Could my fish load be my N03 source?
- Thread starter mmotown
- Start date
I have a 575 g ssytem with 40 well fed fish. Despite live rock and sand beds nutrients PO4 and NO3 Need to receive special treament.
Phosphates are a more deadly problem for sps than nitrates in my opinion, Phosphates are controled with gfo and a bit of vodka(8ml per day). They run a consistent .07ppm per hanah colorimeter. They could be lower but I run a mixed reef and this level appears satisfactory for my purposes. Corals seem to do well at this level. Getting them down from levels as high as .35 ppm made a difference for acros in particular and eliminated microaglae.
Nitrates remained high at about 40 to 50ppm and the corals partiucalry montipora, cyphastrea, and several others were not right. An extra remote deep sand bed , more than doubled skimmer capacity run wet , an extra chaetomorpha refugium and the bit of vodka didn't help much over a two and a half month period. GAC is used to help mange some of the organic carbon issues.
A diy sulfur denitrator was stared 5 weeks ago. It took about 4 weeks to cycle this reactor which contains 3 litres of sulfur media to it's current flow rate of 15 litres per hour of near 0 nitrate effluent . Input water is now about 30 to 40 ppm NO3 and declining as the reactor impacts the system water.
Phosphates are a more deadly problem for sps than nitrates in my opinion, Phosphates are controled with gfo and a bit of vodka(8ml per day). They run a consistent .07ppm per hanah colorimeter. They could be lower but I run a mixed reef and this level appears satisfactory for my purposes. Corals seem to do well at this level. Getting them down from levels as high as .35 ppm made a difference for acros in particular and eliminated microaglae.
Nitrates remained high at about 40 to 50ppm and the corals partiucalry montipora, cyphastrea, and several others were not right. An extra remote deep sand bed , more than doubled skimmer capacity run wet , an extra chaetomorpha refugium and the bit of vodka didn't help much over a two and a half month period. GAC is used to help mange some of the organic carbon issues.
A diy sulfur denitrator was stared 5 weeks ago. It took about 4 weeks to cycle this reactor which contains 3 litres of sulfur media to it's current flow rate of 15 litres per hour of near 0 nitrate effluent . Input water is now about 30 to 40 ppm NO3 and declining as the reactor impacts the system water.
wld1783
Premium Member
This always helps and is usually the problem. But then again a good skimmer only removes hydrophobic protiens. Can you post a Pic of your tank. How much Live Rock do you have and describe your sand bed and age.
I added a 440 gal refug to my 500 mixed reef filled it with rock and sand and wow now I can't grow xenia with a similar fish load and with heavy feeding. If you have an option in a sump room a large water container filled with dry reef rock will help out a lot.
Bill
Last edited:
wld1783
Premium Member
On a side note. Just read this and considering as I have "old " tanks...With an ocassional cyno.
Vodka dosing...I'm not drinking the coolaid just food for thought.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php
Bill
Vodka dosing...I'm not drinking the coolaid just food for thought.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php
Bill
Guys this is my plan of action. Right now I am cooking my rock. I am going to vacume all of my sand out and replace it with Eden Snow sand or Corapet #2 sand. I have since bought a sulfur denitrator and a wavebox. Going to start over. Won't have N03 and won't have phosphates.
username in use
Sciencing Daily
tangs are the worst for waste, especially vlamingi's. Get rid of t wahe really big ones, try for one of the smaller tangs if you really want them, but vlamingi's shouldnt be kept in anything less than a 200 gallon, and its got to be long. Sure they can survive, but i always like to go by the rule that there is a difference between surviving and thriving, and i think most people would rather see "thrive" than "survive" when it comes to their tanks.
CHOMPERS MFK
New member
sounds like a job for an algae turf scrubber.
