Nitrate mystery....is it the sand?

[phatcav1999]

i have the same problem i have a 65 gallon with 100 lbs of live rock, and 3inch live sand bed, nitrates at 20

 

[Krish]

i have the same problem i have a 65 gallon with 100 lbs of live rock, and 3inch live sand bed, nitrates at 20

Welcome to RF! Sorry to hear about the nitrates...They suck. Maybe you should start up a thread so that everyone could pitch in and try to help you along

 

[Tone]

Many of us (including myself) occasionally get algae problems, I don't take this as a problem or always being caused by bad husbandry, Algae is a natural part of any healthy reef ...

Sitting reading your post, Paul and nodding my head in agreement! Just going through the tail of one now ... seems to come around annually

Yep, all the snails, crabs, etc., are well and good and necessary but algae is part of a natural cycle. The best way to treat it is good husbandry techniques including effective skimming, cropping ( I like to reap the algae so that it doesn't fuel itself and new growth will take up its nitrient quicker than old IMO ), and no artificial intervention. And lots of patience.

Some want to 'cook' the rock; fine, that probably accelerates the cycle but be sure to skim like hell and attend to the water changes or it'll be back just as soon as the light come back on.

Doesn't matter ... just keep the chemicals out!

Tone