Dogshowgrl
New member
I am very happy with my 60 gallon pony tank. I have 4 CB seahorses, 2 green spot mandarins, few peppermint shrimp, brittle star, snail, several softies, (toadstool, gap, xenia, zoas, ect) photosynthetic gorgonians, NPS gorgonians, and a few macros.
I feed ROE, live phyto, and oysterfeast several times a day, on top of the pony's food. Everything is happy, but my nitrates are unacceptable. I currently have a reef octopus slightly oversized skimmer, gfo reactor, and basic filter socks in my sump. I do a 30% WC weekly. I don't have a terrible algae issue, but I want picture perfect more often than not. I tried carbon dosing, but I often get bacterial blooms without carbon dosing, it just made them much worse. I have used Vibrate successfully in my reef. I am willing to try it with my ponies, but both of these deal with the algae, but they don't solve the issue of removal before nitrates are used, without lots of dosing. My husband and I expect out first child in May and both work 2 jobs and I am starting an new company this fall. I need automatic. Lol.
I was looking at:
sulfur denitrator: but they don't seem to be as effective as they sound.
Biopelets: really nice but only take out phosphate and nitrate proportionally, I already have gfo so I was thinking something that focuses on nitrates only but I may add biopelets too.
Sandbed reactor: there's a reason the hot shots use these (Public Aquariums) high risk high reward. Use both nitrates and phosphates. I rarely lose power, an auto generator that kicks on, and have an Apex so even if everything else fails, I set the Apex not to have it come back on after a power failure.
Macro algae: absorbs both, can be beautiful. I plan to add in the future anyways, but I want the micro gone before adding macro.
This isn't just about algae, prolonged exposure to high nitrates block vitamin absorbing in fish. If I am going to keep something in a little box, it will have everything it ever needs.
What are you using? Anyone with experience of getting seahorse tank nitrates to something under 10 in a reef style tank? How? Am I missing a piece of equipment that could help out?
Thank you!
I feed ROE, live phyto, and oysterfeast several times a day, on top of the pony's food. Everything is happy, but my nitrates are unacceptable. I currently have a reef octopus slightly oversized skimmer, gfo reactor, and basic filter socks in my sump. I do a 30% WC weekly. I don't have a terrible algae issue, but I want picture perfect more often than not. I tried carbon dosing, but I often get bacterial blooms without carbon dosing, it just made them much worse. I have used Vibrate successfully in my reef. I am willing to try it with my ponies, but both of these deal with the algae, but they don't solve the issue of removal before nitrates are used, without lots of dosing. My husband and I expect out first child in May and both work 2 jobs and I am starting an new company this fall. I need automatic. Lol.
I was looking at:
sulfur denitrator: but they don't seem to be as effective as they sound.
Biopelets: really nice but only take out phosphate and nitrate proportionally, I already have gfo so I was thinking something that focuses on nitrates only but I may add biopelets too.
Sandbed reactor: there's a reason the hot shots use these (Public Aquariums) high risk high reward. Use both nitrates and phosphates. I rarely lose power, an auto generator that kicks on, and have an Apex so even if everything else fails, I set the Apex not to have it come back on after a power failure.
Macro algae: absorbs both, can be beautiful. I plan to add in the future anyways, but I want the micro gone before adding macro.
This isn't just about algae, prolonged exposure to high nitrates block vitamin absorbing in fish. If I am going to keep something in a little box, it will have everything it ever needs.
What are you using? Anyone with experience of getting seahorse tank nitrates to something under 10 in a reef style tank? How? Am I missing a piece of equipment that could help out?
Thank you!
