Fluidized sand bed for a reef tank???

[dandsbernardo]

so heres my idea, i have turbid water, and thats my only problem, ph and all other levels are perfect, my corals are growing like crazy(as much crazy as corals do) nothing is dead, except a snail that the hermits are currently eating, along with a little nassarius snail. i cant tell if the turbidity is from the sand, or a bacteria bloom, its a thin whitish color, and very fine, currently i am running a sponge filter on my fluval 403 cannister with activated carbon, a SWC extreme 160 conical skimmer drawing out lots of goo...
so my idea is to make a fluidized bed filter, to remove the turbidity, something i can wipe up with a short tri to the hardware store and LFS for apump. has anyone ever used one for a reef tank? i want to use it, i used the filter type for a 150gal freshwater oscar tank, and nevre had a problem chemically, if power went out for a few hours i just draind the filter and let it recycle.
so, will this type of filter remove the copepods and other critters that a reef tank needs to be succesful?

 

[saxman]

Unless the cloudiness is due to a bacterial bloom, a FB won't help, and even then it may not. My issue with FB's is that in a power interruption, the media falls out of fluidization, compacts at the bottom, and smothers due to O2 deficit, which means replacing the media and starting over again. There are some media used for FB's that has a positive buoyancy, and thus won't smother as readily, but lack of flow will eventually kill the filter as it will the bacteria in your canister.
I'm thinking using a water polisher such as a diatom filter every so often would be a better choice.
As for losing beneficial fauna, most of these critters are demersal/benthic, and will not be affected. Anything in the water column may be sucked up. However, it's no worse than what your canister is doing now.
HTH

 

[dandsbernardo]

thank you, i plan on running the fluval as a media reactor, of sorts, and the FB will both run on a timmer for a few hours a day, or so. the FB will be filled with the diatomatios earth, i got pounds and pounds of that stuff, used to be a pool boy.

 

[travelerjp98]

Dansbernando- what part of charleston are you from? I LOVE LOVE LOVE that city..

 

[snakeblitz33]

A fluidized bed filter does not remove bacteria. It only promotes aerobic bacteria that processes ammonia. It does not reduce nitrate or phosphate. A FSBF is only good in aquariums, both saltwater and freshwater, that have a high fish bioload with a lot of waste that produce a lot of ammonia.
A bacterial bloom is usually caused by excess nitrate and phosphates in the water column and is left unchecked by your filtration. There are better ways of dealing with it than with a FSBF. Water changes, increase of filtration through a protein skimmer to remove excessive organics and an algae scrubber to remove dissolved nitrates and phosphates will do the trick.

 

[saxman]

I'm not so sure high NO3 will give you cloudy water in the way you described. The bacteria responsible for processing NO3 to H2O and N2 gas is anaerobic and as such won't be found in the water column. The OP might have a bacterial issue with a high bioload causing excess bacteria in the water column which will create NO3, not remove it. However, Nitrobacter, which oxidizes NO2 to NO3 is demersal/benthic and isn't generally found in the water column. The bottom line is that a FB will process both NH3 and NO2, as both Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter will colonize the media.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Bottom line is that it will convert ammonia and NH3 into nitrate that can be removed by other means. However, he wants to load his FSBF with diatomaceous earth like a water polisher - not sure how that's going to go.
When in doubt - do a water change.

 

[acrylic51]

I wouldn't load it with diatomaceous earth like suggested and stated......I agree with using it on occasion if desired......Misused and released into the tank could wreak havoc!!!!!

 

[saxman]

Agreed...it should be used as an occasional water polisher.

 

[dandsbernardo]

so, i took care of the problem of the cloudy water, following a single golden rule. if the waters wrong then change it. so i did a massive water change, gradually so as not to shock any of my critters, and made using the fluval, i loaded fresh and a bit more activated carbon and a nitrate/phospate removing media. the only thing i am still royally confused is that my water chemistry was perfect, and still is, before and after the cloudy water mishap, unless three different test kits are all bad, mine my friends, and my LFS