Skipped last weekends 50% water change because my nitrates and phosphates bottomed out after adding a fleece roller, feeding less, removing a clownfish, and adding a bag of copepods
My nitrates and phosphates are still bottomed out.
Over the week, I've done the following since I last posted the issue.
- Skipped Water Change
- Slightly increased feedings
- Lowered Speed of Fleece roller
- Reintroduced Clownfish from QT
- Stopped cleaning rear wall algae
I also tested Calcium and Magnesium, and those have dropped to critically low levels which I assume is due to skipping the water change. Ammonia and Nitrite 0.
Should I go ahead with my normal 50% water change to at least bring the calcium and magnesium back up a bit?
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@PicoReeferSF
305d
I’ve been having trouble keeping my nitrates up as well while also wanting to keep up with water changes. I’ve resorted to adding more fish and feeding more. I have like 5 fish in a 20 gallon and still barely get it up to maybe 2-3ppm nitrate if I’m lucky and it’s usually short lived!
@FloridaMan007
305d
I was considering adding a 4th fish. With the extra required feeding and more fish waste, it should help. Perhaps I'll get another fish for the tank and keep at it. Been wanting too.
@Coral_Zone
303d
Both of your tanks are a few months old like the newer one I just started. What might be happening, your rock is building the good bacteria levels and your tank is starting to get early maturity levels. What you are used to feeding and having to do a water change is now being handled by the tank. Another fish if your tank can handle it wouldn’t be a bad idea imo. Just take things slow, your tanks are looking great !
@FloridaMan007
301d
Thank you, buddy. Life has gotten busy as of late, which means time has flown by = tank starting to mature without me realizing it. Taking it slow is happening without me realizing it at this point. I'd love to stop doing weekly 25% water changes. Every other week would be great. But i only have a dosing pump for alk. Now that I know my calc and mag deplete too much over the course of 2 weeks, I have to do water changes to bring em back up, dose manually, or try out all for reef.
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I’d mainly focus on getting your nitrates and phosphates up a little bit, bottomed out it’s risky of getting Dyno’s and other algae forms. I’d probably remove the fleece roller if you think that caused your tank to become too clean, once you get your perimeters back where you want them, I’d reintroduce the fleece roller. These are the headaches but it makes your tank more rewarding when you solve the issue down the road! Good luck keep us posted! Keep feeding heavier without going too extreme.
Maybe I'll go for a 4th fish and continue to up the feedings. I'll dose mag and calcium to keep them it up. Depending on nitrates and phosphates this sunday, I'll either do a regular 50% wc, a 25% wc, or skip. I'll give the fleece roller a bit more time in the tank. I like not having to switch out Floss. If I can't get my nutrients to come up by next sunday, I'll remove the fleece roller and see what happens. Thanks for the input!