High nitrates and uglies

[NanCrab]

Don't rely 100% on the Apex conductivity probe for your salinity. Always double check it with a calibrated refractometer and clean all the probes every couple weeks. Just a quick soft bristle brushing while still underwater in their holder is all that's needed. You'll be surprised at the changes to the readings.

I think you're a little early in the game to be using an AWC system. Letting the tank mature more before using that will help. The system will use up Alk is it goes through the cycling as you can see from your current Alk level, it's the bacteria doing it's thing. An AWC is not going to replenish enough at this stage of the tank maturing. There's several cycles aquariums go through the first year to 18 months, it's not just the initial nitrogen cycle. The things you do can extend or shorten those cycles. So don't over complicate the system. The first 6 to 9 months follow the KISS method. Keep It Simple St...

You don't have corals that are going to get upset by a couple of large water changes and doing those will help reset the tanks parameters, beyond just the Alk.
I would also ease into the CUC, but you definitely need some snails. Get a dozen or so Banded Trochus snails and the same amount of Cerith snails. A Turbo or two wont hurt either, but a lot of them will only end up starving them all in a short time. As you go, you can always add more CUC and it's better than them starving and dying. Which not only sucks for them but the decay will dump nutrients. You've got a big enough tank for two conchs I just don't know if it's been up and running long enough to keep them a steady supply of food. Watch their activity for anything usual and maybe target feed them occasionally.
I've not a huge fan of hermits. But there are many that swear by them. I've found that that are all too willing to kill snails for their shells. If you go that route start small there too 15 to 20 blue legs. Another thing that will help is adding some pods if you haven't already.

The BRS series of vid's on the WWC tanks have a lot of good info. If you haven't, watch them a time or two. I still think that adding a bunch of corals right after the ugly phase is a very good idea, which is what they elude to. It's just not something I'd recommend someone new to the hobby to attempt. There's still a lot for them to learn.

I love hermit crabs but don't want them killing the snails. If you add a variety of empty shells to the tank for them will that keep them from bothering the snails?

 

[bzb]

I love hermit crabs but don't want them killing the snails. If you add a variety of empty shells to the tank for them will that keep them from bothering the snails?

Supposedly. I threw in 20 random sized shells, and they swap pretty often. They’ve never tried out the larger shells to my knowledge, nor have I ever seen them pick on my Mexican turbo... but the turbo snail is 3-5 times the size of the hermits.

I’ve got the tiny blue legs, at one point 2 dozen, but a few died off. I only bought a few of the red legs, which are a little larger, but still nothing huge.

 

[Adam]

Once a hermit sees a shell it wants the snail is not long for this world.

 

[Reefchef]

I scrubbed and blew off the rocks last night and today, washed the socks both times! It's looking a lot better, I also did a 50 gallon water change today. The nitrares are back down to about 15 ppm, thank you guys for all your help especially @anit77. My alkalinity is there highest it had ever been! Salinity is right at 1.025, my probe is a bit off.

I also set the qt tank back up, we plan on going out to nemos Wednesday or Thursday to get a few more additions. My wife said she's ready for the big stuff!!!

The top apex shot is the before water change. Don't focus on the mixing method in the qt, it's going to be empty for a couple of days!!!

 

[Reefchef]

Happy Superbowl Sunday everybody, I hope everyone's going for the Chiefs!

I finally received my test results today, and as we already knew there nitrates were high plus phosphates. It also detected some tin, which I know where tgat came from. I used pipe straps to secure my pipe before removing them. One fell in the sump and I didn't realize it until later and removed it. Im going to go back to frozen food as suggested and not use my pellets for now, my ats is still out of stock so I'm waiting for that. What would you guys recommend to help for now besides water changes if anything? Ive been blowing the rock off, I'm going to pick up a proper sand vacum todau and vacum the sand real good. Thanks

 

[jcook54]

I'd throw some Cuprisorb in there to remove that copper. Natural seawater has something like 0.0004 ppm and you've got 0.0643 (6.43 micrograms/L). There's obviously some "safe" level of copper but I'd shoot for zero. That's the main thing that jumped out at me, am I reading something wrong?

 

[Reefchef]

I'd throw some Cuprisorb in there to remove that copper. Natural seawater has something like 0.0004 ppm and you've got 0.0643 (6.43 micrograms/L). There's obviously some "safe" level of copper but I'd shoot for zero. That's the main thing that jumped out at me, am I reading something wrong?

Thanks I'll get some ordered, Nemo's didn't have any. I also picked up a marine pure block to throw in there.

 

[jcook54]

I think Poly Filters a good for copper as well. At least they say if the filter turns greenish, it's removing copper. I've always used the Cuprisorb though, good stuff, GA company.

 

[urbanknight]

+1 on the Cuprisorb!