heard so many good results about them on nano-reefs, but would this also take away all excess nitrates in the water? Or is the skimmer too small to do so?

[tinyreef]

how big your system is will determine the skimmer along with what kind of livestock.  based upon your description of nitrates i'd say you have some fish.

 

tridacna clams are great for nitrate control.  i've used squamosa and maximas.  make sure your alk & cal is sufficient though (most two part cal solutions are good enough)

 

you can use blue-legged hermit crabs for the algae (1 per 5-gal.).  you may want to address wants making so much nitrate in the first place though.  food, fish, additive, detritus, etc.

[Sahin]

I havent had much success at removing the hair algae types with the various critters types.  Hermits most attempted eating but werent much of a differance overall.

 

Try removing most of the algae but leave some.

You are essentially exporting nutrients.

 

Addition of macro algae in a corner will help also.

Remove sections that are large, leaving some behind.

 

There are various macro algae growing in my tank and I allow these to grow in a controlled fashion so as not to take over my tank or to bother my corals.  I remove sections as they become larger, thus I am experting nutrients.

 

Addition of a skimmer will help also, especially with a large bio-load in the tank.  It will bascially remove nutrients /wastes etc in the water before they turn to nitrates.  A skimmer doesnt remove nitrates.

 

The most obvious other thing is to perform regular water changes of about 30% until the nitrates are about 5-10ppm.

 

With a full details of your tank setup you can be helped better.

 

So provide all your setup details, critters, fishes etc.

 

What I advice I have provided should be enough to eliminate the problems you describe.

 

One more thing; if you manage to reduce the nitrates for example by using good Ro water and lots of water changes, but hair algae still persist, attempt to starve the hair algae of light by covering the various areas with large clam shells/saucers - anything thats suitable for at least a week and half while you are performing the water changes, and they should die off.

 

Well, let us know how things go.

 

Hope I have been helpful in some way.

Good luck with combating thehair algae.

[C2187]

There are three things that can really help bring down your nitrates. The first and most common is water changes. The second is adding macro algae. The third is a deep sand bed.  All will do a very effective job of reducing nitrates.  Make sure your not feeding too much and dont have too many fish.  I wouldn't reccomend a skimmer for a nano tank.  If I new more about your tank I could help more.

Also do not  put things on the hair algae to starve it of light. You want to manually take it out of the tank. I like to cut it and siphin it out while I do my water change. If you put something on it to starve it of light it will obviously die and the nutrients it absorbed will return right back into your water making your problem worse.

Hope I helped...