Help with water quality. Add fuge?

intarsiabox · #1 05-18-2010, 02:26 AM

I would still do weekly water changes but you could probably get away with only 10% changes. Really though, I don't think the extra 1.5 gallons a week is going to save you a fortune or be any less of a chore. A skimmer would improve your water quality either way but it is really up to you. As long as bio load isn't great your current regime should be fine. The reason I advocate weekly water changes no matter the volume is that I find personally that I start losing interest in the tank if I start slacking off on the maintenance. Weekly changes go to bi-weekly to monthly, algae starts growing and the tank looks a mess and then people get fed up and get out of the hobby. I only have a 25 gal nano and I never need to put more than 2 hours a week into it for water change, cleaning glass and lights, clean skimmer, clean HOB filter and check parameters. On small volume tanks one extra week between maintenance can make a visible difference to your rock and live stock skimmer or no skimmer. I think you are striving for perfection which is great but I wouldn't stress over it and let your livestock tell you if they are happy or not.

digi · #2 05-18-2010, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

I would still do weekly water changes but you could probably get away with only 10% changes. Really though, I don't think the extra 1.5 gallons a week is going to save you a fortune or be any less of a chore. A skimmer would improve your water quality either way but it is really up to you. As long as bio load isn't great your current regime should be fine. The reason I advocate weekly water changes no matter the volume is that I find personally that I start losing interest in the tank if I start slacking off on the maintenance. Weekly changes go to bi-weekly to monthly, algae starts growing and the tank looks a mess and then people get fed up and get out of the hobby. I only have a 25 gal nano and I never need to put more than 2 hours a week into it for water change, cleaning glass and lights, clean skimmer, clean HOB filter and check parameters. On small volume tanks one extra week between maintenance can make a visible difference to your rock and live stock skimmer or no skimmer. I think you are striving for perfection which is great but I wouldn't stress over it and let your livestock tell you if they are happy or not.

My livestock appears to be thriving (minus alveopora - different issues - damned thing). I would like to aim towards growing a small amount of SPS in the future... therefore I'll have to resolve my nitrates issue - 5-10ppm at the moment.

I'm surprised nobody has gone with my suggestion of a fuge. I'm really leaning towards building a 5 gal one at the moment. Comments?

kien · #3 05-18-2010, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by digi

My livestock appears to be thriving (minus alveopora - different issues - damned thing). I would like to aim towards growing a small amount of SPS in the future... therefore I'll have to resolve my nitrates issue - 5-10ppm at the moment.

I'm surprised nobody has gone with my suggestion of a fuge. I'm really leaning towards building a 5 gal one at the moment. Comments?

Although it is a "nice to have", zero nitrates are not a requirement for growing SPS. There are a lot of nice SPS tanks out there with low (non-zero) nitrate levels. I guess what I'm trying to get at is, don't beat yourself up for having a little bit of nitrates.

Now having said that, if you are set on trying to achieve zero nitrates then yes, building a 'fuge to grow macro algae is one approach which a lot of people employ and works well enough. Anyway, it sounds like you really want to do it so go do it

Madreefer · #4 05-18-2010, 07:38 PM

You can build a fuge with an Aquaclear filter that will hang off the back of your sump. But i'm not sure if it will be good for macro algae, but they work good for pods. Not too sure if there is a post on this site for that.

fishytime · #5 05-18-2010, 08:39 PM

a fuge may be helpful......have you given any thought to running the NP bio-pellets?

OceanicCorals-Ian- · #6 05-18-2010, 09:38 PM

I would suggest trying our NpX-Bio Beads, they are a better value than the NP brand with equal or even better effectiveness. You may also want to try some of the NpX-Xtra Beads once we are finished the testing, the Extra version have an increased nutrient reduction capability.

I don't think a Refugium is the answer here, you are better off using a media based bacterial driven denitrification regimen.

Ian
O.C.

intarsiabox · #7 05-19-2010, 01:36 AM

I phosban reactor with nitrate reducing media could definetly be used but unless your tank is overloaded I don't see how you would have high nitrates while doing a 20% water change every week. Have you tried a different test kit? Thye are not all created equal and maybe you don't have any problems at all. If your corals are happy then I would say you're doing something right. Do you use Prime with your water changes? It claims to neutralize nitrates along with declorinating the water. I ran a fuge on a larger tank for about a year and didn't see any difference in the tank but it was good for growing food in. Blue World is having another Frag Fest this summer and you can probably pick up some SPS frags for cheap.

fishytime · #8 05-19-2010, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OceanicCorals-Ian-

I would suggest trying our NpX bio beads,they are a better value than the NP brand with equal or even better effectiveness. You may also want to try some of the NpX-Xtra Beads once we are finished the testing, the Extra version have an increased nutrient reduction capability.

I don't think a Refugium is the answer here, you are better off using a media based bacterial driven denitrification regimen.

Ian
O.C.

Hey great Idea.....why didnt I think of that........ but are these really NP pellets or just some re-named knock-off????????