Advice Please: Who runs cannister filters on their Reef and other things

[globaldesigns]

As many know I have a 180G display with 100G sump/refuge.

Things have been great, but I had a coral die at Easter, and it has been a slow comeback to my vibrant colorful state. All is great don't get me wrong, but I can't seem to get back over the hurdle. SPS are colored, but some are still kinda brown. You can see them trying to pop their color, but I can't seem to get over that hurdle.

Parameters are near perfect:
Calcium @ 400

Magnesium @ 1350

DKH was being kept at 7-8, as I was running full Zeo, but kept it at that range after removing the Zeolites. Kevin @ Coral caught on that I removed them and said try raising back to 10-12... I now have had it at about 11 DKH for a couple weeks. Can diffinetly see improvement. Thanks Kevin.

PH @ 8.3

Nitrate, Nitrates/Ammonia are all at near Zero.. No algae issues

Re-Calibrated Refractometer with solution bought from Kevin @ Red Coral (again thanks), found it my refract was low by 2.5 points. Damn that RO water... Again been a couple weeks and am seeing improvements along with the DKH... Salinity is being kept @ 1.025 - 1.026 (right now in the middle)

Everything is as normal, I have no worries.... But I was thinking is it worth adding a cannister filter. Usually they just become nitrate factories, but I want some experienced people to tell their tale.

I will decide from there if to do it or not. Maybe I should just wait as the DKH and Salinity has been adjusted, but want some thoughts.

If you have any other ideas besides the cannister filter, please throw them in the ring. If anyone ever wants to come by and see the setup, maybe I am missing something, that you can be alerted to. There would be a free nice tasty Cuban/Domincan Rum drink for ya. HEHE, bribery always works.

P.S. As alot of you also know I am also running NP BioPellets... Running in 3 reactors, about 3 litres total (1 litre in each)... All was great before and had the same volume of pellets running, so I don't think it is too much. As overall coral polyp extension is good, algae none, crystal clear water... But if anyone can give an educated reason for removing some, please again throw it at me.

Thanks all!

[MitchM]

What are you wanting the canister filter to do? Mechanically filter the water?
If so, I would just use a filter sock. Much easier to change and clean.

I didn't see any activated carbon listed in your equipment setup. I would have that running in a fluidized reactor.

Are your bulbs relatively new?

In your pics at the bottom of your signature, your tank looks great, btw.

Mitch

[DiverDude]

Oh !? Do tell.

What's the 'solution' you got ? -NIST certified H2O ?

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

Re-Calibrated Refractometer with solution bought from Kevin @ Red Coral (again thanks), found it my refract was low by 2.5 points.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by MitchM

What are you wanting the canister filter to do? Mechanically filter the water?
If so, I would just use a filter sock. Much easier to change and clean.

I didn't see any activated carbon listed in your equipment setup. I would have that running in a fluidized reactor.

Are your bulbs relatively new?

In your pics at the bottom of your signature, your tank looks great, btw.

Mitch

OOP's didn't mention that, but yes, running approx. 1.5 litres of carbon. Changed out monthly, but I don't change out all at once, I do half, then 2 weeks, the other half, and so on. I hope that makes sense. I don't cook the carbon, but do rinse it in RO water and then let it soak for a day in RO

Fixture is new, thus bulbs are also new, I am using Ushio bulbs, so got quality there.

Thanks for the compliments... One day I will update my pics, as things have dramatically changed. Just too lazy to take any pic's

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by DiverDude

Oh !? Do tell.

What's the 'solution' you got ? -NIST certified H2O ?

Kevin sells a solution, that gives you the calibration points for many things... Salinity, MG, Calcium and so forth... Salinity, I believe it will give a true reading of 35, so I put a few drops on the refractometer and reset it to a true 35 reading... Good stuff!!!

[Slick Fork]

Are you dosing anything like Amino Acids? I'm not 100% up to speed on these pellets but when I was on the zeovit system I had to feed amino acids and other coral foods to really make the colours pop.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

Are you dosing anything like Amino Acids? I'm not 100% up to speed on these pellets but when I was on the zeovit system I had to feed amino acids and other coral foods to really make the colours pop.

