high nitrates and phosphates and skimming

[davesolo29]

trying to figure out some skimming problems that i am having, and wondering if i am looking at this the wrong way.
i am thinking that my skimmer not working properly is a contributing factor to my high nitrates and phosphates.

i thought about it for a moment, now that i have borrowed a different skimmer and am having pretty much the same skimming results.  Could it be possible that high nitrates and/or high phosphates cause my skimmer to not produce skimmate?

 

[pulpfiction1]

i wouldn't think so but anything could be possible,if these factors are high i would reconsider my maintenance procedures,look into bio pellets or vodka dosing

 

[davesolo29]

i was discussing vodka or vinegar dosing earlier,  but i dont want to take too many steps all at once.  i will increase my water changes and look into gfo and see if that helps first.  if i alter too many things at once i wont know which one is making the difference.  if i dont get anywhere then i will try something else.

 

[pulpfiction1]

i wasn't sure of your experience level or how mature your tank is,but high nitrates is usually associated with either waste  or lack of water changes and phosphates can have a variety of sources including food,salts,water supply,etc,it is good you want to go slow but these elements (PO3 and NO3) are a major source for problem algae and other issues in your tank,but i am sure you have read what types of things can go wrong when these levels are not kept in check,i would do the water changes till my levels are acceptable,i would also test my water i use for my changes,look into my feeding habits,and try to locate the cause of these high levels.

 

[El concistador]

plus 1 for what pulp said.

You might consider getting rid of a fish or 2, if you have a large bioload.

 

[davesolo29]

i wasn't sure of your experience level or how mature your tank is,but high nitrates is usually associated with either waste  or lack of water changes and phosphates can have a variety of sources including food,salts,water supply,etc,it is good you want to go slow but these elements (PO3 and NO3) are a major source for problem algae and other issues in your tank,but i am sure you have read what types of things can go wrong when these levels are not kept in check,i would do the water changes till my levels are acceptable,i would also test my water i use for my changes,look into my feeding habits,and try to locate the cause of these high levels.

tank was set up mid november.  i only feed once a day.  probably not the best food IMO.  tetramarine flakes.  also reefroids twice a week.
just checked water out of the ro/di and nothing abnormal.

 

[davesolo29]

plus 1 for what pulp said.

You might consider getting rid of a fish or 2, if you have a large bioload.

I dont have a large load.
i have a good sized clean up crew of about 2 dozen snails, 3 hermits, 2 clarkii clowns, small sohal tang, small copperband butterfly, yellow tail blennie, rbta, 2 cleaner shrimp and a blood shrimp.

 

[Blob-79]

holy crap dude...thats probally a good reason why those levels are high, too much food imo. I feed a flake, and a few pellets normally twice a day....nothing else. On occasion ill feed reefroids, mysis, or oyster eggs. I also run bio pellets, so im feeding a little more then I should.

 

[pulpfiction1]

like blob says,reefroids and over feeding will drive up your levels,myself i feed about half of what blob does,but I'm just cheap,in the wild these animals go days and sometimes weeks without a big meal,they will survive with small feedings and that in itself should help with some aspect of your levels,i would use reefroids once a week max and only a small dose .

 

[davesolo29]

i feed the flakes very sparingly...and the reefroids only at about 1/4 of what it says on the package.
going to switch to pellets.  also picking up gfo and biopellet reactor today.

 

[chablonski]

I had nothing but problems with my tank when feeding flakes if it doesn't all get eaten it just accumulates in all the small crevices and rots causing  problems.

 

[phi delt reefer]

I feed about the equivalent of a half cube of frozen once a day plus 2 pinches of NLS pellets twice a day.

I have two darwin clowns, purple firefish, mystery wrasse, green chromis, tailspot blenny, royal gramma, two pajama cardinals and an ignatius anthias and a blood and cleaner shrimp.

have about 30 various snails + 2 conches and an emerald crap for the clean up crew.

this is all in a 40 gallon tank; total system volume is just under 50 gallons.

I only run GFO regularly. Carbon every other month and do a 5 gallon water change every week or two. I also swap in two 75 micron filter socks every three days.

