Over the preceding two months I've noticed the nitrate levels in my reef tank creeping up from unmeasurable to 20ppm. I blame this squarely on a Glassbox post about fish being fed enough; worried that I was compelling my fish to be "coralexic", my tank has since become an all you can eat Chinese buffet. I believe the elevated nitrate level is responsible for some of my corals browning out. Also I've noticed a few strands of dreaded hair algae appearing within the tank, as well as increased diatoms on the glass of the tank.
My plan is to keep up with my weekly 5% water changes, and also to introduce a new form of nutrient export. If anyone has advice on the choices below, please volunteer your expertise in the comments. Also if you'd like to sign up to come over and do some of the water changes, please feel free.
Option 1: Convert Aquaclear filter into an algae scrubber
Originally I bought this filter with intent of modifying it into a refugium, filled with live rock rubble and chaeto. Since, I've been running a small amount of rubble and two bags of carbon. This option would involve adding a small light above the filter, installing a grate over the exit, and filling the filter with chaeto algae to remove nitrates.
Pros: cheap, fun project with existing equipment
Cons: reduced volume of carbon, not enough volume for a useful quantity of algae
Option 2: Hang-on refugium
Although a real sump is out of the question for this tank, there are out of the box options for hang on refugiums. This would perform roughly the same function as a modified Aquaclear filter, but with a lot more volume. These things always struck me as somewhat gimmicky though. I would run mostly chaeto within the refuge, along with some sort of sand bed and live rock rubble.
Pros: More volume, greater biodiversity, out of the box solution
Cons: Expensive, unsure of their effectiveness, possibility of flooding?
Option 3: Another solution?
Larger skimmer to cut the problem off at the source? Less feeding? Better sand bed maintenance? Some sort of addition clean up crew? All of the above? Let me know what you think.
Labels: Algae, Equipment, Parameters, Reef Aquarium
