Big Nitrate Problems need help....

[mikelush78]

I have a 90 gallon reef that I have had up now for 3 years and have been fitting nitrate problems for 6 months now. Nitrates are now at 50ppm. all other paramters are good and i do not have a tun of algea in the aquarium.

My only thought of what is making the nitrates is my refugium is packed with Caulerpa. I think i am supposed to remove some now and again so it has room to grow and eat up nitrates. Is this true? Is this my problem.

I was also looking into other ideas of what i could do to fight the issue and i found this:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums...d.php?t=161957
Has anyone used this idea before and if so is it worth it for me to try and do this?

Any other thoughts on what my problem could be or what i might be able to do to fix the problem?

 

[Nolapete]

Your link to the other post doesn't work.

I had referred you to the algae "scrubber" filter post to resolve your nitrate issues. Quite a few people are using it successfully. I'm setting up mine this weekend.

Yes, you should be cutting your caulerpa back. Cutting it back forces new growth which in turn causes it to uptake nitrate.

I'd switch it out for chaeto, but that's me.

 

[mikelush78]

Ok fixed the link for the scrubber... and to be honest i am not sure what is in my rufugium lol it might be am ix of stuff now maby i will change it out with chaeto... any other ideas?

 

[gomrjoe]

...
I'd switch it out for chaeto, but that's me.

So would I. You could use a Nitrate sponge medium, but then you would have to have a reactor or something like that. I have seen others do it and that worked for them.

How often are you doing water changes, and equally important how much are you feeding and what is your bioload? If you do bi-weekly water changes your Nitrates shouldn't get that high... answers to the other questions not being out of whack of course.

 

[Nolapete]

A 5 gallon bucket scrubber would be a very cheap addition to your tank and would load your tank with pods. I'm going to mount mine on the wall and possibly build a box to disguise it. The best part is that the bucket doesn't hold any water, so it's lightweight.

 

[mikelush78]

ok i am going to make the scrubber and i do have room below my tank in my sump to do a stand alone unit... ill give that a try.

for the other things such as water changes and BioLoad:
- I have been doing a 30 gallon water change every month and have slipped a few times due to the move... so that could also be my main issue there...
- My BioLoad has not changed in 2 years really so that should not affect it, i feed misys shrimp every day and they finish it in 30 - 60 seconds, also phyto plankton once a week. As for my fish i have 9 fish of various sizes a yellow tang and blue tang are my 2 large fish. rest are smaller. probobly am maxed out on fish but not to many i dont think since this tank was good at one point.

 

[Blossom112]

I know someone with a 90 gl and his nitrates are 40 or so and everything looks fine and happy ,he has had it like this for years .

I would feed every other day and do small water changes .
every other day .

Honestly you have plenty of LR if it were me i wouldnt worrie .......
Its probably because you slacked a bit but we all have our days of slacking ....
Good luck!!

 

[mikelush78]

Thanks that is what I am thinking also... I am going to change out the refugium and get chaeto either today or tomorrow...

Also one other thought...
My refurium is a 10 gallon tank that feeds into a 20 gallon sump. I have the water divided and one flow goes to sump with protein skimmer and the other goes to refugium. My pump is not real powerful its a mag drive 1200 i think i should have more powerful so the refugium does not get a tun of water...

Should I up my pump or maybe chang the output so it all goes to my refugium and then the refugium dumps the water over to the protein skimmer side and then it flows back to the main tank? I know the skimmer will take some good stuff out of the water from the refugium but the refugium would get a better taste of water that way....

 

[mikelush78]

Here is a pic of my Tank and a pic o my sump / refugium:
figured you guys would like to see it since we are talking about it

 

[mikelush78]

there we go... lol got the pics up...
its been a while lol