Nitrates,water changes,RO

[pegrochilakila]

Hi everybody im new in this hobby i been in the reef hobby for 1 year or so.
My tank is a 55 gallon some corals and fish, what i have is a yellow tang blue tang two clowns 1 blue chromis cardinal diamond goby, zoas polys and mush and a bunch of hermit, i think the already reach the point of get out of this hobby, because my battle against nitrates is a never ending situation, i did all ideas possibles, i start with the sump, wich has just live rock, then i get a RO/DI machine cus my "water" was the problem, i did 5 gallon water change every 2 days but i couldnt make them lower, cleaning removing green algae cleaning my sand bed etc etc etc, im really happy for all those guys that control their nitrates just with water changes, for me didnt work.-
all my water paramathers are good ammo nitri ph etc etc just the nitrates 20-40 i cant do nothing to lower them :sad:
Im kinda giving up but if somebody has some ideas maybe i still can walk the xtra mile
Thanks to all of you guys

[Din Gior]

Your nitrates are not that high for zoas, mushrooms and fish unless you want to add some sps corals. You can try to reduce amount of food, add skimmer if you don't have one, add refugium, add nitrate reactor, vodka/vinegar dosing.

[Cal_stir]

the algae is a nutrient problem not a nitrate problem, high phosphates causes algae problems.

[pegrochilakila]

well i want add som sps but i know they will be gone in matter of days, already have HOB skimmer for 100 gallon max. Talking about my phos are in the right number 8.0 i dont think that phos can b an issue ?

[neoh]

I found a lot of algae removal and nitrate removal was patience for me. I had large nitrate spikes that slowly subsided when I fed less, as well as hair algae. Try feeding less every other day, instead of every day. I also had a massive hair algae outbreak - I took a toothbrush to the rocks and brushed it all off one piece at a time, and physically removed it from the tank. It took hours and days, but eventually I got it all.

I noticed a drop in nitrates when I added lots of flow to the sump. I have the overflow going down into a refugium filled with a basketball of chaeto, and macro algaes - with two powerheads blowing it into a vortex. Then the detritus flows down and into the second chamber where the skimmer is, then out and down into the tank.

You can also check your flow. If you have a lot of dead spots, this can cause algae growth and nitrate spikes from rotting detritus. You can also consider a dead fish. I had a major spike when a turbo snail died and polluted the tank pretty well overnight.

Patience is key. If you don't have a sump, make sure to get a lot more flow so the detritus can make it's way to the skimmer, and try doing a 50% waterchange once a week.

[Cal_stir]

your phos should be 0.3 to 0.8. your ph should be about 8.0 or alkalinity not your phosphate (po4)

[pegrochilakila]

Ok my bad i will check my phos

[sphelps]

100% water change... Done, zero nitrates.

[pegrochilakila]

But it will not crush all my live stock (fish,corals,crabs) i dont really mind i can do 100 water change but do u really think that will finish with my battle?

[pegrochilakila]

It means that i have to cycle my tank once again ? Wait for ammo and nitrite go to zero?
Is kinda risky ?

[Proteus]

You can safely do a 100% WC

All the denitrifying bacteria is on rocks and sand. You won't get any where doing small wc as the dilution rate is small

Start feeding less add some mechanical filtration to sump. Ie filter floss or sock. Look into carbon dosing of some sort. Vsv,prodibio etc

[sphelps]

Some good info for you

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/

[pegrochilakila]

Really good info so my best bet is do a 100% water change right?
I kinda afraid to do that but seems safe according to the article
Cus i dont want take my chances and loose everything in my tank :'(