please help! nitrates and diatom out of control

kinder7668

kinder7668

Member
ive had my tank up and running for about six months everything was going great but my nitrates were always high no mater how many water changes i do i cant fix the problem and now everything in my tank is covered in the brow algea it looks terrible..... have a wet dry and a canister with spong carbon and live rock in it should i rise the sponge in tank water to clean it and can i clean or replace the sponges on my wet dry will this help?????
 
dmjordan

dmjordan

Active Member
you should rinse your sponges with tank water during every water change. i would also replace one of the sponges once per month. use ro or rodi water if at all possible for water changes and top offs. make sure you are not overfeeding.
 
dmjordan

dmjordan

Active Member
i am not much for bioball myself but as long as you rinse them with every water change you should be fine if you want to keep them. i personally would chuck them and replace them with live rock rubble.
 
trigger11

trigger11

Member
Yes, I would ditch the bio balls and go with LR or LR rubble. I had bio balls for a while and they just got super dirty with detritus. Which would end up going through the cycle producing more nitrates. Ever since I took out the bio balls and put in a refugium I have never had a nitrate problem.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Hold on....
Can you please provide SPECIFICS on the following:
Tank parameters - the numbers
Test kit (have you had the numbers checked at an LFS)
Inhabitants
Water changes and amount
RO or tap water
Crushed coral or sand
How often do you rinse sponges etc - prefilter or those in the wet dry
How often do you open and clean the cannister?
What kind of lighting do you have?
How long do you leave the lights on?
Do you have a skimmer?
Changing to LR rubble WILL NOT help if you are not maintaining the system. If your bioballs get gunked up due to lack of cleaning, the live rock will as well.
We need a full run down of what you are doing and what you have. The problem may be easy to fix, or not...but we need the whole picture to start.
 
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