Nitrates ARRRRG!

[Briol]

I have a reef tank. I just added my first fish, a valentini puffer. After having him in the tank for more than a week, the nitrates suddenly spiked to 10. (They were around 0-2.) In the past three days I have done three five gallon water changes trying to clean out all of the filtration and dilute the nitrates. My tank is a 30 with a ten gallon sump/refugium. After the first change the nitrates fell to 5, but I can't get them any lower. (Even with two more water changes and scrubbing out the bio balls and power heads.) I think the nitrate level is why all of my montiporas are not extending their polyps.

A few things have changed also. Four days ago we had to switch our lighting hood (the other one caught on fire). Still using the same T5's though. The other thing is that the hair algae in my tank is taking over! It's everywhere! I am trying to pull it out by hand.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

Thanks!

[tcp316]

How old are your bulbs and how much are you feeding?

[Briol]

The bulbs are new. I apologize I should have been clear -- they are the same kind as I used to have: one Coral Sun and one Ultra Sun from ZooMed. I target feed the coral once or twice a week. The fish eats at least once a day, sometimes twice and he nibbles it right out of the end of the pipet to try to avoid waste floating around.

I am trying really hard to keep extra waste from the tank!

[tcp316]

Are you running a skimmer?

[Briol]

I don't have a skimmer. I have a section of bio balls all of the water has to go through. (The overflow mixes the water with air that bubbles through the balls producing foam that helps work like a skimmer.) I wash the bio balls every two weeks. (Skipping a week every once in a while.) Are you thinking a skimmer is necessary? If so... do you know of one for a 30 gallon that won't be too hard on my wallet but still work well?

[Briol]

Wow...now that I'm looking them up, some skimmers seem pretty cheap. Now a tough question....how to determine what works best for my tank? :confused:

[MizTanks]

Look at the Reef Octopus BH-1000. It is a HOB skimmer with an external pump :)

[dlhirst]

Washing the bio-balls? I don't use them myself, but I think they are supposed to be left alone. They colonize helpful bacteria which will help remove nitrogen from your tank. Cleaning them seems like it would kill that bacteria - and then introduce MORE nitrogen into the tank. I believe bio-balls are just a man-made alternative to live rock, and you would NEVER "clean" your LR like you're doing...

[tcp316]

A skimmer is one of the most important pieces of equipment in my opinion. There may be some that don't use them but it is very difficult to keep your algae and phosphates under control without one. Find one rated for twice the gallons of your tank. You can find really good deals in the selling forum. Sea clone I'm not a fan of. Reef octopus you can't go wrong with.
+1 on not washing the bio balls

[Briol]

Oh wow! Thanks -- I am looking for a skimmer and will no longer be washing the bio balls. My understanding of the research I did was really off there. Thank you for not being judgmental in your responses!. ^_^

[jimsflies]

I would recommend removing the bioballs. Bioballs trap particulate matter and aren't accessible to your cleanup crew. So the trapped detritus, breaks down into ammonia. which is converted into nitrite and nitrate.

From a filtration standpoint, bioballs only provide surface area for aerobic bacteria because they float near the surface and oxygen saturated water is flowing past them. (Anaerobic bacteria require areas with no dissolved oxygen to live).

The live rock in your display has more than enough aerobic bacteria to convert toxic ammonia to (less toxic) nitrite and nitrate. Thus, bio-balls are redundant and unnecessary...and are mostly likely contributing to the bioload in your reef.

A skimmer is a good suggestion...BUT in my experience, most small skimmers don't work that well. So do a lot of research before making a purchase.

[MizTanks]

Agree with what Jim says about skimmers. I've tried 2 nano skimmers on my 26g, wasted a total of $150 :( Turned around and bought the BH-1000 rated for tanks up to 100g. Definitely worth the investment :)

[dlhirst]

I am a bit of a heretic. But, like MizTanks says - small skimmers are of dubious benefit. I run mine only after a good water change. I like to siphon up a bit of the sand bed. Not too deep, but definitely below the surface. It stirs up some gook, and the skimmer will capture that. But, most days, my bioload is not significant for the tank size. And one puffer isn't either, unless you are over-feeding it.

I don't think the puffer is the entire answer. Cut down on feeding, and definitely leave the bioballs alone. Or, like jimsflies says - remove them. And if you do - remove them quickly and completely, and don't shake their trapped water back into the tank.