Freaking nitrates!

It's been a month since my cycle finnished and my nitrates still won't go down!!!! There's feeing a slights brown algae outbreak.

Specs:
29g biocube
40lbs of rock
3 red mangroves
Chaeto
Purigen
Filter floss
2x occelaris clownfish
1x YWG
Emerald crab
50 dwarf ceriths
1 turbo snail
1 astrea snail
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

I know ten isn't bad but it's enough for algae. I thought that a fuge would work! I'd love to get a skimmer but it hard to find something to fit in the third chamber of the biocube. Ugggh. What should I do? I really don't want to do a huge pwc.

 

I thought that having only three fish would make it easy to keep trates at bay...

 

Put a skimmer in the first chamber. And 10 is nothing. It's a new tank.

 

just sit back and wait. your tank still is hella new. Its going to want to go thru some GHA n cyano at some point. Just keep feeding moderate to low, just enough to feed the fish we dont want super fat fish lol. try reducing the % of waterchanges with more of them. that will allow more freshly made water to always be in, instead of a lot at once, and then it dirties. just food for thought.

imo i wouldnt even stress right now man.

 

Awesome, thanks man. My tank went thru diatoms and then GHA. After that the tank was spotless for a week.. Now I'm getting this weird thick brown stuff. It's like diatoms on crack lol.

 

that could be cyano... just when you get some new algae dont freak out. lol my 20 is actually back with cyano. prolly cuz i pulled some lr from it... but im hoping to transfer my livestock soon.

 

Ehh idk...

 

Looks like diatoms. Normal in a new tank & will go away on its own.
Don't sweat 10 nitrates. Ours usually runs 40 and we have no algae at all.

 

Totally agreed- your tank is still in it's infancy. It can take a year or more for bacterial blooms and die-offs to balance with the nutrient import/export. Then and only then is your tank fully mature. Common mistakes are fighting the algae blooms- i.e. constantly changing things to try to kill it. The only thing worse is adding chemicals. Just relax; they will come and go on their own. Just keep doing small PWCs with RO/DI water, and if you are feeding frozen foods, rinse before putting it into your tank. I'm also a fan of feeding tiny amounts more frequently- that will ensure that the fish are getting most of the food but are also staying healthy.

 

Cool. I use rodi And rinse my frozen. lll start feeding more often in smaller quantities. I'm also getting a skimmer soon. I'll just chill and wait for everything to settle down....