Budget external refugium, nitrates did what!?

[marsis202]

Ok after struggling with high to me nitrates at 15ppm , phosphate was 0.05. I decided to try ABIT of a makeshift fuge. Unfortunately my sump only has two chambers so having it in the sump wasn't an option, my tank is 25gallon so opted with a 10litre fuge. I have a 400lph pump in the sump moving water to the fuge and then gravity draining back down and just used a simple kitchen food container with a couple of bulk heads. I have ordered a black Rubbermaid With a lid so I can avoid light getting at the DT. Debating adding an air pump to the fuge to add a little more circulation.

My question is on the first day of running my nitrates have dropped 9ppm in the first day of setup, I would expect them to drop slightly as I have added volume however can this be correct? I'm using hanna high range nitrate checker, double checked got the exact same result, phosphate remains unchanged.

Excuse the mess, we are in the process of completely renovating the house. Kitchen is almost finished and tank can go to its final destination

 

[I never finish anythi]

Cool I like it . Just be careful you don't bottom out nitrates. And btw nitrate of 15 is not really high imo. I run at 20 to 25 with no problems.

 

[marsis202]

Cool I like it . Just be careful you don't bottom out nitrates. And btw nitrate of 15 is not really high imo. I run at 20 to 25 with no problems.

Yeh I have heard that but seriously struggling with a major brown algae outbreak it's driving me insane, phosphates shouldn't be causing it so thought I'd take a stab at the nitrates, tank is 6 months old so probably something I just need to accept another reason is I really want a mandarin and hopefully a fuge can keep a healthy population of copepods thanks for the advice I will continue testing and keep an eye on nitrates. Need some more reagents so good excuse to go to the LFS

 

[exnisstech]

In my systems the chaeto doesnt seem to remove any nitrates. I just like a fuge for the life forms that grow there. Also my understanding is the chaeto has to be harvested to actually remove the nitrates but sometimes I misunderstand things.

 

[marsis202]

In my systems the chaeto doesnt seem to remove any nitrates. I just like a fuge for the life forms that grow there. Also my understanding is the chaeto has to be harvested to actually remove the nitrates but sometimes I misunderstand things

Well I do like the idea of a safe haven for pods and such but just can't see why my nitrates dropped so dramatically in one day!

 

[exnisstech]

Maybe the additional water added to fill the fuge acted as a 10 liter water change

 

[buruskeee]

I wish I can keep my nitrates at .15 and phosphates at 0.05. That’s like my ideal target. My system bottoms out too quickly despite heavy feeding . Struggling to keep my nitrates above 1.0ppm lol

 

[marsis202]

I wish I can keep my nitrates at .15 and phosphates at 0.05. That’s like my ideal target. My system bottoms out too quickly despite heavy feeding . Struggling to keep my nitrates above 1.0ppm lol

I'm in the exactly the same boat now, I have started dosing nitrate. Phosphate stays around 0.04 but tried everything to raise it, even removing the refugeum hasn't helped.