Right now I have an eheim 2028 canister filter on my 75g fowlr tank. I recently have been thinking of removing it to lower my nitrates. I have a modded seaclone 150 on my tank for my protein skimmer. Do you guys think this will be enough filtration for the tank or should I leave the canister on there?
Thinking about removing canister filter from tank good idea?
- Thread starter eng55
- Start date
Sure would lower Ur nitrates, Cuz none would be made!!!. However, Ur gonna get Ammonia and Nitrites, which Ar even more harmful to Ur fish. If u have alot, alot of live rock and at least 3" of sand on the botton of Ur tank, maybe??? I assuming u have a salt water sep-up!!! Cuz U have a protein skimmer, which would be even more funny in a FW set up!!! Y not do a water change and leave the cannister alone, unless it is dirty???
yes clean out your canister if you think its contributing higher nitrates
if the bio media looks like ****
clean that too
if the bio media looks like ****
clean that too
In a Berlin method salt water filtration the bio filter is the live rock, if you have sufficient live rock and a good level of circulation of water ( at least 10x water volume ) then theoretically you have no need for the external canister filter.
Live rock reduces ammonia to Nitrites but also reduces nitrites to nitrates and in the anaerobic zones inside the live rock converts nitrates to nitrogen gas
This also requires a high level of skimming to removes protein wastes before they convert to ammonia and go through the cycle, unfortunately the seaclone is not man enough for the job even though you have modded it.
You could always keep your external filter but remove the biomedia from it and replace it with phosphate removing media
Steve
Live rock reduces ammonia to Nitrites but also reduces nitrites to nitrates and in the anaerobic zones inside the live rock converts nitrates to nitrogen gas
This also requires a high level of skimming to removes protein wastes before they convert to ammonia and go through the cycle, unfortunately the seaclone is not man enough for the job even though you have modded it.
You could always keep your external filter but remove the biomedia from it and replace it with phosphate removing media
Steve
Doesn't seem wise, just clean it. If you want a system that breaks down nitrates look into the Monaco system.
Ok I think I will just take about the bio tube things in there and replace them with some phosphate removal media. Also might get some nitrate sponge and put in the there also. Can anyone recommend something to me as far as some good brands to use. I thought about using seachem. Is this a good brand. I would appreciate some suggestions.
Thanks
E
Thanks
E
guppy said:
If you wanted a "Monaco" system (Dr. Jaubert's Plenum System used at the Monaco Bay Aquarium) you would do best to pull the skimmer too. The plenum actually requires you to provide a very low oxygen area under your substrate to harbor the anaerobic bacterias (de-nitrifying) that convert your nitrates into hydrogen gasses. On another note, if you are using an aragonite substrate the low oxygen area will lower in PH causing the aragonite to dissolve and release buffers to maintain a safe PH/alk and will also release Calcium, Strontium, Magnesium, and other trace elements as naturally found in sea water. Installing a plenum in an established tank can be a real pain though. My reccomendation would be to keep the canister, and skimmer as your filtration sounds fine and look into where the nitrates are coming from. Do you have too many fish? are the fish too big for the tank? how much are the fish fed? etc. etc. Seachem is fine, I use seachem sea gel (carbon and phosphate remover pre mixed) in the fluval on my 28 reef with no bio media. Kent makes some good medias also and they are readily available no matter where you live.
How much live rock do you have in your tank? if you've got at least of 60 lbs of quality rock, not crappy dense base rock, but nice light puffy fiji then take the bio media out it's doing more harm than good. Unless your aquarium is grossly overstocked. Phosphate remover works pretty well, but some brands don't last very long. I suggest just doing regular water changes and keep the flow up on your aquarium. but i definately reccomend removing anything and everything from inside your canister filter. provides more flow that way too!