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Help me get My 20-Gallon (Tall) Nano-Reef back on track!


Fishgirl2393

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OK, so my tank has not gotten enough water changes for a while (not enough water was changed during each water change either) and I have nitrates of 60-70ppm. I have cyano and diatoms along with grape caulerpa (don't mind having a bit but it just keeps growing with the nitrates the way they are). There is also a lot of detritus in the sand/on the rocks (I replaced the sand a few months ago so I really want to keep it) that also needs to be gotten rid of. The mushrooms/xenia are doing well and the two frogspawn heads that detached themselves a month or so ago are also doing OK (I think they're trying to re-calcify). The six-line wrasse is doing well and the blue legged hermits (5 of them) that I added yesterday to combat some of the algae are doing fine too. I really need help! How much water should I change? What else should I do?

 

Personally, I wouldn't say anything is 'doing well' livestock wise if your nitrates are at 60-70ppm... That is high enough to cause a lot of physical stress to fish, and people have lost livestock over nitrates at that level.

 

That aside,

Change as much as you want - it won't matter provided all other water parameters are identical in the water you are using to replace it with. i.e. Temp, PH, Salinity, need to match up perfectly - if they do, change 50% + if you want to. It is usually safer to change 25% several times over the course of a week in order to bring down your nitrates, give a couple days between changes.

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I just cleaned out my filters and haven't put any filter media back in (no pads or anything) and wow, there is so much better flow! I'm thinking that I may have to add more flow to the tank (would that help?) along with some purigen/a new filter pad with carbon.

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I would say to get rid of any filter media that you have.. esp. if you are using some kind of filter bag or something... Since I did this, my nitrates went from around 20 down to around 5 ppm... try to a few water changes and that should help too...

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On my 20g H, I have an AC70 and MJ-600, for a total output around 1050GPH... works pretty well for the corals I have in my tank... maybe you should look into an AC70... you should be able to find one used and you can even mod it into a fuge and grow your chaeto in there...

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So, 20-gallon looking better with the additional flow. Still getting cyano though (I never specified but it is not red cyano but brownish cyano still in the mats though). I did a 2 gallon water change yesterday and plan to do some more slightly larger (4-5 gallon) water changes soon. I think if I can get my nitrates lower, the cyano will go away. I also think that with no filter pads, I won't have as much nitrate accumulating in the future. What do you guys think?

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Anyone have any tips on how to reduce nitrates (water changes, I know that but anything else that would help too?) and get rid of the cyano?

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Well my rule of thumb for any problem is "the solution for pollution is dilution"....in essence do more water changes. Obviously water changes aren't going to be enough as I'm sure you have stored nitrates in your sand, rock etc. You should also try changing your filter floss every couple days to prevent those suspended particles from breaking down into nitrate.

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So, if it is stored in the sand, rock, etc, what should I do about it? Is it going to leach out over time or what? I was thinking of adding Purigen (to prevent stuff from breaking down into nitrates), is that a good idea? I'm not even using filter floss right now (removed it). Would adding more water flow help or not?

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Yes it will leech out over time....there's nothing you can do about it.

 

I think Purigen is a great idea! Also look into chemi-pure elite or running some activated carbon. This will help absorb the dissolved organic compounds (DOC's) before they break down.

 

If your lacking flow that could be a problem. With good flow you keep particles of waste suspended which can then be trapped by your filter floss etc. I would suggest putting filter floss back in unless you have something else catching all the junk.

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OK, so water changes (I'm thinking of doing a really large one of about 80% to get the nitrates lower fast) filter floss back in, get Purigen and probably Chemi-Pure elite. Possibly add more water flow. After that, how often would I need to do water changes and how much water? I don't have a high bioload (1 fish, a couple of corals and 5 blue legged hermits). I'm also going to add more clean-up crew soon.

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OK. I did an 8 gallon water change (approximately 60% of the water because there's only about 13 gallons in the tank). I also bought and have added the double dose of "Instant Ocean Natural Nitrate Reducer" to the tank because I've heard good things about it and it is safe for corals/inverts. Hopefully, the water change and the nitrate reducer will lower the nitrates to great levels. The nitrates are about 25ppm now and the other stuff should lower them more.

