Help...Mechanical Filtration Bad!?

[saltyshark]

I got my water tested at the LFS today because the water was getting cloudy. He showed me the results and my nitrites were high and phosphate levels were through the roof He asked me what kind of equiptment I was running (in my sig.) And he said I should completely turn off my Magnum 350 and my Fluval 4 and just leave my bak pak on. He said the Magnum and the Fluval turn into Phosphate machines and are probably causing this mess. He also said to proform a 50% water change which I thought was a bit much. Should I take his advice...if not what should I do.
Also I have lots of dead plant debris and snail waste (poop) in one part of the tank...should I go over this with the vacuum and just not touch the acual sand bed ( live sand)?
Happy New Years to everyone!!
Thanks Mike

 

[richard rendos]

I don't see how a filter of any kind could produce Phosphate. I would think that the phosphate is coming from your water source (tap water). The use of RO or RO/DI water (for your salt water and top off fresh water) will get rid of this problem.
As far as the water changes, it would be better to do several smaller changes spread out over the next few days than to do a big one all at once.

 

[madrefkepr]

Don't like the use of canister fliters for those reasons. I would also ditch the biowheel for sure. Do the water change as recommended. Kind of short on live rock and sand for biological filtration, IMO. I used to run an eheim 2250 with nothing but bioballs in it, which worked great in my Discus tank. Would never use a canister filter in a closed system on my reef, because if the power goes out for an extended period of time, you risk having all the bacteria die due to lack of oxygen. If that happened, and then the power came back on, it would pollute the whole tank.

 

[simm]

Iv got 2 emperor 400's and a fluval on a 100 gallon. My water params are perfect and have been for several months.

 

[richard rendos]

madrefkepr...what you said about canisters would be true in freshwater also. as sensitive as discus are, I wouldn't run a canister on that tank either if that concerns you.
I strongly disagree with doing a 50% water change all at once...that is bound to upset the livestock. any drastic change whether good or bad can be detrimental to livestock. gradual change is always easier for them to get used to than a quick change in water parameters.

 

[saltyshark]

Richard Rendos: I use RO water from the LFS with my water changes which is why the high phosphate level suprises me. And I don't have any real algea problem as of now but I see how that could all change if I don't correct the problem.
madrefkepr: I don't want to get rid of the magnum altogether...is there anything I can to to modify it like run it w/o filter pads or just use carbon instead?
BTW: You may be on to something. I do turn off the magnum when I do water changes. They range in time but when I do a bigger water change the filter is usually off for more than 3 hours before I turn it back on. Maybe thats why my trites are high.
Thanks and keep the suggestions coming!
Mike

 

[madrefkepr]

Haven't had the discus tank for over a year now, but I always got really nervous whenever a storm came through. One time the power did go out for over 8 hours. Luckily I was home to take the filter off line after an hour. I guess I would have to agree that 50% water change would be too much, I thought it said 20%. Sorry!

 

[thepetbarn]

the best thing that you can do to help prevent power outages is a simply computer device. go down to your local computer store and buy device called a "ups" (or Uninteruptable Power Supply). if all you hook into it is your heater and filter then the amount of power stored should be enough to keep your tank going for a couple of hours, once the power is restored then the UPS recharges itself. Most power failures only last an hour or so. they help. I use two on my 50 gallon comm. tank and one on my 37 reef. never lost anything nor have i had any temp. or stress related illness here and the power has shut off at least 6 times this year in cali. The UPS normally runs about $75.00 but is well worth the investment. Later Larry

 

[saltyshark]

I am in the middle of a water change and I was thinking that maybe I should take apart the magnum clean it all out and replace the old media with a brand new one. The only problem is that I will lose benificial bacteria in my old media...but I really need mech. filtration right now since my water is getting very cloudy now, and at the moment my magnum is not providing that since the pad is heavily clogged. Do you think the benefits will outway the risk in this situation??

 

[madrefkepr]

Yes. Put some of the old media in with the new, to "seed" the new media.

 

[ophiura]

Nitrites were high or nitrates? It is not unusual to see high phosphate if you have high nitrates, and both are often linked to having a lot of excess waste around. I am worried that you have accumulating waste in some parts of the tank, indicating a stagnation. You may wish to increase circulation in the tank.
IMO, one of the problems with canister filters is that they are not cleaned out enough. A lot of gunk gets trapped in the actual pads (and can get into the biomedia chambers as well) and rots away. So, if you want to run a canister (or really any type of filter with filter pads, including wet/dry and powerfilters), you want to keep those clean (just as people rinse out the prefilter sponges on overflows, etc, every week or even more often).
I think I would change out the actual filter pads, and maybe rinse some old tank water through the biomedia to get out and debris that might be trapped in there. But remember, if you replace that biomedia, you may run the risk of an ammonia spike. I can't remember now your specs on tank size, LR, etc...there might not be enough alternative biofitration to carry the load. Besides, a rinse should get out the gunk without killing off the bacteria. Just don't rinse it in tap water

 

[saltyshark]

I've decided to replace the entire filter pad...luckily I saved a good size piece of the old one along with some water which I will rinse the new pad in.
I have also added Kent Phosphate Sponge into the carbon canister under the filter pad as the man at the LFS recommended. I will run in through my system for 24 hour then I am going to replace it chemi-pure. This will be my first time using chemi-pure so I just wanted to confirm something...I place the nylon bag of chemi-pure in my magnum right? If not there, then where?
Thanks to everyone who has helped. hopefully I won't get too bad of ammonia spike and my guys will pull through.
BTW it was my nitrite that was high...my nitrate was not not that great but it was decent.
Thanks
Mike