Emperor 400/trate problem??

seaspy

seaspy

Member
O.k., I've just now read a post that Emperor 400 filters are trate traps. Of course, I should have posted a thread before buying....and really need to slap the lfs guy, but I didn't.
Now I may have an answer to where all of my trates keep coming from. Here's the question:
If I have 60-70 lbs of lr and 60 lbs of ls, can I just take the bio-wheels out of the filter? Do I have enough lr/ls to accomplish filtration? I'm also running a TopFin 30 leftover from the 30gal I upgraded from. I figured the extra filtration and circulation couldn't hurt. So what does everyone think, should I lose the wheels?
 
murph

murph

Active Member
IMO With all the LR and sand you have there should be no additional need for bio filtration.
ON the other hand if kept clean I doubt the 400 is the source of your nitrate problem. I have one and have no problems with nitrates.
As far as mechanical filtration in general and considering the fact the bio filtration of a reef tank occurs in the rock and sand I have no qualms about taking the 400 out back and giving it a good blasting with the hose every week or so to make sure its good and clean.
But then again thats just me, I could be wrong.
 
nyaux

nyaux

Member
I Have Two That I Use On My 75 Gallon An I Have No Problems.. I Clean The Filters Every Time I Do My Water Changes..
 
saltfan

saltfan

Active Member
Originally Posted by Symon
Yes get rid of the wheels themselves, and keep your pads clean
Um why? I've had one for 7 years, its like having bio-balls in a hang on filter.....??? Any ways. This one is easy, if you don't have any other filtration on your tank, rinse them off in tank water thats been put into a 5 gallon bucket, not alot mind you, just enough for you to get the filter in there to swish it around some. Second, its not a trate trap, unless you leave the thing in there for months without cleaning it. I recommend doing it once a week. If you don't think so, do this for me then. After one week, take one out and look at it, if its got junk on it, then you need to clean it, if it doesn't then you don't.
 
nyaux

nyaux

Member
I Just Rinse Them In The Bucket Of Water That I Took Out Of The Tank..sometimes They Are Full Of Pods..so After I Finsh With All The Pads I Look For The Pods That Are In The Bucket An Put Them Back Into The Tank..
 
symon

symon

Member
I got so many pods that a few won't hurt a bit! I have actually been cleaning them out in the tank out in the garage, ( trying to populate ) I have a 55 out there and split it in half, 1 side is just a qt and the other is Hypo/copper! But also it is an experiment i am doing!
I run that tank with strictly tap water, I am trying to see where the hair alge i have came from, In the couple of months i have had that tank going there is no alge growing, so that leads me to belive that it came from a frag that i bought somewhere along the line! Although i am not running the same kind of lighting,( which i am sure propagates the alge)I basicly run the standard florecants 12/7
 
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