too much water turn over???

garycarr

garycarr

Member
Having a heck of a time keeping nitrates down. Have been doing 30 gallon water changes once a week and can't get to zero. I was wondering if I am turning the way over too fast for the live rock to be effective. I have a 200 gallon tank with a 3 maxijet 1200 power heads pushing water around in the tank to create a wave effect and a 1200GPH little giant pump in the sump pumping water up. I have 150lbs of live sand and 250lbs of live rock. All the rest of the water paramaters are in-line. I also have a 10 gallon refug, I know it's too small but I have no space for anything bigger. I am now trying a fluidized sand filter running denitrate from SeaChem. Also in the sump I have 2 phosban reactors and a Euroreef CS8-3 skimmer.
What's the census, moving water too fast?
 
golfish

golfish

Active Member

Originally posted by garycarr
What's the census, moving water too fast?
That's not your problem. If anything I'd say your flow is way too low. The more flow the better. I just bumped up my flow from from 4000 gph to about 6000 gph on my 120 gal reef. I had zero trates before and I'm sure I'll have zero now.
What's the fish load like?
 
garycarr

garycarr

Member
2 yellow tangs, 2 clownfish, 1 copperband butterfly, 1 firefish, 1 sailfin tang, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 scarlett cleaner, 1 coral banded shrimp, sand sifting sea star, 1 derasa clam, 1 fox face rabbitfish, snails, and crabs.
So you think the turn over in the tank is too low or I need to move the water down to the sump faster?
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
The only thing that ever worked for me was a fuge. I actually turned the sump from my wet/dry into a small fuge hoping for a bit of an impact and it totally worked. My nitrates are now at a stable zero reading and have been for about a year. I can explan what I did with my sump if it is something you'd like to try.
 
cbshark

cbshark

Member
...and as far as flow is concerned, I know more is better, but I only have about 1200-1300 gph on my 125 and i've never had a problem. I tried to replace my csl pump with a 1250 gph little giant and all it did was blow my sand and corals all over the tank. I am a firm beliver in moderate flow but not enough to move stuff all around the tank. I know that in the ocean, the turn over rate is huge, but the actual flow rate is not all that much. I think that if your corals/anemones, etc. are blowing like trees in a strong wind, it can't be good for them. What you are trying to achieve with turn over rate is air transfer. You can have 10 power heads blowing your waer around, but if the surface is not agitated or you don't have water flowing over bio balls or something, you're not achieving anything at all. Try aiming your powerheads at the surface(if you don't already) and keep track of you nitrates.
 
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