I dont have any serious algae issues and nitrates and phosphates have always been 0 since the tank first went up.  With that said i went through some vicious dino blooms a couple months ago and have a little bit of red slime algae creep up in the low flow areas since i sold my vortechs.

my skimmer looks like this after 7 days.

i dont use bio pellets but i did use Prodbio to help clear up some wierd slimy white bacteria i had on my rocks when my tank was only a few months old.

If i were you i would look into more bio filtration like i did. I added some bio media to my sump to make up for my lack of live rock.  I would say my system has a much higher bio load than yours considering my water volume, fish count and feeding regime but i am able to keep my phosphate and nitrates at 0.

Earlier you mentioned you have had some skimmer issues - can you provide some more info on this? Remember a skimmer only removes about 30% of the nutrients in your water column so your bio filtration still needs to be rock solid to handle the rest.

 

[El concistador]

not your bioload.

how many gallon's, and how often do you do a water change?

 

[Darryl_V]

0tds top up water?

I dont think its the feeding regime or bioload.....could be bad rock...loaded with PO4?  Just a guess.  You need to be running GFO and doing more water changes.  Also tried to find stats on your skimmer but couldnt find air pull?    IF you do try biopellets you are going to have to be very careful.

 

[davesolo29]

just picked up and got a gfo reactor installed.  gotta love the canadian version of bulk reef supply being in guelph. 
not sure if anyone here has ever used him, but its www.reefwater.net
Guys name is Dan and he was nice enough to let me come over on a Sunday and spend all my money.
I also picked up new media for my BRS ro/di.  Will be swapping that out shortly.

 

[davesolo29]

who has there ro/di attached by a saddle valve?  do i need to turn the water source off prior to changing media?  this is the first time i have done it.
also, i picked up a flush kit for my unit too.  should i flush my membrane before or after changing the rest of the media?

 

[crazybizzle]

not trying to harp but it does seem like ur new to saltwater. i noticed it says u have a sps dominated tank. if thats what u have and ur having problems and dont have info to combat it im going to go on a limb and say its likely you will lose ur sps or they will look like shit. adding 30 pcs u got recently from kk and rick to a tank thats only 4 months old is pretty chancey imo. plus u still havnt added a full tank pic or listed equipment ur using.knowing what u have can go along way in helping u out plus seeing what ur tank looks like.

 

[TORX]

Here is his tank information is the first post in the below thread.

Daves 120 gallon SPS Dominated Tank

 

[davesolo29]

not trying to harp but it does seem like ur new to saltwater. i noticed it says u have a sps dominated tank. if thats what u have and ur having problems and dont have info to combat it im going to go on a limb and say its likely you will lose ur sps or they will look like shit. adding 30 pcs u got recently from kk and rick to a tank thats only 4 months old is pretty chancey imo. plus u still havnt added a full tank pic or listed equipment ur using.knowing what u have can go along way in helping u out plus seeing what ur tank looks like.

I will admit.. i am still quite new to saltwater.  I made the switch from freshwater about a year and a half ago.  I had a beautiful lps and softie with a couple easy sps tank going for about ten months.  Then we moved so i sold everything off.  This time i decided to start doing mainly sps.  I started with a few peices and they were looking great and growing, so i decided to get more. 
There is still plent for me to learn hence all my questions.  I have never had to change out bulbs til now, i never needed to swap out my media in my ro/di unit before. 

 

[phi delt reefer]

You will definately see some sps lose or atleast everything coloring down significantly but dont let it get you down. Some stuff will come back, others may never recover but its part of the learning experience.


Even with my clean tank i find i dont get colors like darryl due to a lack of feeding so i upped my fish count and feed heavier but Heavily filter the uneaten food out of the tank. My two best resources for water chemistry have been darryl and bill. Understanding the science behind how it all works has allowed me to pick and choose the filtration types that work best with my system. If you get the chance spend some time talking to them both and i think you'll benefit from their experience as i did.

Dont run too much gfo at once either. Stripping phosphates from the water column too quicky can cause a crash as well.

If you used a lot of used live rock from another hobbyiest tank then that might be your issue. If you are not happy with your skimmer performance talk to bill about a new high effeciency pump for your current skimmer to save a few bucks before dropping $400 on a new unit. Stick to a total system turnover no more than 5x per hour or your filtration wont be able to process the water correctly.