Zero nitrate

[Xxflounderxx]

I upgraded to a 150 gallon 5ft acrylic aquarium from a 40 gallon cube. I set up the 150 in late February. Using the old rock and some of the sand and water. After about a month i did a 30 gallon water change. Then i got hit by the uglies. After that water change my nitrate was zero and Phosphate at .03

Fast forward to today

Nitrate 0.0
Phosphate .04
Alkalinity 8.9
Calcium 458
Ph 8.22
Salinity 1.026

I have 3 tangs and a handful of other fish corals are growing sps do so so I tried feeding heavily no change I did send out a trident icp but that didn't shed any light

 

[educatedreefer]

Before the water change, were you measuring the nutrient levels?
Im assuming after the water change, your nutrient levels mustve been lowered enough to allow the “uglies” to outcompete your existing bacterial cultures.
I would either add more beneficial bacteria or add rotifers/photo or zooplankton to consume the free-floating/stained algae.
Also instead of heaving feeding to encourage nutrient increase, getting a bottle of $12-17 nitrates from Amazon could work to get your levels back up, for now, for your bacteria culture to breakdown excess nutrients into nitrates again.
Getting more snails, hermit crabs, and maybe a conch or Nassarius snail for sand turnover might help as well! Plus higher flow rate 30-60X would discourage algae growth on structures.

 

[Crustaceon]

Only do water changes when your nitrates get above where you'd like them to be or if something randomly contaminates the system. Even then, start with a 10% change and test nutrient levels the next day. Repeat as necessary. Otherwise, just let the tank run.

 

[Xxflounderxx]

So about 4 months ago I added neonitro from brightwell and had a massive thick algae out break but levels never increased.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I upgraded to a 150 gallon 5ft acrylic aquarium from a 40 gallon cube. I set up the 150 in late February. Using the old rock and some of the sand and water. After about a month i did a 30 gallon water change. Then i got hit by the uglies. After that water change my nitrate was zero and Phosphate at .03

Fast forward to today

Nitrate 0.0
Phosphate .04
Alkalinity 8.9
Calcium 458
Ph 8.22
Salinity 1.026

I have 3 tangs and a handful of other fish corals are growing sps do so so I tried feeding heavily no change I did send out a trident icp but that didn't shed any light

View attachment 2859549 View attachment 2859551 View attachment 2859553

With those low readings, you should be seeing dino rather than what looks green cyano which the tangs would not eat. I am suspecting false readings. What test kits are you using ?
Is tank at or near a window ?

 

[Xxflounderxx]

I'm using hanna for all testing my 300 gallon always has consistent readings across the board. I think the picture makes it look like cyano.. I'll take a better picture the tank isn't near a window

 

[Xxflounderxx]

Updated pic algae comes off fairly easy