Nitrate Reduction

[eddybabyhd]

On my last two tanks(corner tank and the in wall) I had a huge refuge attached to the main system, with 200 lbs of sand in one side of it. This is where I had the mangroves planted. Here is a picture.

When I set up the 120 in march, I did not set up this sand bed, or the mangroves. Some of the things I have noticed on the present system, compared to the past. Is the presence of Dinoflagelates, and hair algae in some spots. The major thing I notice is how often i must clean the tank panels. The last tank, the in wall. I hardly ever had to scrub the tank panels, and there was 3 400 watt halides above it, and now i only have two. Here is a pic before i broke it down.

The past tanks had protein skimmers, but they didnt ever really produce anything, or less than a cup of skimmate every couple of weeks.

My skimmer is now producing, but my nitrates are a little high, I do feed the fish a lot, 2 times a day at least. But that is a habit I had on the last systems. I recently added the same refuge to this system, but i didnt put as much sand in it. Does anyone think that the sandbed with the mangroves influenced my success on the past systems? I just added 4 inched of sand to one of my refuges in an attempt to see if it makes a difference.

I am at a loss, and am wondering if it is just this tanks infancy i am battling

 

[eddybabyhd]

I miss my mangroves

 

[eddybabyhd]

those donor threads are killer

 

[papagimp]

I'd be placing my money on the infancy thing. All my tanks have had high nitrate problems until I added a refugium and let that start working. In my current setup, my cheatoball has to be half the size of my fuge before I see phosphate reduction and nitrate reduction. I'll cut it really small from time to time to let some hair algae pop up in a few spots, feeds some of my critters and conch then it goes away as the cheato grows more. That mangrove setup looks awesome, I'm sure it helped a crapload.

off topic: How did that regal do for you in a tank that size?

 

[eddybabyhd]

He did great, he was one of my original fish, and have had him for years at the time of that picture. I had to feed me tons though. He had small teeth, and was starting to experiment on what e could eat.

 

[captbunzo]

I'd bet your prior success was greatly influenced by that nice bed of sand you had under your mangroves. I'd guess it kept your nitrates down big time by serving as a Remote Deep Sand Bed, providing a nice low/no oxygen area in the sand in which for denitrating bacteria to live.

 

[eddybabyhd]

Yeah, I am guessing that had alot to do with it. I recently added 5 inches of sand to my refuge, and will probably set up a remote deep sand bed, just like the one i had.

I never realized it had so much to do with it

 

[captbunzo]

Never under estimate the natural nitrate reducing power of a big pile of sand.......

I also seriously recommend religious usage of Carbon & PhosBan (or another GFO phosphate remover).

 

[kpk]

Personally I love the look and maintenance behind barebottom, but I wouldn't go w/o sand at least in the fuge. When I set up my tank I will be adding almost all if not all 120lbs of sand in my fuge inside the 75g tank (thanks to Paul).

I have used the mangroves in the past and I think they did a great job of export, and I may get a couple for the next fuge.

Also I have noticed you can't be impatient with the sandbed. Give it a month or so and you should see vast improvements.