Jestersix

Bigfish's swim into the sea - a tank journal

Gross Tank update, I think I know why my phosphates and nitrates have been really high for a while....apparently I had completely missed that I left a filter floss pad in a lower part of my sump since practically the day I got it maybe close to 9-10 months now!!! o_O

can't believe I missed that it was buried under some black filter sponges at the bottom of the sump, lesson learned it finally hit me after really thinking about what could be causing the prolonged elevated levels! SMH thoroughly cleaned out my skimmer for good measure and ordered a new floss (Aquatic Experts Classic Bonded Aquarium Filter Pad) that I will make sure to change every few days. Found that I had some Elimi-NP going to use that and see if it can help get my levels down to a reasonable level again. Didn't even know what it was for happy I had it!

Ordered some ChaetoGro hopefully it works and I can have a real refugium! Thanks again for the suggestion @Darkxerox


IMG_2247.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Why would a piece of filter floss sitting in your sump for a long time cause elevated nutrients? I don’t think that’s right.

Obviously it’s not doing you much good filtering anything, but it’s not adding nutrients to your tank either. Probably growing a bunch of funk and looks really ugly, but this is not the cause of elevated nitrate and phosphate.

You’ve just got too much import and not enough export.
 
Agreed with @derek_SR that an old filter floss sitting in the sump is unlikely to materially increase nutrients. If you are trying to reduce phosphate you should take a close look at nutrient import and export. What do you feed and what do you use for export?

One thing which helped me bring phosphates down materially is I switched from pellet food to mostly relying on frozen food. I also make sure I only feed enough so that all the food is eaten in one minute or less. 90 seconds may be okay—just take a look at the fish body shape and nutrient levels to adjust. A filter roller is also a great investment if you don’t want to change out socks and filter floss.

For reference, I have a 125g system. I feed 3.5-4,0 cubes of frozen, 3 feedings of pellets, and one sheet of nori every day. I have a Rollermat as well as a skimmer which I empty maybe once every two weeks (I mostly use it for aeration). I took my lighted refugium offline so I can run a cryptic sump which is much less maintenance. I only put in coral 3 months ago (low coral load) but used all live rock as well a bunch of biomedia in the sump.

My phosphates is 0.04-0.05 and nitrate almost undetectable so I have to dose it. I have dealt with very high phosphates previously (close to 2.0 ppm!). I used Lanthanum Chloride to bring things down temporarily but needed to change my feeding to get things in the right zone long term.
 
Slingfox said:
Agreed with @derek_SR that an old filter floss sitting in the sump is unlikely to materially increase nutrients. If you are trying to reduce phosphate you should take a close look at nutrient import and export. What do you feed and what do you use for export?

One thing which helped me bring phosphates down materially is I switched from pellet food to mostly relying on frozen food. I also make sure I only feed enough so that all the food is eaten in one minute or less. 90 seconds may be okay—just take a look at the fish body shape and nutrient levels to adjust. A filter roller is also a great investment if you don’t want to change out socks and filter floss.

For reference, I have a 125g system. I feed 3.5-4,0 cubes of frozen, 3 feedings of pellets, and one sheet of nori every day. I have a Rollermat as well as a skimmer which I empty maybe once every two weeks (I mostly use it for aeration). I took my lighted refugium offline so I can run a cryptic sump which is much less maintenance. I only put in coral 3 months ago (low coral load) but used all live rock as well a bunch of biomedia in the sump.

My phosphates is 0.04-0.05 and nitrate almost undetectable so I have to dose it. I have dealt with very high phosphates previously (close to 2.0 ppm!). I used Lanthanum Chloride to bring things down temporarily but needed to change my feeding to get things in the right zone long term.
Click to expand...

I was feeding frozen but with my son and busy life at the moment I switched to pellets and an automatic feeder which has been really nice (saved me when I had to go on a cruise for a week) and easy. I do manually feed some Nori for my tangs every so often. I think I need to look into how long I have the feeder going cut it down from 6 minutes or so twice a day to 3 fish still seem nice and fat.
 
Bigfish said:
I was feeding frozen but with my son and busy life at the moment I switched to pellets and an automatic feeder which has been really nice (saved me when I had to go on a cruise for a week) and easy. I do manually feed some Nori for my tangs every so often. I think I need to look into how long I have the feeder going cut it down from 6 minutes or so twice a day to 3 fish still seem nice and fat.
Click to expand...

Not sure what feeder you have, but on mine (the plank) 6 minutes is a very long time indeed for pellets - they come out of there quickly. Are your fish consuming them all?
 
Up
derek_SR said:
Not sure what feeder you have, but on mine (the plank) 6 minutes is a very long time indeed for pellets - they come out of there quickly. Are your fish consuming them all?
Click to expand...
I have the plank as well yes I realized that I lowered it to 3 minutes twice a day how long do you typically feed for?
 
Also switched my lights to my old Kessils honestly it looks so amazing I put it on blue and the color pops!! I wish I did it sooner, unfortunately one of my lights blue died if anyone has an extra A360we tuna or spectra controller I might be open to trade or buy it as well, thanks!


IMG_2267.JPG
 
Bigfish said:
Update*** definitely think you guys were right it looks like Cyanobacteria, went ahead and listed my levels below as well as more pictures

. View attachment 75690View attachment 75691View attachment 75692

View attachment 75693View attachment 75694
Click to expand...
When your auto feed triggers, how many seconds does it take for your fish to eat all of the food. If you set it dispense only the amount the fish eat in 30 a 60 seconds that will help ensure there is very limited waste. You can do that kind of feeding a few times a day but you may want to try less feedings and see how the tank and livestock respond.
 
I
Bigfish said:
Yeah it was flashing like crazy
Click to expand...

I also have the regular hanna high range checker but, when my po4 was high for 2 years, but not as accurate with my numbers under .5 these days.

I would offer to loan it to you, but I think it would be a bit of a trek for you. If you happen to come to the southbay anytime in near future let me know and you can hold it till the next club event.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top