Nitrate Levels and brown algae

[tamicase]

Please help me out,

I have a 35 gallon saltwater tank with a Prizm Skimmer for over 100 galllons by Red Sea, the light is a JBJ formosa deluxe and a penquin 110 filter with biowheel by marineland. Here is the problem; my nitrate level is out of control. I have tried partial water changes and amquel there is also brown algae all over the tank that I can not get rid of. There is currently a pencil urchin, 4 damsels, and a clown fish.

My substrate is crushed coral. There is a combination of live rock and regular rock. How can I get rid of the brown algae and conrol the nitrate level. All other levels are great.

 

[1979camaro]

there is an ongoing discussion here about biowheels. they do create nitrates very efficiently, so taking the wheel off might help, but in the end, the only way to reduce nitrates is through frequent water changes. is your skimmer working properly? getting rid of the brown algae will fall to your cleanup crew (crabs, snails, etc)

 

[S.Reef]

Ditto to 1979camaro.

 

[wayne]

How thick is the brown algae? You need to work out if it's diatoms (thin film) or cyanobacteria (thick nasty scum).
If it's diatoms it indicates you have a source of available silica. Typically new tanks have diatoms for 2 weeks , then they disappear when the silica is exhausted. If it is diatoms you are getting silica from your water when you do water changes OR it's dissolving out of one of your nonliverock rocks. SO what sort of rocks are your's. Volcanic tuff rocks are often algal offenders.
If it's your water you'll need to go RO. You might find out if you straighten out your nitrates that things get better though.
OK nitrates. Nitrates are the end product of the aerobic part of the nitrogen cycle. Your biowheel doesn't help. Nitrate is slowly removed by anaerobic processes in the near surface layer of your live rock, but in most tanks, especially new ones, nitrate production will far exceed reduction.
How thick, and coarse is your crush coral. It should be 1 inch or less or 4 inches plus. If it's less than an inch it's likely all an aerobic biofilter , if >4 it will likely be partially anaerobic and at some point will help reduce nitrate.
For a fix for you, number one is get your skimmer tuned to actually produce a lot of green gunk. This will taks some doing - prizms are not so eaasy to tune (I have one). If it ISN'T producing gunk don't assume there isn't any, it just means you need to work with it. Also my prizm doesn't skim too well till it's been running for a few hours so if you turn it off at night, don't.
2 You need to establish if it's diatom or cyano bacteria. If it's the latter put in another powerhead to get circulation up good and high.
3. If you have a coarse coral base do a good bunch of gravel hoovering along with
4. Water changes. Stick to one 5 gallon bucket a week.
5. Check your tap water
6 Check your rocks

Good luck