nutrient control

[grinder143]

i am thinking of a downsize of sorts. I have a 135 cube that i would like to downsize to a 90 or perhaps 75 or a 120 . who knows it will be glass , as i have little patence for all the scratches the acrylic cube gets. So that being said i am looking for a better supplement for control. I have a skimmer , i have reactors for gfo,and carbon i even have one for biopellet . i never used this because of all the negitive info. So i figured a new tank means new equipment. What is the easiest to setup and use. ZEO, ATS or biopellet . i just want control ove nitrate and phospate. Any advice is appreciated. Maybe the pellets i got bad info . anyhow thanks for the help.

[Spectre2006]

1) clean tank/equipment - old equipment will have some degree of nutrients sticking to it as dead organic matter.

2) clean RO water - RO water if your TDS meter or RO/DI filter is not working right, you will unintentionally have nutrients in your tank.

3) clean sand/rock - live rock or sand will come loaded with nutrients no matter what your told. There will be some degree of die off when ordering LR from suplliers. Phosphates will leach into water over time.

4) water flow/over flow design - detritus build up can be seen on barebottom tanks, sand just hides it. Make sure waterflow is enough to bring detritus out of your tank into the filter socks. Some will go BB to be able to see where it is and siphon it out if its not being taken into overflow.

5) filter socks - change or clean filter socks on a regular set schedule, your filter socks will become a nitrate/phosphate factory if left in too long.

6) skimmer - pick top of the line skimmer, besides the filter socks, your skimmer will get the dissolved organics, filter socks will just get the larger particles.

7) keep salinity constant - use a ATO to top off tank and make sure to check your RO reservoir to keep it full.

8) water changes - change a percentage of water on a religious basis based on lifestock load (corals, clean up crew, fish).

9) bacteria strain dosing - dose bacteria to keep up diversified strains. Different strains will be able to uptake different nutrients in water.

10) carbon dosing - vodka/vinegar, bacterial replication is based on rate limiting nutrients, carbon ends up being the rate limiting nutrient in aquariums. The skimmer will pull the bacteria out. Thats why top of line skimmer is crucial.

11) activated carbon - pulls out toxins, from different corals, a system will produce various toxins that can be harmful to differing corals.

12) feeding -coral/fish, only feed what can be taken up immediately. Use a strainer and tweezers for frozen fish food.


With the above you should be able to maintain pristine system.

[grinder143]

i have all that . my question is carbon dosing either through biopellet, vodka . Or would it be easier to maintain ATS or even get into useing ZEO . I have not checked Nitrate in quite some time as the tank really has been stable . i am just looking to lower it even more.

[Spectre2006]

Originally Posted by grinder143

i have all that . my question is carbon dosing either through biopellet, vodka . Or would it be easier to maintain ATS or even get into useing ZEO . I have not checked Nitrate in quite some time as the tank really has been stable . i am just looking to lower it even more.

if you use biopellets make sure your return from the pellet reactor is tied into skimmer. With vodka, the carbon source is quantified and titrated. Meaning you can control the amount of bacterial replication. If the pellet outflow bypasses skimmer, the bacteria will create a film on your rocks.