steven11
Somethingotherthannormal!
No man...He's teaching me the ropes
You must not have had the "your sand bed is going to crash your tank" talk. But then again, your a BB guy.
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I need macro algae asap!
- Thread starter chickenofthesea
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You must not have had the "your sand bed is going to crash your tank" talk. But then again, your a BB guy.
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Krish
RF STAFF
Smart man...High flow to keep everything in suspension, good skimming and weekly water changes. Nitrates worse nightmare. I don't give detritus a chance to cause a problem
1guydude
Well-known member
ive had mojo at my house! Hes seen my tank and didnt seem to mind the canister...well i hope he chimes in!
Mojo Mojo Mojo! lol
Mojo Mojo Mojo! lol
Krish
RF STAFF
Don't get us wrong man...Canisters aren't bad if used properly. For biological filtration purposes it isn't needed. The rock alone in your tank would be sufficient enough to handle all of the biological filtration your tank will need. Most people will use a canister just to run carbon or polish their water periodically. They are a pita to keep clean because of having to clean/change the sponge atleast every 3 days and on top of that, sometimes you get a detritus build up in there so the whole thing needs cleaning so most times people just skip them. They cause more harm than good in many cases, as mentioned if not care for properly. Running carbon or using it for a few hours to polish the water is the most I'd use one for. Every tank is different so do what works best for you. If you are having algae or nitrate issues then something is not right which is what needs to be figured out. When I get a chance, I will go back and re-read the whole thread to catch up to speed on what is going on here. Things have just been hectic for me this week so I'm just picking here and there at things as I can.
chickenofthesea
Well-known member
I am starting to feel like I just need to PM Mojo, LOL! Seriously though, I am ditching the canister for filtration and using it for media only until I can get a sump running and can afford a better skimmer. It is a PITA and its time I start relying on my rock for what it is best at. I have a very light bio load as far as fish go so if things start to get out of hand it should happen over time not right away. Steven also brought up a good point that I am a product of LFS sales quotas when I was at his house tonight. I purchased a bunch of stuff to dose my tank to supposedly do good and have lost sight of this whole hobby in the first place and have probably been adding the nitrates to my own tank with all the crap I put in. I will be halting the dosing of supps. until I can decide what is really needed for my setup. Also, I will be relying only on supps. I can test for. My fish will eat the food I give them, The corals eat the fish crap and symbiotic bacteria, my rock will filter my ammonia and trites and my skimmer will pull out the rest. I will start working on a sump system as soon as I get back from the field.
Ok Iam dieing here with kidney stones so I will make this one quick. Canister filters or anything like them that pour highly oxygenated water over a substraights will have nitrate problems, the environment that is created is skewed to nitrifiers, and because their is so much oxygen in the water their it wont allow denitrifiers to gain foot hold.
Steve a dsb will not crash your tank, but since it is a sink and does not deal wtih other elements that are not N, you end up with end product, as that builds it raises the level of anaerobic zone and you run out of aerobic zone. YOu can deal with that by syphoning out some of the crap that is in the top 1 inch or less of the bed, this will lesson the bioload and keep it aerobic .
As DOn mentioned you will never be able to get all the waste and detritus no matter how much husbandry you do. The concept I was talking about was to deal with as much of waste/detritus as you can through husbandry, then allow the live rock and sand to deal with the small amount left. Most folks seem to want to look up all nutrients into biologicals, so algae/biopellets/zeovits/P reducers and so on and so on. But all these things create somewhat a complex house of cards in place of simply dealing with the problem as you go.
Chicken feel free to pm me your phone number and I will cal you, sitting down for more then a couple of minutes right now is not a good thing (goes for anyone that needs some help)
Mojo
Steve a dsb will not crash your tank, but since it is a sink and does not deal wtih other elements that are not N, you end up with end product, as that builds it raises the level of anaerobic zone and you run out of aerobic zone. YOu can deal with that by syphoning out some of the crap that is in the top 1 inch or less of the bed, this will lesson the bioload and keep it aerobic .
As DOn mentioned you will never be able to get all the waste and detritus no matter how much husbandry you do. The concept I was talking about was to deal with as much of waste/detritus as you can through husbandry, then allow the live rock and sand to deal with the small amount left. Most folks seem to want to look up all nutrients into biologicals, so algae/biopellets/zeovits/P reducers and so on and so on. But all these things create somewhat a complex house of cards in place of simply dealing with the problem as you go.
Chicken feel free to pm me your phone number and I will cal you, sitting down for more then a couple of minutes right now is not a good thing (goes for anyone that needs some help)
Mojo
Krish
RF STAFF
So in short, as Mojo, Don and myself has said, you can't expect much more than nitrates from a canister filter if not used properly. Better left unplugged or just used to run a media, or as mentioned, to polish your water occasionally. Sponges can be your worst enemy. I don't even use them on pumps or overflow drains. If not cleaned or changed regularly it will just work against you. Also it is a very highly oxygenated environment which equals an aerobic environment. Nitrates will be the end product. Easiest way to put it is to get rid of as much waste as you can before it breaks down and causes you problems. My method is no sponges, filter socks, filter pads etc, high flow with a bare bottom tank, good skimming and weekly water changes. What that doesn't take care of, my rocks pulls the slack.
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NC2WA
Well-known member
Vrock,
Post like this need to be in the Classified section not the open forum..
I am going to remove your post to prevent people replying to it..
thanks
Post like this need to be in the Classified section not the open forum..
I am going to remove your post to prevent people replying to it..
thanks
NC2WA
Well-known member
to post to classifieds, you will need 30 days of registration AND 50 prior posts.
patsan19
Active member
I found that canister filter is only good for to clear up the water during initial set up.
I would not keep a canister filter connected to any saltwater setup.
try feeding the fish everyother day or smaller portions
use carbon
have skimmer on all the time in your case
and use polyester fine filter to clear out the water of detrius.
make sure there are no dead spots in your tank, behind the rocks, etc.
shouldnt have to do water changes so offten with your setup.
I would not keep a canister filter connected to any saltwater setup.
try feeding the fish everyother day or smaller portions
use carbon
have skimmer on all the time in your case
and use polyester fine filter to clear out the water of detrius.
make sure there are no dead spots in your tank, behind the rocks, etc.
shouldnt have to do water changes so offten with your setup.