Yes, I am running the full ZEO system, minus the zeolites... I have stopped dosing ZEO for the past couple days and seeing if things change or display differently... Maybe there is an overdose of ZEO somewhere where the Pellets are adding, then plus the ZEO is causing an overdose. Don't know here, just guessing.

Time will tell... I am actually rethinking the canister filter. Don't need it, but looking at other improvements.

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

Kevin sells a solution, that gives you the calibration points for many things... Salinity, MG, Calcium and so forth... Salinity, I believe it will give a true reading of 35, so I put a few drops on the refractometer and reset it to a true 35 reading... Good stuff!!!

Distilled RO/DI water will do the same thing let it sit stale for 1 day in a glass.

[Slick Fork]

Originally Posted by Skimmer King

Distilled RO/DI water will do the same thing let it sit stale for 1 day in a glass.

That's good for zeroing it, but there are a lot of refractometers that don't scale properly which is why I've always seen it recommended that you calibrate it at 35

[daniella3d]

Well, I have an Osaka aquarium so I don't have any room for a sump so I had to settle for a canister filter to put my carbon etc... I have canister filters on both of my aquariums, a 70 gallons Osaka and a 21 gallons skimmerless nano tank and after 6 months for the nano my nitrates are still 0 and I feed my scallop, gorgonian etc each day.

Nitrates factory? I think it's the fishes that are nitrates factory.

I have filter floss in both canister and carbon. I shut down the filters for about one hour when I feed and then restart them. No problem so far.

I am especialy surprised of the 21 gallons nano because that's been without a skimmer for 4 months now, but I do have micro algae in both tanks. I clean the canister every 4 to 6 weeks. I do 20% water change every 2 to 3 weeks.

I have no fish in my nano and only 2 mandarins in my 70 gallons and that's probably why I have 0 nitrates. Coral food does not seem to create lots of nitrates in the water.

Why do you think a canister would help your system?? I don't see how it would help you since you already have a sump.

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

As many know I have a 180G display with 100G sump/refuge.

Things have been great, but I had a coral die at Easter, and it has been a slow comeback to my vibrant colorful state. All is great don't get me wrong, but I can't seem to get back over the hurdle. SPS are colored, but some are still kinda brown. You can see them trying to pop their color, but I can't seem to get over that hurdle.

Parameters are near perfect:
Calcium @ 400

Magnesium @ 1350

DKH was being kept at 7-8, as I was running full Zeo, but kept it at that range after removing the Zeolites. Kevin @ Coral caught on that I removed them and said try raising back to 10-12... I now have had it at about 11 DKH for a couple weeks. Can diffinetly see improvement. Thanks Kevin.

PH @ 8.3

Nitrate, Nitrates/Ammonia are all at near Zero.. No algae issues

Re-Calibrated Refractometer with solution bought from Kevin @ Red Coral (again thanks), found it my refract was low by 2.5 points. Damn that RO water... Again been a couple weeks and am seeing improvements along with the DKH... Salinity is being kept @ 1.025 - 1.026 (right now in the middle)

Everything is as normal, I have no worries.... But I was thinking is it worth adding a cannister filter. Usually they just become nitrate factories, but I want some experienced people to tell their tale.

I will decide from there if to do it or not. Maybe I should just wait as the DKH and Salinity has been adjusted, but want some thoughts.

If you have any other ideas besides the cannister filter, please throw them in the ring. If anyone ever wants to come by and see the setup, maybe I am missing something, that you can be alerted to. There would be a free nice tasty Cuban/Domincan Rum drink for ya. HEHE, bribery always works.

P.S. As alot of you also know I am also running NP BioPellets... Running in 3 reactors, about 3 litres total (1 litre in each)... All was great before and had the same volume of pellets running, so I don't think it is too much. As overall coral polyp extension is good, algae none, crystal clear water... But if anyone can give an educated reason for removing some, please again throw it at me.

Thanks all!