ecobak or chemipure + GFO?

Discussion in 'Filters, Pumps, etc..' started by TriggersRule, Nov 28, 2010.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2008
    Messages:
    3,460
    Location:
    Colorado
    I didn't mean to imply it was a good thing. Elevated nitrates above ten I seriously doubt a SPS tank would be doing well. FO tanks can have high nitrates or tanks with poor filtration. A tank with softies in it can tolerate it.

    You can read zero nitrates and still have lots of algae. So it is easy to have a tank with zero nitrates and some minor algae and still grow SPS. There is a lot of bacteria and algae competing for the nitrate. As you mentioned the ratio of nitrate uptake is much higher than PO4. It is difficult to drive phosphate to zero and harder still to actually test to zero. Even though PO4 import or production and export and up take can be the same and still a reading of zero be obtained.

    My point was just that nitrates are easier to deal with and tolerable in FO or softy tanks. In SPS tanks nitrates are usually dealt with and most work at combating PO4.
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2008
    Messages:
    5,958
    Location:
    Chesterfield, VA
    I can agree with that line of thought I just didn't want people to get the wrong impression about nitrates
     
  4. TriggersRule

    TriggersRule Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2009
    Messages:
    224
    Location:
    phoenix
    The only issue then I can really find with my tank is the crushed coral in the sand bed...I know my rock and filtration are sufficient and my tank turns over about 70x's an hour so I have good flow as well. I suppose I could just let my tank continue to run its course and build up enough bacteria on its own to combat the high nitrates and phosphates. I want to remove the crushed coral but I can't think of a good way to do this without tearing down my entire tank.
     
  5. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2008
    Messages:
    3,460
    Location:
    Colorado
    Just scoop it out. How long has your tank been up?

    Sand beds denitrify by allowing aerobic bacteria to convert waste to nitrates and strip the oxygen in the process. Deeper in the bed anaerobic bacteria take over and convert nitrate to nitrogen gas in the low oxygen area.

    Crushed coral is way too big to allow low oxygen areas. It stays circulating and does nothing but produce nitrates.

    Although... do you have sand in it as well? Not sure if crushed coral and sand would be as bad as crushed coral alone.

    70x in the tank does not mean it is good if you have dead spots in your rock work. My rock work was pretty open and I put my return down the back of the tank. When I fed you could actually see the food come out of the rock and circulate in the whole tank. I would power head my rocks until it was just a waste of time. I could never flush anything out of my rocks.

    Take a powerhead and clean out your rock work. Get it everywhere you can get it. If a ton of crap comes out you know you have dead spots that will contribute to nitrates. If it's clean, then you have ruled out one more common problem area.
     
  6. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2008
    Messages:
    3,460
    Location:
    Colorado
    No worries, you should clarify. Too many times things get said on forums and wrong conclusions are reached. I try to be clear.

    Oh ya.... and sometimes I'm just wrong. :)
     
  7. blackraven1425

    blackraven1425 Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2010
    Messages:
    4,780
    CC + sand = CC on top of sand in the long run, which is just huge amounts of area for detritus to build up in without being noticed. Not my idea of fun to maintain.
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. TriggersRule

    TriggersRule Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2009
    Messages:
    224
    Location:
    phoenix
    The tank has been up for 11 months now, nitrates were at 5ppm and phosphates 0.01 at one time not long ago, it has just progressively gotten worse. I'll definitely try blowing the rocks with a powerhead, I'm guess I'll get some crap off of them since the rock is really porous. As far as the sandbed goes it probably a 60%/40% mix of CC/Sand, I've been wanting to scoop it out and replaced with just medium grain sand but I was worried about releasing gases back in to the tank and suffocating my fish or killing any coral.

    Thanks for the good info and suggestions, definitely going to give them a shot.
     
  10. Nismo400rgtr

    Nismo400rgtr Teardrop Maxima Clam

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2010
    Messages:
    816
    Location:
    Buffalo,NY
    Why'd you take your tank down again?
     
  11. libog2fish

    libog2fish Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2010
    Messages:
    333
    wala nang magawa kasi...
     
  12. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2008
    Messages:
    3,460
    Location:
    Colorado
    Selling my house and buying another and didn't want to worry about moving a tank in this housing market..