I was looking around to see about an easier way to keep my nitrate levels down (or non existant) in my fish tank, and I found a couple denitrators for sale. The cheapest one I found was on www.aquaripure.com for about $350. I have a 310 gallon tank, and water changes cost anywhere from $20 to $120 per waterchange.
Is it worth spending the money for this nitrate filter? My nitrite and amonia levels aren't even detectable, but with the fish I have in there, my tank seems to pile up the Nitrate levels fairly quickly. After doing some reading, they all still suggest the occasional water change to keep fresh nutrients and other elements coming in that promote growth rate.
The fish store in town does carry a vitamin supplement that adds over 50 different components naturally found in the ocean. So would it be safe to go with this filter (saving on the cost and backbreaking labor of changing/mixxing 50-150 gallons of saltwater) and just add this vitamin supplement to the water?
Is a denitrator worth it?
32 posts • Page 1 of 4
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barnsey - Posts: 19
- Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:34 pm
In my experience Nitrate Filters do work but are incredibly fidly to get to work properly and take an awful lot of careful maintence to get working properly.I had a similar problem with Nitrate levels,my tank seemed to remain at arround 50 ppm even with 10% per week water changes,initially i thoughtr about just uping the changes but as you said this can be quite expensive and even quite time consumeing.
I researched various refugiems but couldnt get any of the standard hang on to fit the tank properly,and with insufficent space to make a workable DIY one in my sump i was a bit stumped.
In the end i added around 10 Kg of live rock to the sump and added Seachem Purigen and one and a half Polyfilters to my chemical filtration.
Im currently steady at 25 ppm prior to water change which is fine as most my tank is mainly Stonies so a bit of nutrients seems ok.
Hope this helps:)
I researched various refugiems but couldnt get any of the standard hang on to fit the tank properly,and with insufficent space to make a workable DIY one in my sump i was a bit stumped.
In the end i added around 10 Kg of live rock to the sump and added Seachem Purigen and one and a half Polyfilters to my chemical filtration.
Im currently steady at 25 ppm prior to water change which is fine as most my tank is mainly Stonies so a bit of nutrients seems ok.
Hope this helps:)
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fihsboy - Posts: 1837
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm
Do you have a refuge? Either a refuge or a algae tumbler is what you need. its a LOT cheaper, and is maintence free.
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jnelson1983 - Posts: 38
- Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:39 pm
Josmoloco, thanks for the link. Very helpful and a lot of info.
Barnsey, i've heard a lot of the same issues with nitrate filters (too much water flow=nitrite going into the tank, too little=poison). With the aquaripure one, they didn't mention anything about water flow, but the one thing they seemed to stress is the lack of required maintainence. The only maintainence they mentioned was adding a little sugar water to the filter once a week or so. As far as the live rock in the sump, 2 things. The first, is that I have a canister filter; I didn't want to worry about evaporation and constantly refilling it since i live in an apartment and can't tap a waterline for an auto-fill system. The second part, is how would the live rock in the sump differ from the live rock in the aquarium?
Fihsboy, I have neither. After reading on the subject though, it's seeming more and more that I should really find some room to setup a tank with that type of filtration (The turf algae screen setup seems to be the best so far). Do you have any links for the refuge or algae tumblers by chance?
Barnsey, i've heard a lot of the same issues with nitrate filters (too much water flow=nitrite going into the tank, too little=poison). With the aquaripure one, they didn't mention anything about water flow, but the one thing they seemed to stress is the lack of required maintainence. The only maintainence they mentioned was adding a little sugar water to the filter once a week or so. As far as the live rock in the sump, 2 things. The first, is that I have a canister filter; I didn't want to worry about evaporation and constantly refilling it since i live in an apartment and can't tap a waterline for an auto-fill system. The second part, is how would the live rock in the sump differ from the live rock in the aquarium?
Fihsboy, I have neither. After reading on the subject though, it's seeming more and more that I should really find some room to setup a tank with that type of filtration (The turf algae screen setup seems to be the best so far). Do you have any links for the refuge or algae tumblers by chance?
