50% water change and still 20ppm nitrates

[Milad]

zeobak is the bacteria not the food
anyone got some more ideas?

[Gooly001]

Hi Milad,

Are you using R.O. water?

Cheers

Paul

[reefwars]

the ideas are never ending thats the best part of this hobby lol so youve always checked your nitrates right there must have been a point where you noticed them going up was it some thing you did think hard anything you changed or added or did it creep up slowly maybe from food or something small over time????? where did you get your rock and how old is it?? i had a problem with very old rock and lowering my nitrates so i did the ol switch er oo

[o.c.d.]

You said your sure it nitrate because of the algae growth. Frequent water changes should lower the nitrate if not your kit is probably bunk. Have you tested the po4? Cause it's the algae that is also making you mad right. So if you stopped using GFO your po4 may have started accumulating over what the zeo bacteria can handle consuming. Over time the po4 can accumulate then high enough it will precipitate and bind to the rock in solid form. Then slowly dissolves esp when the O2 drops, That then provides a perfect food source for algae, water change will do little for that situation. Also po4 in a solid form will not show up on a test kit. It then becomes a tedious process of removing the po4

[Milad]

yes im using RO water

No i didnt test nitrates all the time, i just tested after i saw the oil slick

i dont have a phosphate test kit so i havent tested it yet.

the rock i believe is decently old, i bought it from another reefer (mikeolsen) i believe he had it for several years.

this all started when the oil slick on the top of the tank showed up. The changes I did during the oil slick time was remove rowphos and start zeobak, coral snow, sponge power, zeo zyme, cv.

Then i stoped most of the zeo stuff and just did zeo zyme and cv and bak to try to get rid of some cayno (which is still there).

[o.c.d.]

Po4 is one of the triggers for cyno.

[Milad]

now that i think about it
this problem is familar

When i first setup the tank, i had the same symptoms, algea growing fast on the glass

I added rowphos and it stopped

I removed rowaphos recently and it started

So maybe Im doing this wrong, I should start zeozyme and zeobac again so the bacteria can eat away at the phosphates?

[naesco]

Milan I understand your tank is running for less than 5 month.
With respect, you need to have patience.

You need a skimmer,lighting, live rock and sand and di/ro water to replenish due to evaporation and a good test kit.

Stop using all of the additives any of the other equipment you are or are planning to use.

Feed substantially less than you are presently.

Do a weekly water change of 10% ensuring that the water has been throughly mixed 24 hours before adding it to your tank.

Keep your hands out of the water but remove the slick with a plate as discribed before daily.

Do not add any more animals to your tank.

Take a breather relax you will have a problem free tank if you take the patience to allow your tank to get there.

With confident test kit post all the parameters of your tank and let us go from there

[ottoman]

I think algae also feed on PO4. Better to test your PO4 as well as Nitrate. I don't use zeozyme or zeobak, but I dose cv and snow. Use only 1/4 or 1/3 as noted on the bottle. When I first started cv and snow, I followed the instructions on the bottle, I have algae problem.

[ottoman]

[quote=naesco;549350]Milan I understand your tank is running for less than 5 month.
With respect, you need to have patience.

++1.....if your tank is only 5 month, I think it is not fully cycled yet. Fish may be okay, but not even hardy corals. I remebered I lost a few corals when I first started saltwater years ago. Be patience. Check your flows, keep skimmer running 24/7, it helps cycling.