Problems in my tank.

[drillsar]

Im having these problems:

Cant lower nitrates lower then 20ppm
I did have a phosphate problem and no my phosphates read 0.25 I just added the phosban reactor..

It looks like I have a little cyano and brown hair algae..

My tank is a 55gal tank, 45lbs of rock, mag7 for return, euroreef skimmer.

Im hoping someone can tell me how to fix these problems,

Im thinking maybe if I add 20 more lbs of rock my nitrates will lower is this the case?

 

[Hara]

Is that the only means of filtration in the tank? If so, then I would definitely be adding more rock. If it isnt, what type of filtration are you using?

 

[drillsar]

Yes thats my only filtration, If I get more live rock I have to cure it first before i put it in tank correct? so if i get 2o more lbs that should help my nitrates correct?

 

[NewInTown]

sorry I may have missed this but how stocked is your tank? If its overloaded it might be hard to keep the nitrates down

 

[Hara]

every ounce of rock you add will, in theory, help. You may not see any noticeable result until you have100 lbs or more in there. Yes, you will need to cure it first.

 

[drillsar]

I only have snails, brittle star and hermit crabs in it.

so how much rock is for a 55gal? If i only have 1 skimmer how can I cure it? Take skimmer out of main tank and use rubbermaid container? If I get the rocl local I still need to cure it?

 

[Hara]

If the rock was in a LFS in a display type tank, or plumbed in their system, it is most likely cured. Just keep it covered with wet newspaper on the ride home. Bare minimum IMO would be 2 lbs per gallon, and rock like the aquacultured gulf rock would need to be much more as it is so dense, nowhere near the capacity for biofiltration then lets say fiji has. That is my opinion.

If you have no fish in the tank, I would use the skimmer on the rock if you needed to cure it, but you can accomplish the same thing by changing out the water in the curing vat too.

 

[drillsar]

I need like 110lbs? Where would I put all of that, I have 45lbs and it looks full already or do you add some to sump?

 

[Hara]

creative stacking, plus the sump..

 

[AquaReefer]

Here is a picture of my tank and I have 110+lbs of LR and there is still room