I have a few questions?

Well I am not really new to sw, but I am new to this tank and it's size. I was told the bigger the easier, but am having a lot of issues. First I will do the best to explain what I have. It's a 125 gallon fowlr tank. I have 113lbs lr, 120lbs ls, 2 false percs clowns, 2 maroons clowns, a black saddle back clown, a peppermint shrimp, a sixline wrasse, 5 mollies, 3 turbo snails, 2 astraea snails, a choclate chip starfish, and a sand sifting starfish. I am running 2 emperior 400 bio wheel filters without cartridges, a fluval 405 with only bio glass, a diy wet/dry w/approximately enough bioballs for a 250 gallon tank, a turboflotor blue1000 skimmer, a turbo twist 6x uv light, a current outer orbit 6x96watt cf light- 2 actinic, 2dual daylight, 2 6500. My overflow box flows only apr 600gph, and my return pump 700gph feeds the turbo twist and tank. The current test show no nitrites, 5ppm ammonia, nitrates are 160, sal level 1.023, the ph is 8.4 water temp is at 78. I don't have a calcium test yet, but do weekly supplement calcium, iodine, strontium/molybdenum, and essential elements. I did a 30 gallon water change about a week ago. I can't seem to keep my nitrates down, I don't understand what is going on. I have very little green algae growth and thought about a diy refugium to try to offset the nitrates, but would like to figure out what is causing them first. Any ideas from the info I am posting would be appreciated, also if you need anything I might have forgotten ask and if I can I will post the info. Thanks. Also I forgot it has been set up since September 2009.

 

how often do you clean the section with the bio balls in?
same question for the fluval

because IMHO thats where you will find the source of your high nitrates

remove 25% of the bioballs each week and rinse them in old tank water when you do water change

rinse the trays from the fluval at same time

you have a very low stocking capacity IMO so thats good news

you might consider removing the bioballs over a 4 week period IMHO
and test the nitrates each week
with a low stocking density, plenty of rock and a good skimmer
I have never felt the need for any additional bio media

Steve

 

Well I just cleaned the fluval completely, the bio balls haven't been cleaned yet, I did clean the drip tray. I'd say I clean the fluval once a month, and the wet/dry every other month. I wasn't aware I could have too much filter for my setup. I will try cleaning the bio balls and then check the nitrates a couple days later and if nothing changes I will try removing them. Also how many fish do you think I could have in my set up the way it is with all the filters? I was planning on a couple anemones, and possibly some corals, but with the water as it is I can't do that yet. I want to thank you for the response and info and will keep this up to date when I get the suggestions done. Thanks;D

 

I also wanted to know what the opinions for a refugium would be, good addition, or not worth the time/money?

 

a fuge is a great addition and worth the time and money to set up IMHO

The thing with biological filtratration that confuses people is
you can only have as much bacteria as there are nurtients to support it
you cant have a surplus of bacteria
so if you have 1 fish in a 30 gallon tank, that tank would house as much bacteria as a 125 gallon tank would have with just that 1 fish

at present your main issues are
trapped detrius / particulate matter in the bio ball area
and in addition you have an inbalance of bacteria species
you have plenty of well oxygenated areas for the bacteria that convert ammonia and nitrite and nitrite to nitrate , but not enough population of the bacteria that converts nitrate to nitrogen gas

this happens in a DSB (so great in a fuge) and also in the deeper pores, of the rock
your current rock probably offers more than enough real estate for the bacteria you need to process your current bio load

increasing the rock - up to 1.5 - 2lb per gallon would give even more capacity for future

the key is plenty of good quality porous rock and lots of water movement so the nutrients in the water are constantly carried to the rock

general guideline on stocking in long tanks ( not deep tanks) is 1 inch of fish per 5 gallons of water - oxygen is often the critical consideration so tall and narrow tanks cant support as many fish - due to lack of surface area and thus limited when compared to long tanks, oxygen intake

Steve

 

would his feeeding schedule have much to do with this? how much and what are you feeding. something seems to be giving fuel to these nitrates.

 

+1 You hear a lot about bio balls being nitrate factories, but factories can only work if they are getting raw materials in the first place.

That being said, as was mentioned they don't house a balanced population of bacteria and they are a pain to clean. If you want to keep them, consider using some kind of prefilter, and clean that every couple of days at least.

I keep a foam filter pad in the media tray of my sump to catch the larger detritus from the water column, and my skimmer takes care of the smaller bits. I clean the foam every day or two though.

 

How long has the tank been setup? Did you cycle the tank? How much do you feed?Where do you get your water from; RO/DI, tap?

A refugium is one of the best things you can add to a reef tank IMO. They have many benefits and no negatives as far as I am concerned. Also, why are you running those bio-wheels without cartridges? You have enough rock to support the bacteria, so if this were my setup, I would remove all of those HOB filters and the wet/dry and add a sump with a skimmer and refugium. A simpler setup and more effective IMO. I would also get a larger return pump. HOB filters and bio-ball setups can be used successfully, but they require constant maintenance. I used to have a HOB filter on my 55 and I cleaned it once a week, and it needed it. I believe these improvements will really help, especially if you want to do a reef tank in the future.

 

Well I feed twice a day, small pellet type food, and tetra marine flakes, I also have a brine shrimp hatchery in the tank which the shrimp can swim out of. I don't really think I am over feeding as I put small amounts in at a time to let them feed. At first thought, I was thinking maybe the hatchery was polluting my tank. I will be getting a foam prefilter for the drip tray. Also would adding more sand to make it deeper help out, I knew I didn't have enough rock yet, and was planning on getting more to be 1.75lbs per gallon. As for the bioballs, is there anything else I could put in the chamber in place of them that would be better? As for water movement I have 2 marineland 1140 ph, 2 maxijet 1200 ph, the pump outlet from the sump, and the fluval pushing water, oh and the emperor 400 bio wheel filter without cartridges. I am using tap water, but have tested it and it had no traces of nitrates. I am working on getting a ro filter, just short on funding.

 

Well so it appears that I don't have any water problems, my test kit which is a api liquid master salt water kit is bad(about 4 years old), I had my water checked at the lfs, and although I do have some slight nitrates it's not anywhere near the 160+ ppm mark. I got a new test kit and it all checks out the same as the store tested. I did come across a write up on a turf algae filter that if works as described sounds awesome, I just wanted to know has anyone used one and does it really work? Please let me know as I am interested in building one if it is going to work. I also will be building a refugium, any ideas on how big it should be for a 125 gallon tank? Would a 20 gallon tank work?