My nitrates and phosphates have been somewhat high in my 75. I have a phosban reactor, coralife 125 super skimmer, 110 lbs lr, and 3 fuges, 2 with DSBs and Chaeto and LR and one with just chaeto. I have gotten some really bad red algae and diatom algae. I have been doing water changes but would like a nitrate reactor that would help more. I can only find really big ones for 250+ gallons tank. Are there any smallers ones? or an easy DIY?
Nitrate Reactor
- Thread starter ZBT3091
- Start date
- Location
- Bethpage,NY
Not sure about that skimmer brand.
- Location
- Staten Island
I could show you how to make a smaller one for you system but the sprinkler timer is still $250.. And no I can't right it down in a thread but I'll talk to you at the swap.
- Location
- poughquag, ny
- Location
- Long Island, New York
How old is your tank ? Second what do you have stocked in it ?...I am not familiar with your skimmer either. I have a nitrate reactor on my system and like it...However...it is not a bandaid. I am not trying to belittle you just trying to get down to the root of your problem. You see my tank was established for well over 6 months with nitrates in the <5 range and phosphates in the .03-.05 range(with a hanna meter) before i even put the reactor on line. Reason for adding the reactor was 1) My tank is overstocked 2) I feed like crazy 3) An insurance policy for a lazzy week(missed water change):splitspin. Now with that in mind if you are still gun Ho about a reactor. Do get a sulfur denitrator.....they are all basically the same....they just rippoff one anothers design more or less. I have a midwest aqautics. Secondly a 250 gallon denitrator will be fine for your system becouse you can adjust the flow to accomodate your nitrate demand. pm me if you have any more questions..
aquarie pure denitrator. i have one on my tank and my nitrates are always 0. www.aquariepure.com they come in all dif gallon sizes.
Specs: 75 gallons. Sump 20 gallons. Two compartments that are fuges. Both have chaeto, about 2 lbs LR and RECENTLY added DSB. Im thinking maybe this is the source? The tank could be going through a mini-cycle?? Other fuge is a 2.5 gal CPR hang on with chaeto only. Coralife 125 Superskimmer - works pretty well. Phosban reactor w. phosban that needs to be replaced. Mag 9.5 return. Main tank. Shallow sand bed. Around 100-110 lbs LR. Stocking - 2 2inch Heniochus Diphreutes. 2 2 inch Ocellaris Clowns. one 3 inch royal gramma. One mandarin drag doing very well. Inverts: mated pair of lystmata cleaners. 1 8-10 inch tiger tail cuke. About 10 turbo snails and one giant mexican turbo snail around 4 inches. Corals: LPS - Frogspawn, candy cane, acan. Zoas. Looking to pickup mushrooms, zoas, and lps at swap sunday. Salt is Tropic Marin Pro - Reef. Water change is around 5 gallons a week. Source water was RO from an LFS that i think had shady water that i never tested. I am now getting an RO unit that will be more dependable. Im thinking that the shady RO coupled with the sump DSB cycling could have raised the nitrates and phosphates enough to cause this algae outbreak. The algae seems to be diatom covering the sand. There is some hair algae on rocks but nothing bad. Some red algae is even starting to cover the acan - not good! Zoas seem to be unharmed but probably arent growing as much. Im thinking i should just do a bunch of water changes, change the phosban and wait till i get the RO unit which will have much better water. Any other suggestions?
- Location
- Staten Island
No it will prolong the cycle.. Get some seagrass if you want a good nutrient export system.. Get rid of the sandbed also..
Test Results as of 10 minutes ago. Testing equipment is red sea and api drop tests so the results were kinda unclear =(. pH- between 8.2-4.2 - seems pretty safe. Ammonia - 0. Nitrite- 0. Alkalinity - .9 in whatever units API does it in. Po4 0- about .25 maybe a little higher. Calcium i am not sure of. The test is Red sea and i dont really get the directions. I put in the standard drops which is 4 of Reagant A, shake, 5 of Reag. B, shake, 1 of B, shake then 9 continuous drops one after the other until the end color was the orange shade. i am not sure what calcium ppm that amount is. Nitrate i dont know because i dont have a test kit but i will find out sunday when i pick up a salifert test kit at the swap. I would imagine that the sump/fuge cycling happened because of the new 5" sand bed i put in, but i would imagine it would happen pretty quickly, from a decently established 75 on top of it. I bought the sand about 3 weeks ago and seems to be pretty clear in terms of algae. Is it possible that the tank finished cycle, but i have a bad hair algae/cyano from the decently low levels of po4 and shady RO i got from an lfs i stopped going to? I am buying a new 75 gpd unit that seems to be really good so hopefully some water changes will help with whatever organics are in the water. I also have some oldish phosban that probably needs to be changed. Hopefully when i do these 2 things the water will improve.
"Po4 0- about .25 maybe a little higher."
I am not sure what your are saying here. If your P04 is zero or it is .25. If your Po4 is .25 there is your problem that is really high. I doubt that your Po4 is Zero, you wouldn't have a hair algae problem if it was zero.
Most Po4 test kits are not worth the money spent on them. Even with a good test, you can still have a P04 problem, but the algae uses it all up before you can test for it.
I am not sure what your are saying here. If your P04 is zero or it is .25. If your Po4 is .25 there is your problem that is really high. I doubt that your Po4 is Zero, you wouldn't have a hair algae problem if it was zero.
Most Po4 test kits are not worth the money spent on them. Even with a good test, you can still have a P04 problem, but the algae uses it all up before you can test for it.
red slime algea is a surefire indicator that your nitrates are way high, at least 40 parts if not more. the frequent water changes will help, but your going to have to get them down to 0 if you want the hair algea gone. i wish i could remember where i read about it but i read that hair algea can grow on a fraction of a part in the water. i know this because i spent a great deal of time batteling it. its almost gone but i still have a few patches left. it only started going away after i got my trates down. it was still growing after a put a phos reactor on and my phos was 0. this was my tank before i put a denitrator in my sys with 0 po4.
no joke it will take over. i dont mean to scare you but i know how bad it can get, and i wouldent wish this plight on anyone.
no joke it will take over. i dont mean to scare you but i know how bad it can get, and i wouldent wish this plight on anyone.
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