High Nitrates (Pink) help ! new to salt water

[Jaygza01]

so I am new to this. I am using a 65 gallon tank with a Oceanic Sump protein skimmer system. Also have a couple flowheads in there as well. Probably have 60+ pounds of live rock in there.

As for fish I Have (1) Trigger (Niger) - (2) clownfish- (2) blue damsels or some small fish and (2) small tetras for some small black/white fish. (1) blue starfish , (1) chocolate chip starfish (3) snails

I had a Dog face puffer poor guy jumped out of tank overnight after I had put a tang in there ..man was i devestated..such an affecionate fish !

Well Tang was sick from beginning i think,,,had ich,,progressed fast...died today..a week after I got her...she was a powdernose tang..**** crappy fishstores

So I am not using RO water but using the Cholorine eliminator and nitrate eliminator yet when I test my tank its high in the "pink" . I do have some waste on bottom of tank, will be hard to vaccum with the live sand but ill give it a try. How much water should I change and how often?

Should I get a filter to put in top main tank that attaches to side of tank and filters it with a micron filter or whatever? any info will help..ph is stable and saliinity is stable at 1.025-6 ....planning on getting another dog face puffer but want to stablize tank first. Thanks

 

[obscurereef]

That's a large bio load. So you're using tap water? This means you prob. have high phosphate levels which are nutrients for hair algae. It seem that you are using test strips instead of a test kit? It's very important that you get accurate readings so I suggest investing in something like an API standard SW test kit. Don't vacuum the sand, it will disturb the life and can cause more nitrates. For water changes, I do 10% every week. I suggest you research some more before buying anything else as it seems you are making some mistakes you could avoid.

 

[Jaygza01]

yes tap water with amquel or whatever it is and yes I do have "hair alage" and I am using a Master test kit. I will not vaccum the sand but how do i get the waste off of the top of the sand? I will not be buying anything else until everything is right. Now I have been adding around 4 gallons a week or more to sump tank since it goes down often, is that where I should be adding my new water or directly to the tank...looking into an RO water system.
Thanks for your help ...ill do some water changes later tonight or tomm morning.

 

[bavass]

Your algae is coming from the tap water and the bio load. You need to invest in an ro/di unit from bulkreefsupply, take out some fish thats a huge bioload on that tank and way to early for a new tank. I would also look into a reactor to run GFO to lower phosphates

 

[Jaygza01]

The tank is has been running for around 4 months..I used Live sand with argonite that cycles your tank quickly. Is that really too many fish for a 65 gallon? it looks like a pretty big tank and they have a ton of room. The fish are all small..biggest thing is the chocolate chip starfish. Could I add an extra filter to make up for the bio load?

so what is the easiest way to get nitrates down and quickly if possible..they are high. Anything besides constant massive water changes?

 

[Lunchbox209]

What are all your other parameters reading even thought they are small those fish produce a ton of crap example all the stuff on your sand bed. To remove those doo doo pieces you might have to get another power head to keep the poo suspended and able to get filtered out by your sump. As far as lowering nitrates its going to be really hard because you are using tap water which could contain nitrates test your tap if no nitrates appear then just keep doing water changes to lower those trates buy I would highly recommend a rodi unit best purchase your would make.