please help me

[rockonreef]

hey guys, i have had my 55 reef set up for well over a year now, and after vacation my lack of water changes caused a rise in nitrates. hair algae was every where. and i scrubbed down the algae, and have done water changes (i did a 20 gallon, a 20 the next day, then 15, then 15, then 10, then 5), but my nitrates wont go down, and now i am starting to see it affect my corals and my sebae. i even have mangroves and chaeto in my fuge. in my sump i am using filter floss, poly pads, and LR where the bio balls used to be. help me out here, my zenia colony is weakening, my anemone is losing size, and my lobo brain is nearly dead. the zoos and mushrooms seem okay still.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by rockonreef
http:///forum/post/3018912
hey guys, i have had my 55 reef set up for well over a year now, and after vacation my lack of water changes caused a rise in nitrates. hair algae was every where. and i scrubbed down the algae, and have done water changes (i did a 20 gallon, a 20 the next day, then 15, then 15, then 10, then 5), but my nitrates wont go down, and now i am starting to see it affect my corals and my sebae. i even have mangroves and chaeto in my fuge. in my sump i am using filter floss, poly pads, and LR where the bio balls used to be. help me out here, my zenia colony is weakening, my anemone is losing size, and my lobo brain is nearly dead. the zoos and mushrooms seem okay still.

Nitrates affect inverts more than anything else. What are the nitrates at?
I think your problem may be phosphates. The hair algae feeds off of it, so test would read that phosphates are not bad at all when it is.
You are doing way too many water changes, way to often, which affects the good bactreia and causes a mini cycle. I think the water changes are what is affecting the corals.
do you run a skimmer?

 

[rockonreef]

well i normally do weekly 25percent changes, but i thought when nitrates were high you do several??? what should i set my water change schedule to? i dont have s kimmer. and i am out of a phosphate kit, but i will put phosguard in a reactor just in case.

 

[salt210]

I believe she is saying the daily changes could stress them out. what are your nitrate readings at? are you able to pick up a phosphate test?

 

[salt210]

is everything accounted for in the tank? something has to be causing the trates and you need to find that, so you can eliminate the trate issue

 

[flower]

I am not an expert, this is what I think, and how I see things concerning your problem. Then the solution is what I would do in your situation.
A skimmer pulls out micro tiny poisons that can't be tested for. It looks like green goop that collects in a cup to toss out. It is my opinion that you need one.
Until everything settles and your numbers stay good and steady the 10 to 20% water change once a week is fine.
Once everything is good and stable, PH, Alk. Nitrates and phosphates go to 20% once a month.
I use a product called phosphate E, it works great but do not ever dose your tank unless you can do tests for it, an overdose of any chemical can be deadly.
Nitrates are not going to bother your fish much; it is inverts that can't have them over 20 before showing stress.
While the water changes help, with you not having a skimmer, you are pulling out the good bacteria that help to keep the tank water healthy. Which creates a mini cycle.
If your coral is fighting (chemical warfare) which is what it sounds like, running activated charcoal in the filter well detoxify the water.
Too much poop in the tank causes the nitrate spikes, either you have too many fish, over feeding or mini cycles could be to blame. A skimmer will pull that stuff out.
Hope this helps.

 

[fau8]

who maintained your tank when your were away, it seems you have been vicitized by a novice over feeding when you were gone. I would continue with 20 % water changes weekly and see where you are at after the second week. The green hair issue is definetly tied to phospates they also spike when over feeding is occuring.

 

[rockonreef]

okay i'll decrease feeding and do 20 percent weekly changes. while i was away, my neighbor took care, and i dont think he had done wrong because he has a very nice nano tank. i think the problem was caused by my laziness after vacation.
i went and bought new salifert kits, phosphates read .25-.5 and nitrates were 50-75.
where should i go from here?

 

[fau8]

The nitrates are the concern, where do you get your water from? I would do a 20 gallon water change. If your nitrates are 50 that should bring it down to apprximatly 25 level. I would then replace all your filter pads and clean any filtering sponges and make sure all pumps are working properly.
After 2 days I would check my water again and do another 20 gallon change. Once you can sustain a nitrate level below 15 things should get better.
There is no harm in putting your fish on a every 3rd day feeding cycle. I don't recall if you have any tangs if you do keep giving them algea sheets daily.

 

[fau8]

one other thing that will improve your water quality is removing all those filter pads where you had the bio balls and replace it with live rock. Get smaller pieces that you can use as needed to frag your coarls at a later date.

 

[rockonreef]

so, you're saying, that live rock rubble in the trickle tray has more benefits than filter floss, bio balls, and poly pads that absorb nitrates and phosphates? with all due resect, a couple pounds of liverock in the filter probably wont do much as compared to the 50-60 pounds in the tank.
what's your filter setup? you dont have any man made material in it?

 

[oceansidefish]

Originally Posted by rockonreef
http:///forum/post/3020256
so, you're saying, that live rock rubble in the trickle tray has more benefits than filter floss, bio balls, and poly pads that absorb nitrates and phosphates? with all due resect, a couple pounds of liverock in the filter probably wont do much as compared to the 50-60 pounds in the tank.
what's your filter setup? you dont have any man made material in it?
Bio balls cause more problems than they fix....I run nothing in my sump but carbon once a month for a week....Just a good protein skimmer. The LR rubble would help more than anything else will.
I would also check your water source...Sounds like it might not be that great.

 

[bulldog123]

google vodka dosing and replacing bio balls with live rock. there is a large web site out there that talks about both.

 

[fau8]

The filter pad in the trickle tray would remain as a prefilter. Live rock below where the bioballs used to be. The live rock in the sump will also assist on the breeding of copeds which are very good for your bio filtration and a food source for fish.
On the other topic, you will find alot of debate on the vodka and sugar dosing. IMHO this should not be done. some people look at this as a miracle cure but I can't find anyone who has truely had sucess doing this. Once you have an established reef tank with proper water flow and live rock nature keeps everything in balence. All you have to maintain are your water changes at 10 -20% biweekly depending on the consumption of you iodine, calcium etc.

 

[bulldog123]

I have not done it myself(much to new at this). But on my local site there are several people that said it works. One even said after reaching 0 they stopped and havent had nitrates since. I dont think there is a miracle for anything in this hobby but different thinks work for different. Im just throwing things out there that people can research and decide if it will work for them.