nitrates

[evanjah]

i put some caulpera in my sump and i am putting nitrate sponge in my sump to, also I bought some mangroves to put in there water changes seem to make little difference to it. Any other ideas to help it out. they are around 20 ppm with the drip test, my tank is definitely not overstocked

 

[chrisb430]

i am a fan of chemi pure elite. that helps everything in your tank

 

[coralreefer]

set up a scrubber. they work great! i set one up and my nitrates are always 0 and my skimmer has no use for my tank because it doesnt collect anymore waste!

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by evanjah
http:///forum/post/3095205
i put some caulpera in my sump and i am putting nitrate sponge in my sump to, also I bought some mangroves to put in there water changes seem to make little difference to it. Any other ideas to help it out. they are around 20 ppm with the drip test, my tank is definitely not overstocked
How much, what and how often do you feed? Nitrate issues are only partly about being overstocked. Have you had the test verified by another LFS or at the LFS? What is your water change schedule? Your source water? Caulerpa needs to be harvested and exported to continue to be of major benefit, otherwise it being eaten or dying off basically just rereleases nitrate back.
so we need much more information about your set up and practices before being able to help. How long have you had the refugium set up?

 

[jas1]

Originally Posted by coralreefer
http:///forum/post/3095234
set up a scrubber. they work great! i set one up and my nitrates are always 0 and my skimmer has no use for my tank because it doesnt collect anymore waste!
I read that whole thread

on the turf algae scrubber. There are sooooo many different designs

I want to incorperate one into the sump on my 125 just dont know exactly how yet

 

[posiden]

Originally Posted by Jas1
http:///forum/post/3095274
I read that whole thread

on the turf algae scrubber. There are sooooo many different designs

I want to incorperate one into the sump on my 125 just dont know exactly how yet
All those different designs are of people making them fit thier sumps. There are only a couple of rules that must be followed and the rest is you making it your own piece of equipment.
Also, a good portion behind the idea is for it to be cheap. So most are just using what they have laying around and only buying minimal amounts of parts.

 

[ophiura]

I am a bit bothered, to be honest, by seeing "just add a turf scrubber" in some of these threads. while it is a reasonable thing to add, like a refugium, skimmer, etc...there are a lot of things going into a nitrate problem and I believe in considering the root causes.

 

[florida joe]

Nitrification + denitrification = 0 (the perfect scenario)
Organic breakdown = nitrification
Denitrification = heterotrophic bacteria and or assimilatory reduction via harvesting.
If we are not reading 0 nitrates (somthing most people in the hobby never do) we must diminish the amount of food for nitrification or increases the amount of denitrification. Or a little of both.
IMO algal turf scrubbers (ATS) work well but are anything but a simple set up. Their prime reason for introduction into a system was to mimic a whole eco system.
One needs intense lighting and a method to introduce surge (being most important) into the system to feed various turf-forming algae and bacteria, which are grown on the screen of the ATS. This algae and bacteria in return convert organics and remove nitrates via assimilation. One needs an easy method to remove the screen and clean on a regular basis. IMO there are other easier ways to deal with nitrates