mrgreenthumb Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 lol i'll never run a tank without a no3 reactor from here out, i'm lazy the only thing i wanna do to my tank is glue down more frags haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreenthumb Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 i think its been over a month since i cleaned my protein skimmer.....whoops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntific Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 My progress report: I'm up to 3 mL of Vodka a day for my 100 gal of water system. My nitrates are down to 2.5-3.5 ppm. My LPS are fat and happy! Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 9, 2008 Author Share Posted December 9, 2008 Nitrates are still dropping, around 10ppm now. An added bonus: my previously unstinky skimmate will now peel paint of the walls. Off the neighbors' walls. (puke) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 19, 2008 Author Share Posted December 19, 2008 WARNING. Carbon dosing pisses off skimmers Stinks, too. (puke) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntific Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Wow! I'm collecting good skimate too. I'm down to 1 ppm. This is fantastic. If only my hair algea would all die! Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 25, 2008 Author Share Posted December 25, 2008 NO3 is below 5. Pledosophy is the wind beneath my wings (laugh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 My NO3 tests at 0 because I love macro algae and DSBs. Mangroves are cool too, but not as cool as macro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 25, 2008 Author Share Posted December 25, 2008 Yeah, magroves are cool but grow way to slow to be a good nutrient export. DSBs work great, until they don't... then things can go really bad, really fast. Sugar ended up working, but I'm still going to put together the NO3 reactor when I get the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 I have yet to have a DSB stop working, I like fine sand and I am still somewhat of a newb. Mangroves are slow and steady, not the best nutrient export, but very stable. Macros, mostly chaeto, for the win, IMO. This has worked for me. It seems very logical to me, I feed and then remove algae, it's a circle. I look forward to reading about your NO3 reactor. I have read they work great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 25, 2008 Author Share Posted December 25, 2008 I was running chaeto in my sump, but didn't see much effect from it (. I think it needs more room/volume than I'm able to provide in my small 'fuge if it's going to do much good from a nutrient export POV. DSBs are religious artifacts -- I'm heard enough horror stories about crashes to make me look for other de-NO3 techniques. I'm glad yours works for you, hope it stays that way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 Andy that skimmate is so sexy. It could be skimmate of the month. rofl (Sorry Bob started the playboy thing I'm just pushing it to all new boundaries) I'm a fan of macro's too, but macro is a bit more complicated. Suppose you have zero phosphates and 100ppm of nitrate, your macro still won't grow. Doesn't help to remove the nitrate at that point. Mangroves grow so painfully slow they are nothing but decorations IMHO. I have had tanks with large amounts of algae and still nitrate problems. JME Here is a shot of one of my old tanks, nitrates would not go below 40ppm, ever. There was a 20g sump filled with cheato on this thing too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 I'm a fan of macro's too, but macro is a bit more complicated. Suppose you have zero phosphates and 100ppm of nitrate, your macro still won't grow. Doesn't help to remove the nitrate at that point. Mangroves grow so painfully slow they are nothing but decorations IMHO. I have had tanks with large amounts of algae and still nitrate problems. JME Here is a shot of one of my old tanks, nitrates would not go below 40ppm, ever. There was a 20g sump filled with cheato on this thing too. That's why I don't use phosphate remover. In that algae tank with the high nitrates, I would wonder how the nitrates are getting in. My last setup I used a little plant fertilizer to kick start things, although I probably shouldn't have done that. But without water changes I watched nitrates go from 40 to 0 as the chaeto grew in no time. Then all the micro algae dried up and the whole setup looked kind of like a desert, except for all the corals and fish looked good. Maybe it's just because the setup was less than a year old. I can't seem to let a system run for longer than a year before I want to rework it or I move or something. Or maybe it's because I have lightly stocked my tanks so far. Mangroves work, they are just slow. They can't grow without taking nutrients out so I know these have removed some to grow like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 I think the nutrients went into the tank with the food i was putting in there I have used fertilizer as well (even did the blue Miracle grow stuff back in 01' when it was popular) for a few applications but honestly I find the best fertilizer to be pure unscented ammonia. What kind of F2 have you had succsess with? Right now I am having trouble keeping phosphates present in my algae tank, time to start supplementing. Compared to other algaes specifically for nutrient uptake mangroves grow slow IME. It's not that I don't think they are cool, it's just compared to something like taxifloria which can grow from a centimeter to a few feet in a day, mangroves are quite slow. I am in the huge minority of those that appreciate algae. Here's a shot from a couple months ago of my algae's now . I keep it pruined back like that. Ship out algae once a month or so to help supplement my addiction, I mean tanks. Anyways even when keeping an algae tank you want to have some limiting factor that is under control to keep the nuisance algaes at bay. Carbon dosing is a good way to keep nitrates at zero IME, I'm sure there are others as well, carbon dosing is just easy for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 25, 2008 Author Share Posted December 25, 2008 I love algae. I'm thinking about doing a planted seagrass tank once I get a bit of spare cash... maybe seahorses and pipefish in there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 Beautiful algae tank! I'm jealous. I guess I just hope that phosphates and nitrates are used up by the macro in the display and fuge, and phosphate will be the limit. Then a DSB will do the trick if there are any left over nitrates. My current systems are not the way I would like them to be, but I'm sure they will be happy short term with nothing but live rock, shallow sand, and macro. Some corals take nutrients pretty fast as well. I flush a lot of xenia. You are totally right about the mangroves, but I really like them and I know the bigger they get, the better they do for nutrient removal. I just have to watch my magnesium and make sure that it doesn't bottom out. I think most people have little luck with mangroves because they don't give them enough light. F2?? Fluorine gas? lol jk. What do you mean by F2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 I love algae. I'm thinking about doing a planted seagrass tank once I get a bit of spare cash... maybe seahorses and pipefish in there too. Let me know if you get there and we can karaoke Bett Midler hits and talk about seahorses and algae;). Seahorses are kinda my thing. The pic above is my horse tank. I'd look at a fake seagrass like prolifera (right corner pic) if your not into DSB's. F2= fertilizer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 25, 2008 Author Share Posted December 25, 2008 Will do, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 I avoid using fertilizer, but have used miracle grow and some phyto fertilizer that I bought from another reefer, not sure what it is. I think it's from a phyto company based out of Florida. So mainly I just add kents iron for the algae. As soon as I get a stable place to live I'm going to start working on a seahorse tank in a 40 tall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 The LFS I used to frequent in CA said to try Nitromax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 29, 2008 Author Share Posted December 29, 2008 Which he sells, and is a lot more expensive than sugar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.