My Siporax filter experiment

F

finrod2

New member
After noting the great results some of the Brazilian reefers are seeing using siporax to control nitrate I thought I would give it a try. Siporax is a type ceramic/glass that has microscopic cavities, essentially if kept clean can act as a very efficient live rock. I've heard it can be many times more efficient than good live rock.

My nitrate has never went below 20 and sometimes nearer 40. I have a 240 with about 35 fish including angels and tangs. I've uploaded some photos into my album for all to see.
Here are the elements of my system:
1. BRS filter canister as pre-filter to keep mulm and detritus from accumulating on Siporax pellets. Filled with floss and changes 2x per week.
2. 45 gallon tank to hold Siporax boxes, bare tank with a small power head
3. Siporax (15mm) contained in egg crate boxes - I bought 50 liters but probably only will use half that amount. I believe Roberto_lopezs uses 100 liters on his 720gal system:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1920386&highlight=siporax+brazil


I'll feed filtered water from my main sump into the siporax filter sump then back out. I've constructed the first of 4 or 5 egg crate boxes to hold the siporex pellets. It took me about 3 hours to make the first one and fill it with stacked pellets. I hope to document the nitrate levels in the coming weeks. Hopefully it will be effective.
 
I've been using siporax for over a year in my tank with great success. I only have minimal amount of LR in DT, using 6L of siporax in sump. Never had any measurable nitrates or phosphates in my system. Always feeding a lot my fish. About a month ago I changed my SPS system to NPS and anthias. I feed about 8-10 cubes of frozen food every day. My nitrates went up to 15-20 ppm, but stay steady. I will add couple more liters of siporax, it should be able to bring it down to acceptable levels.The key is to keep the media clean. I,too was inspired by those Brazilian tanks.
 
Anything you can suggest to keep clean. In addition to the particulate filter I will rinse with w/c water every month.
 
I keep my eggcrate box filled with siporax in my return part of sump. I use filter socks, that I change every week, also I use foam block that is inserted between baffles. Also cleaned once a week. No detritus gets there at all. Rinse with W/C sounds good.
 
mark54321 said:
I keep my eggcrate box filled with siporax in my return part of sump. I use filter socks, that I change every week, also I use foam block that is inserted between baffles. Also cleaned once a week. No detritus gets there at all. Rinse with W/C sounds good.
Click to expand...

Guy,

sorry, I'm from Shanghai CN.

Could you kindly tell me what the meaning of W/C water ? And how to keep Siporax clean ?
 
Sorry not updating. I ended up using about 40L of my 50L box of siporax. My nitrates are slowly going down. Right now I'm hovering between 10-15. A interesting note is that my PO4 has dropped as well. I used to change GFO every 1-2 weeks now its 1x month and PO4 stays under .04. My SPS has never looked better.
 
Do you clean the Siporax at all? If yes, how?
I have mine in mesh bags and shake a bit in the waste water change water when doing a water change. I have not microwaved yet...
 
I plan to wash my bricks off at the end of February using my W/C water. What are you microwaving for? You don't want to kill the bacteria.
 
dang it! I wish I would have found this thread sooner :(. I just purchased 1000g of brightwell aquatics xport no3. the stuff looks like croutons. currently running in media bags in my sump but have a media reactor on order.

its good to know this is another option :).
 
I'm not jumping up and down yet but it is trending in the right direction. I guess the key with this stuff is to make sure the porous cavities do not clog with detritus. I had to stact these little cylinders in a box made from egg crate. Each box is about .75 cubic ft. All told it took me hours to fill. If you just dump them in it creates all sorts of places for gunk to build up. Let us know how you do with the brightwell, I've seen it advertised but know nothing about it.
 
Microwaving...I had read a thread or two that said to microwave to remove the detritus from the pores, supposedly works like a charm to regain the Siporax...Or course the live organisms would be destroyed...but the if a bag at a time was done every couple months the new growth might have some benefits...
 
i'll keep you posted on the brightwell stuff via this thread. good luck to both of us! :)
 
Here is an update. Its been 4 months since installing the Siporax filter. My NO3 has slowly lowered from 40 to 20 to 10. Last week for the first time in 3 years my NO3 measured 0, checked it twice to make sure. No other changes were made. My SPS has never looked better.
 
Good to hear. Thanks for the update. I used to run the eheim stuff back in the 80's in two canister with a crazy fish load and they worked fine, the eheim stuff looks just like the Siporax stuff, I have both now.
 
it's been about 3 weeks since I put the croutons in a reactor. nitrates still around 40.

17030777672_888f4c0b5e_b.jpg
 
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