High nitrate, zero phosphate, dinos and cyano

[akossard]

Hi guys,

3-month-old tank
250L + 50L 66 gallon
20kg dry rock + 5kg live rock
2 bags CaribSea ARAG-ALIVE Special Grade
Red Sea Reef Mature Starter Kit
2 x NooPsyche K7 PRO III
Bubble Magus C3 protein skimmer
2 x Jabeo SLW-20 powerhead
Refugium with caulerpa and graccilaria
FAUNA MARIN Bacto Reef Balls 6/week
Dosing 10ml KH, 7ml phosphates(stopped for a few days)

Parameters and video attached

Livestock:
1 Yellow Watchman Goby, 1 Cardinal, 3 hermit crabs , 5 astraea, 2 turbo, 1 nassarius(hermits killed the others)
1 leather finger, candy cane, green star polyp, gorgonian

I am a little bit lost, with what should I do, with my tank

Timeline:

• I used the Red Sea Starter Kit, got a small CUC, and a YWG and 2 cardinals.
• Some green hair algae were present in the system; the CUC took care of it.
• Nitrates (Salifert) were always in the higher range (25-50-100) while phosphate was undetectable, with small amounts of nitrite and ammonia present sometimes.
• I thought my nitrate test kit was faulty because the phosphates were zero, so I bought an Aquaforest nitrate test. This always showed 2.5-5 nitrates.
• I bought RED SEA - Reef Energy Plus (AB+) and started using it.
• Brownish slime appeared on the sand and rock; it went away at night. Stopped using the Reef Energy Plus (AB+), but the brown stuff was already present.
• I went on a week-long vacation; the tank was taken care of by my mother, she said it started to develop a brown film, but we decided wait for me to get home.
• When I got home, the tank was in rough shape, with thick brown slime on the sand, rocks, and some corals, also one of the cardinals was dead (2 week old, no idea what was the problem, all other fish was okay, maybe some temp or salanity swing, or he was just sick)
• I did a 3-day blackout, which helped with the brown stuff, but after a day started to appear again. Also my corals was not happy with the blackout.
• My LFS looked at my water sample; they said I most likely have dinos. They tested the nitrate with a Salifert kit, got 50, and tested phosphates with a Hanna Checker, which read 0.01.
• I bought a 40W UV, which cleared up the dinos quickly.
• I started dosing phosphates, and new nuisance algae appeared—now it’s red, slimy, and stringy. I think it’s cyano. More phosphates, more cyano. I remove them from the sand with a siphon and from the rocks with a turkey baster, but it attaches to my gorgonian (which also seems to be shedding. I thought it was dead, but it’s getting better, started opening after 2 weeks, while it on-and off covered with the red stuff).
• Corals look okay with some growth. Cyano is growing. Phosphates are still undetectable, nitrates high.
• I stopped dosing phosphates for a few days, maybe less red slime growth, but hard to tell.
  
  Phosphates are still 0. Nitrates still read 50 on the salifert, and 5-10 on the aquaforest (nitrites present). I understand that my tank is very new. Should I continue to dose phosphates despite the cyano, or just let the tank be, any tips welcome.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

How often and what do you feed your fish? Right now it is a pretty light bio load.

 

[Doctorgori]

If high nitrate is even a actual problem, Someone suggested to me dose iron…probably not your fix per se, but point being if you get your macro algae going that should help the nitrate issue about as fast as any other proposed fix (sans massive water change)

…yes, I would address the phosphate but I’ve never dosed it directly…I’m old school and would just imprecisely just dump food….

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Any reason why so little rock? Normally its close to one pound per gallon. Rock provides the biofilter on a sat tank, it also provides hiding spots to our animals which they need, and it also provides breeding space for micro organisms.

Those powerheads seem very small on your size tank, algae loves low flow tanks. I would upgrade those powerheads.

Nitrate is very high for only 2 fish, how much are you feeding? Your only filtration is a skimmer, so you should be doing more water changes to export the nutrients.

Tank pics will really help.

 

[akossard]

How often and what do you feed your fish? Right now it is a pretty light bio load.

2 or 3 times. Half a cube of frozen or some pellets, not too much. I usually adjust the amount based on how eager the fish. Would like to set up my auto feeder, but atm even the smallest dose settings seems like a tons of food for these 2 fish. Planning to get more cuc, and some fish witch can be little more active in the water column to make room for some havier feeding

 

[akossard]

Any reason why so little rock? Normally its close to one pound per gallon. Rock provides the biofilter on a sat tank, it also provides hiding spots to our animals which they need, and it also provides breeding space for micro organisms.

Those powerheads seem very small on your size tank, algae loves low flow tanks. I would upgrade those powerheads.

Nitrate is very high for only 2 fish, how much are you feeding? Your only filtration is a skimmer, so you should be doing more water changes to export the nutrients.

Tank pics will really help.

Its a 250 liter tank, so thats roughly 66 gallon. I tought the rock(57 pound for 66 gallon is a little low, but its already feels little cramped, planning to add some to the sump), and the two 10000 liter / hour powerheads adequate for that tank size. I'am doing weekly 10% water changes. There are videos attached, but I can take some pics.

 

[akossard]

If high nitrate is even a actual problem, Someone suggested to me dose iron…probably not your fix per se, but point being if you get your macro algae going that should help the nitrate issue about as fast as any other proposed fix (sans massive water change)

…yes, I would address the phosphate but I’ve never dosed it directly…I’m old school and would just imprecisely just dump food….

interesting, thanks for the idea. I will look into iron dosing.