Nirate at 20ppm help

Interesting to say the least. I freak when my nitrate jumps to 5 ppm for some unexplained reason. It is usually undetectable. I'm all for adding fish.

 

ok I plan on rearranging the tank tomorrow anyways so I will suck up the GHA as best I can. as for the other two macro algae, would you leave them in or pull them out? I would assume they are helping the tank by absorbing the nitrates in the tank.

 

leave em if you dont mind looking at them. otherwise move them to a sump or refuge if you have one. They will deff. eat up the heavy metals, phosphates and nitrates.

 

well I dont ind one of them, but the long thin green one is spreading way more than I like. so will have to pull it. dont know if I have room in the sump for it, but will try it out.

 

one of those macros looks like halimeda to me, the roundish plate one which if I am correct with the ID is a very effective consumer of nitrate and IMO a good looking addition to the tank and I would keep that one if it where mine


Steve

 

Yes, I believe it is Halimeda. Keep that one as it is easily controlled. The other looks to be more intrusive. The Halimeda can be moved anywhere, I have one whole side of my tank for Halimeda.

 

If you like the look of the Halimeda, keep it in the display and like I said, move it to one side or whatever. To get the idea of what that may look like, go into my profile and see the full tank pic. I would however add a phosphate reactor to the sump. It can sit or hang on the outside of the sump and doesn't take up any room. I use the Via Aqua, it has its' own pump. Second one down in this listing; phosphate reactor | Marine Depot

 

thank you very much for that listing it does look like an easy and inexpensive unit. I will have to get one. do you think it is phosphate that is causing my issues or nitrate? the reason I ask is because I know my nitrate is high and when I test for phosphate I cant tell what color it is reading.... doesnt seem to match any on card. posting some pics here as well as another thread of mine...looking for input, comments concerns about the way it is set now.

 

Both phosphate and nitrate contribute to algae problems. I do notice the tank water appears to be cloudy. Also, how old is the tank and lights.

 

tank has been running since march of this year. the cloudy water is from the rearranging I did today. I can post a another pic or two tomorrow once the water settles down. otherwise anything you would change about the rock or power head placement?