nitrates and algae problem.. out of nowhere

[umbrellacorp]

update: Okay lost the canister, replaced with intank fluval u3 with carbon filters and polyfilters, been doing 5gallon WC every other day for the past week and a half. Total of 5 changes. Everything is fine and staying fine except for my nitrates. They simply will not go below 30. Ive got three kits im testing with, SERA, ELOS, and the sticks. Nitrates stay at 30 and then begin to rise again within a couple days. LFS says its probably the sand. I had probably about 15 or so small Nassarius snails which have completely disappeared. Im assuming they are dead in the sand bed and could possibly be causing the nitrate problem? I dug around in the sand a good bit and didnt find any shells, but im sure they are there somewhere. All i have now is a 2.5" little porcupine puffer that i feed every 2-3 days, and only a couple pieces of krill, a cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp that hitchhiked in a while back, and a good bit of LR. LFS said to change the sandbed or just start all over.. change the sand bed? If i do that i might as well start over anyways. What would you do if this was your tank? Thanks guys, i really appreciate the help.

NA - 30
NI - 0
PH - 8.3
P4 - 0.1
ALK- 202
SG - 1.023
Temp - 78.5

 

[dakota9]

What media are you running in the Emperor?

It takes a while, but Seachem Matrix might help.

Also, are you vacuuming your sand during these water changes?

 

[jennm]

How deep is the sand? Do you vacuum it? Was it new sand or re-used sand?

Did your rock come from a tank that had been neglected, possibly?

If either the sand or rock (or both) had a buildup of nutrients when you got it, it could be leaching out now. This can be fixed with a continued ramped-up series of water changes, but it will take a bit of time.

"Starting all over" is extreme - not sure I'd suggest that with Nitrate "only" at 30... we've helped folks overcome worse than that.

Jenn

 

[umbrellacorp]

Everything was new. Ive had the LR for several months. Ok ill keep up with the water changes and see if the tank will overcome it. Thanks!


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