New to RC, hello! Question: Is there such a thing as TOO much filtration?

[WeWoveWeefing]

I am less than 1yr. into reefing or salt for that matter. After a lifetime of freshwater tanks my wife and I finally decided to commit ourselves financially to a successful saltwater reef aquarium. We decided to start out with a 75 gallon, (our current fw is 135 but too old for salt), we recently updated the lighting to programmable Euphotica LED hangers (dual units), we chose a 2 and a half inch live sand bed with 25 pounds of crushed coral on top. We took our time and selected 100 pounds of beautiful live rock with lots of good things going on and cycled it separately before adding it. We have an overrated protein skimmer with an additional internal power head for water flow. There are roughly 30 or 40 hermit crabs of different types and about the same in snails... A couple of different kinds of shrimp, two cleaner clams, 3 emerald crabs, a red knobby star, brittle star, two true perculas, a small blue throat trigger, yellow tang, and a coal beauty. There are two or three different types of soft corals / polyps currently. My temp is steady at 75°, spg @ 1.023 / 1.024, and ph 8.2. All tests are good except nitrites and trates not 0

I am running on an Eheim 2213 canister filter along with 2 Marineland 200 bios. My question is there such a thing as too much filtration and why can't I get my nitrite and nitrates under control even though I am filtering my water extensively? Any suggestions appreciated

 

[reefinsomnia]

I am less than 1yr. into reefing or salt for that matter. After a lifetime of freshwater tanks my wife and I finally decided to commit ourselves financially to a successful saltwater reef aquarium. We decided to start out with a 75 gallon, (our current fw is 135 but too old for salt), we recently updated the lighting to programmable Euphotica LED hangers (dual units), we chose a 2 and a half inch live sand bed with 25 pounds of crushed coral on top. We took our time and selected 100 pounds of beautiful live rock with lots of good things going on and cycled it separately before adding it. We have an overrated protein skimmer with an additional internal power head for water flow. There are roughly 30 or 40 hermit crabs of different types and about the same in snails... A couple of different kinds of shrimp, two cleaner clams, 3 emerald crabs, a red knobby star, brittle star, two true perculas, a small blue throat trigger, yellow tang, and a coal beauty. There are two or three different types of soft corals / polyps currently. My temp is steady at 75°, spg @ 1.023 / 1.024, and ph 8.2. All tests are good except nitrites and trates not 0

I am running on an Eheim 2213 canister filter along with 2 Marineland 200 bios. My question is there such a thing as too much filtration and why can't I get my nitrite and nitrates under control even though I am filtering my water extensively? Any suggestions appreciated

If your trying to have a successful reef, your salinity should be 1.025-1.026 and your temperature at 78-81 . I personally run my sps tank 1.026 82 degrees. You should look into building a sump. What kind of skimmer are you running? Make/model etc. If you were "running too much filtration" your nitrates would be undetectable. The only time running too much filtration can be a problem is when your skimmer starts stripping the essential elements out of your water.

 

[whiteshark]

I would imagine the canister filter and the bio wheel filters are actually contributing significantly to the nitrate problem. As suggested above, I'd look into possibly doing a sump and ditching the canister and bio wheels altogether.

Can you give us a full run down of your exact parameters (with units please) and the brand test kits you are using? If you have detectable nitrites there is an issue with your biological filtration (IE your tank isn't fully cycled or you added too many fish too fast and are experiencing another mini cycle). It's possible the test kits are off, though, depending on what brand they are.

 

[Cymonous]

Is the tank a year old? Did you go through a normal cycle to where your Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates did reach 0?

 

[Palting]

As I read your post, your question really is more about nitrite and nitrate issues rather than over filtering. Over filtering is not causing your nitrite, nitrate issues.

What are your nitrite and nitrate numbers?

Unusual to still have nitrites for a 1 year old tank. What test kits are you using?

NOT unusual to NOT have 0 nitrates. Just peruse the threads here in the noob forum and in the reef forum. Lots of people with all the right equipment have nitrate issues. OTOH, some people with the wrong equipment do NOT have nitrate issues. I am one of those wrong equipment people, since I have 2 giant biowheels in my sump, but have 0 nitrates. It's all about nitrate control. Avoiding overfeeding and that overrated skimmer decrease nitrate production, while water changes and refugiums with macroalgae increase nitrate export. How much are you feeding, and can you feed less? How much and how often are you doing water changes? Any room for a sump refugium or a HOB refugium, or an ATS?

 

[ebacon]

Yes. It's called sterility syndrome. Your critters gotta eat. Keep nitrates and phosphates below 10. Preferably 5. Science will do the rest