filtration advise

[yacn]

I have 150 gallon tank located on first floor w/ (3) 250 Watt 14K MH's & (2) 72" 160 Watt T12 Super Actinic VHO's . 35 gallon sump/fuge located in basement has auto water top off & heater in it...no chiller. I use RO water and change all filters regularly. I've had this setup for 10 yrs.

Sump has 3 chambers....1st chamber has bio balls, 2nd chamber "fuge area" has one inch of live sand and two inches of crushed coral on top of that with a few pieces of live rock and chaeto lighted by (2) Coralife 50/50 mini screw type compact fluorescent lamps - 20 Watts each, 3rd chamber has euro reef 100 skimmer and large sponge pre-filter so things (snails, debris, etc) don't enter my return pump. I don't get much growth on chaeto and can't seem to support more than fistful. I used to use t5 coralife light fixtures and experienced great growth...but these lights kept shocking me...moisture from spray/bubbles would get inside plastic face shield I think.


Considering 12" LED's or smaller for fuge...hoping for better chaeto growth...not a lot of room here for lighting...suggestions? I've seen some links for red LED lighting....not sure if this is best or not.

I used to run the older model Marineland Magnum 350 cannister with carbon, an in line UV sterilizer, and 2 little fishies phosban reactor w/ ROWAphos GFO Phosphate Removal Media. For some reason I stopped using all of these.

I am experiencing algae on glass....always have. I don't get algae on my live rock or gravel in display tank. Even when using above equipment ...I would always get algae on glass daily it seemed.

I prefer not to be a slave to my tank. I have my moments of obsessive compulsive behavior and at other times rarely doing water changes for months.

I have noticed when doing water changes the water is yellowish since I stopped using carbon....I only notice this when siphoning water into white buckets...I'm not certain if I notice this coloration while viewing my tank.

I was thinking of going back to cannister w/ carbon....Will filling a sock w/ carbon work if I drop that into sump instead?

I have been reading about algae scrubbers. I am considering making/buying algae scrubber. To help w/ algae on glass...not sure if it will help w/ color of my water or other things.

I have reef safe tank. 100+ lbs live rock, mostly mushrooms, zoos, one leather and fish. I am thinking about adding some SPS corals....maybe maxima or crocea clams.
I recently switched to Red Sea Coral Pro salt....thinking I wouldn't have to add supplements/additives as often. Is dosing/additives necessary if considering these additions? If so, does that mean I have to buy an expensive automatic dosing system?

Appreciate your input, suggestions, etc. Or leave well enough alone.

 

[Tripp102370]

Carbon would certainly clarify the water, bag in the sump works, reactor is best. I've not used them, but you could use the ceramic marine pure balls or blocks instead of bio balls for more bacterial growth which might help as well. We all get some algae on the glass though. Some see good results in water clarity with uv sterilizers too, however to be really effective, it can be expensive. Good luck!

 

[yacn]

Thanks Tripp!! I said bio balls but not sure the brand. I actually have 2 sets of them and 2 different kinds. 1st where water enters sump and again in a water fall area between chambers 2 and 3 to help keep chaeto and other debris from entering chamber 3 and into my skimmer pump (and clogging up the needle wheel)
I want to be really effective w/o being really expensive...or constant slave....if that is possible??

 

[yacn]

bump

 

[C3hutson]

What's your phosphate level?

 

[yacn]

Salinity 1.023
Phosphates 5.0
PH 8.1-8.2
Calcium 480
Alkalinity 4.45 meg/L or 12.5 KH
Magnesium 1170-1200

I ran out of Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia testing. I'll go buy at LFS or online and test for these next week or sooner.

I tested my RO for Phosphates and it was 0

 

[C3hutson]

Those phosphates are out of control.

 

[yacn]

what causes this?

so wouldn't my chaeto be growing like crazy due to phosphate level?

I will hook up my phosban reactor....will this shock things? Should I consider algae scrubber instead? Vodka dosing?

I also have bag of chemi pure...will this help?

 

[WolfInRed]

I have never had luck with cheato - i keep buying it and it keeps dying. I run GFO in a reactor to eliminate phosphates. My algae growth seems to be dictated by how much I feed.

 

[C3hutson]

You are going to go through a metric **** ton of GFO for that phosphate level. What test did you use? If you don't mind spending the money on GFO then that's the easy route. If you wanna be cheaper, look at dripping lanthanum dilution into a filter sock.

 

[yacn]

salifert test for phosphate.

I started GFO .... I had 1 large can (1000 ml) and 2 smaller cans (500 ml) of Rowa Phos remover.

I'm not familiar w/ lanthanum dilution....I have filter sock...and made my own drip using IV tubing, IV rack, and tupperware container to hold solution. I'll look up lanthanum.

Is Brightwell Aquatics Phosphate-E liquid the same thing?

I also thought there were pad that absorb phosphate.

 

[yacn]

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 160+ ppm
Salinity 1.023
Phosphates 5.0
PH 8.1-8.2
Calcium 480
Alkalinity 4.45 meg/L or 12.5 KH
Magnesium 1170-1200

what to do....what to do. Very high Nitrates & very high Phosphates....I think from months or even years of bad husbandry...neglect and over feeding.

Not sure what to do about this...any advise?

 

[yacn]

bump bump

 

[Jayreefer]

To me its kinda of straight forward to start doing a good cleaning.

Start with lots of water changes-(20%-40% at a time) while using a gravel vac in the sand bed. or even replace your sand bed.

I recently upgraded tanks and was able to start fresh with a new sand bed and it made a huge difference. My old tank was similar in the fact that it had years of lack of water changes as well as never cleaning the sand bend. I have vowed to not let that happen to may new tank.

 

[C3hutson]

When I figured out that my phosphates were out of control (0.6) I removed my sandbed and started GFO. I was having to switch GFO every few days at first because my live rock had so much phosphate bound that I would remove the phos from the water column and it'd be back a day later. Expensive, but these two things turned my tank around completely.

 

[yacn]

I used to have deep sand bed in my display tank from inception and for several to 5 or more years. LFS told me it was bad so I began to siphon out layers of sand when doing monthly water changes until I was left with an inch or two of substrate. I did this slowly over many months. I don't even want to call it sand...its more like a finer crushed coral...it's definitely not sand. But does have lots of detritus.

So you're telling me to remove all my rock and substrate and put new substrate in and then the old rock back in? Huge undertaking....and concerned that not enough bacteria will be available to offset ammonia, etc. and perhaps kill my fish and corals, etc

I have 1 inch of live sand with 2 inches of crushed coral in my fuge area of my sump. I've replaced that once in the 10 years. How often should I replace this? And will that help?

 

[Jayreefer]

I did remove all rock as it went to the new tank. I went from a 140 to a 240. The 240 had all new water in it. The only thing that I moved over was my rock witch was rinsed well in old tank water as it was moved over. I kept my DSB in my 60 gal sump as well. Once the tank was running for 2 weeks I did a cleaning of the sump chambers and siphoned off the first 1" of sand in my DSB. Never did get much of a cycle.

I would just go BB for now and get the rest of the old substrate out. The rock will be plenty to keep the tank stable. Do not do more than a 50% water change. Leave CC in fuge for now too.

After a couple weeks use a powerhead and blow through the rocks well and get as much built up waste out of them and keep siphoning it out as it settles. Clean the CC in fuge too.

The whole point is that you will not get you water clean until you get the waste out. Just do it in steps and don't change all the water at once and the tank will make it though it.