Battling nitrates, what steps to take now?

[LisaJill]

Alright, so I started this 65 gallon reef on May 29, 2008. It was a used tank that came with crappy lights and a Penguin bio-filter.

I was having Nitrate problems up the wazoo (spiking at about 25 nitrates), so I killed the Penguin, put on a Deltec MCE 600 (was skimmerless before that) and an Aquaclear 500 with some macro-algae and live rocks to hold the macro down. I also have two Koralia powerheads on each end of the tank, pointing at the surface.

Removing the bio-wheel and getting the Deltec up and running got me down to where I am now - 2.5 nitrates. .1 phosphates.

My calcium is 400; my nitrites and ammonia have been at 0 for a long time now. PH is 8.2, Alk is in the "normal" range (Red Sea test kits), Salinity is 1.023, and the temperature ranges from 80-82.

I am having some hair algae problems - black, gunky algae that grows into stringy hair. I try to get it out occasionally, but I believe it's holding Phosphates in it, I'm trying to avoid investing in a phosphate reactor but may have to.

I have 2 fish - a midas blenny and a purple firefish; both doing splendidly. I feed them the tiniest pinch of food once a day. I also have a peppermint and skunk cleaner; 2 electric blue hermits and a bunch of other hermits (approximately 15 hermits); about 20 different snails of the trochus, nassarius, and margherite varieties, and a sally lightfoot.

I have 2x 250watt, 15k metal halides, and 2x blue LED moonlights.

I have a few corals in there as well; a blastomossa, several color varieties of zooanthids, yellow polyps and one each of a blue, green, and red mushroom, and a neon green frogspawn.

I know I should be able to get this 0 to nitrates; but I have a low bio-load and don't believe i am over-feeding and I still can't manage to get this baby to 0 nitrates. I want to add more fish eventually, but would like to fix this first. My other concern is that I can't seem to keep some corals alive - I've failed with pulsing Xenia, a kenya tree coral, and two attempts at green star polyps. Ultimately I want to house a rose bubble-tip, and some acropora, and perhaps even a clam (I know that some of those are a year off); but I can't even keep the easy softies alive! They just melt in the tank, at least that is what it looks like. The green star polyps just never open. One mat went white then fell apart, and I have a tiny frag that has a solid mat, but the polyps never come out.

The corals that are doing well are doing extremely well, opening, growing, everything.

So, how do I get the nitrates down to 0 - would a phosphate reactor help with that as well as phosphates? I want to kill off this hair algae, add some fish, and manage to keep some of those softies alive so that I can consider moving on to harder corals.

Thanks all!

[Landon B.]

What are you using for water? RO? Have you tested it for Nitrates?

[LisaJill]

I'm using Glacier RO/DI Water that I buy from the local Fred Meyers right before I prepare the saltwater - no, I haven't tested it for Nitrates. I've been changing about 10% every 2 weeks.

The water claims to be nitrate-free, and it's very high quality water, but next time I pick some up (I just used the last for top-off) I will test it for nitrates. Thank you =)

[kfisc]

A guess is that one strong factor is just the age of your tank- it's just three months old, and could easily just need more time to balance through the tail end of the cycle, assuming you're using RO/DI, keeping up with water changes and really moving water through the tank.

[Esquare]

How deep is your sand bed? You may want to look into a RDSB (remote deep sand bed).

[LisaJill]

I think I have enough flow; I can see the hair algae on the bottom of the tank swaying. So that isn't a scientific measure; but the Aquaclear 500 alone is an incredible amount; plus the Deltec and 2 powerheads? I can increase that; or add a reactor which I assume would also add flow.

I'm pretty sure the Glacier water is pristine - I hope so, because if it turns out to have Nitrates then the only thing I can do next is buy my own ro/di unit which I'm trying to avoid at the moment (my entire sink area needs redoing for a variety of reasons, hence the delay there)

If the hair algae and 2.5 nitrates are just part of the end of the cycle, I can deal with that and just keep on trucking; I'd really like to add a few more corals and not watch them melt, though.

Also - I am not getting any corraline growth though my live rock has plenty (and it still seems to be covered in it). Is the 400 calcium too low to promote coralline? Or is this just a function of maturity?

[LisaJill]

How deep is your sand bed? You may want to look into a RDSB (remote deep sand bed).

Hrm, not very dep, probably 2-4" I want to add more sand (I really, really want a blue-spot Jawfish in this tank eventually!) but haven't done so yet. I do not have a sump on this tank and it is not drilled so I'd have to use an external overflow, which could be done but I'm hoping to not dump another 300+$ in equipment on this immediately (the Deltec was bad enough, heh).

[Esquare]

Deep sand beds are supposed to help Nitrates. I have a 5 inch sand bed in my fuge and have 0 Nitrates. Not saying that the DSB is the reason I have 0 Nitrates but it probably doesn't hurt.

[LisaJill]

I may add some sand this weekend; it can't hurt, I think, and I want a deeper sandbed eventually to accommodate the jawfish that I intend to add in the future. It won't be in a 'fuge, though.

I guess my question though, is should the tank, in its current state, be able to get to 0 nitrates? Is 2.5 acceptable at this stage?

[Esquare]

You may want to ask in the chemistry forum if you don't get an answer here.

[LisaJill]

Thanks, Esquare.

And thanks everyone for the help!