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Tested earlier today and nitrates are now 20ppm. Hopefully, the nitrate reducer will work well! My xenia was not happy today (not looking bad but just not happy) but I've learned that it doesn't like it when I lower the nitrates significantly (weird) but will perk up in about a day usually (maybe it is just the "change" in general that makes it not happy).

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Nitrates are still around 20ppm (as of yesterday) and the cyano is still growing in the sand/on the rocks. What gives? This is just bad/nasty. HELP!

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Actually, I'm not sure what sort of algae/algae like substance this is. I'll give a description. It forms a coating (like cyano does) on the substrate and somewhat on the rocks, bubbles get trapped in the stuff (either that or it creates bubbles) on the rocks but not on the sand. No matter how long it stays in the tank it doesn't get stringy like I've heard/seen dino does. It is brown-yellowish. It seems to go away somewhat (not completely though) at night. It is not growing on the corals. It comes off the rocks and sand in a dust-like way (not in strings or mats really). Could it be diatoms? What should I do to get rid of it?

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Just read through the thread. I do not like the "magic in a bottle" mentality. They are only bandaids and I believe that WATER can only hold so much stuff. Its absorbing the calcium, alk, mag, stront, other elements as well as waste or nutrients. When you add more chemicals it can lead to parameter unbalance because the water is filled up or "Fed up" lol

 

I suspect the problem is a combination of tings

 

1. Inadequate water flow thru your scape (rock pile scape)

2. Too many Magic bottles of "Reef Success" formula

3. Tap Water

4. Water flow again

5. Powerfilters (dont buy the expensive cartidges that advertise areas for bacteria to grow) Get a roll of cheap filter floss, cut a bunch of lil sections and change them out every 2 days, could easily have multiple floss sections to make swapping easy. Do this ONLY to remove suspended particles. Your live rock is where the bacteria needs to be growing

 

Good luck Tank Dabbler!

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Could it be diatoms? What should I do to get rid of it?

 

Diatoms and algae are a beautiful thing when you begin cycling your tank. When it comes back after 6 months the real question should be "What should I change/do to eliminate its food source?"

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Well, I'm going to do another water change tomorrow. I think it is likely that the nitrates being so high (at one point they were 90ppm+) is likely to blame for the algae/cyano/diatoms (or at least partly to blame). I am doing a "black out" right now on the tank for about 1-2 days and hopefully, with lowered nutrients, that will help. The bubbles being in the algae really bother me (since that could be cyano or dino although I don't think it's the latter) but oh well. :/ I've increased my water flow some and don't use filter pads that come with powerfilters (I use Polyfill stuff from walmart since someone else on here said it worked well). I usually don't try any of the additives but with this one, it is supposedly similar method to vodka or sugar dosing (which lots of people are using). At least, that's what I've heard. This has not been an ongoing problem (the slimy mess) but more recent (past 1-2 months). My nitrates had been kept low after I changed the sand out (it was REALLY OLD) but had gotten out of hand over the past few months (thus the algae bloom).

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Did a 4 gallon (about 30%) water change yesterday. Still battling this nasty mess but it's not as bad. Again, what is it likely to be? Cyano, diatoms, or dino (I really hope it is NOT). It is brown/yellowish, forms a coating that is comes off as more of a dust, doesn't form strings, but bubbles get caught in it (I think that's what's happening anyway). Any ideas? I also get it on the glass (looks the same as the stuff in the substrate but no bubbles get attached to the stuff on the glass).

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Have added Natural Nitrate reducer 3 times now and it works pretty well. My nitrates have been kept at less than 20ppm for 3 weeks in a row now (I have done one water change but will do another soon because I think they are the best thing for a tank). I added a "Lee's Counter Current Protein skimmer" to my tank today (and removed the homemade one) so hopefully, the new one will work better.

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hmm....try seachem de-nitrate media...and stop using bottle chemicals...

 

Also. Tap water - not your friend obviously. start using distilled or RO/DI

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