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fihsboy - Posts: 1837
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm
Of course I do! :)
Algae tumbler....
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/algaeFilt.htm
OR
Refugium
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/refugium.htm
I wouldnt recommend a turf algae screen. If your talking an algae scrubber that the water trickles down and goes into the tank....its bad news. Yes it works. Well. BUT......theres always a but......it will yellow your water. And it will yellow it quickly. If your considering a refuge, I would be more than happy to send you some sand. If you will just pay for shipping. I have copepods and brittle stars out the ying yang.
Algae tumbler....
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/algaeFilt.htm
OR
Refugium
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/refugium.htm
I wouldnt recommend a turf algae screen. If your talking an algae scrubber that the water trickles down and goes into the tank....its bad news. Yes it works. Well. BUT......theres always a but......it will yellow your water. And it will yellow it quickly. If your considering a refuge, I would be more than happy to send you some sand. If you will just pay for shipping. I have copepods and brittle stars out the ying yang.
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jnelson1983 - Posts: 38
- Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:39 pm
Thanks for the links fihsboy. Big question for those... I have a 310 gallon tank. How big will the algae tumbler (which, when i clicked on the link, came up as an Algae Turf Scrubber) or Refugium have to be? Kinda limited on space for those.
The 2nd question, is how well will this work with me using a canister filter? I didn't want to use a sump due to not being able to have an auto-topoff installed; and i didn't want to have to constantly add water to it.
The 2nd question, is how well will this work with me using a canister filter? I didn't want to use a sump due to not being able to have an auto-topoff installed; and i didn't want to have to constantly add water to it.
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fihsboy - Posts: 1837
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm
You can add an auto top off. :) Piece of cake!http://www.melevsreef.com/280g/280g_sump.html
A sump is 1000x better than a canister. Its literally that much easier to keep clean as well. If you can fit one.......do it. being its a 310 I would go with maybe a 75 gallon tank as your sump. You could build a place for your skimmer, a place for your algae tumbler and baffles to cut down on debris.
An algae tumbler....as far as that goes.......its basically just a tank where you place a ball of chaeto algae and let it tumble. Chaeto will NOT go a sexual on you......so it wont reproduce all over the place, and it wont yellow your water. If you use a sump....you will want to hook up a filter sock. The best means of filtering ANY tank. IMO. I change filter socks once a week......and at the end of three weeks, I throw all three in the washer with a cap of bleach and extra rinse. Bam just like new. No more buying all these filter pads and media. :)
A sump is 1000x better than a canister. Its literally that much easier to keep clean as well. If you can fit one.......do it. being its a 310 I would go with maybe a 75 gallon tank as your sump. You could build a place for your skimmer, a place for your algae tumbler and baffles to cut down on debris.
An algae tumbler....as far as that goes.......its basically just a tank where you place a ball of chaeto algae and let it tumble. Chaeto will NOT go a sexual on you......so it wont reproduce all over the place, and it wont yellow your water. If you use a sump....you will want to hook up a filter sock. The best means of filtering ANY tank. IMO. I change filter socks once a week......and at the end of three weeks, I throw all three in the washer with a cap of bleach and extra rinse. Bam just like new. No more buying all these filter pads and media. :)
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fihsboy - Posts: 1837
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm
BTW, your tank is AWESOME. you have a lot of big poopers in your tank. haha. So now I understand your nitrate problem for sure. :) If you do a refuge....which is a gooood idea. run very little sand maybe an inch or two deep. I have a 6 inch sand bed....and its impossible for my critters to stir that much.
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jnelson1983 - Posts: 38
- Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:39 pm
Big poopers? Lol, yeah. Two of the lionfish are a little over 9 inches from mouth to tail... 14 inch spread on their main fins... other fish are comparable in size. As far as the sump, I'd have to get a bigger stand. Because, for whatever dumb reason, i cheaped out on $100, and got the stand that was only 24 inches tall (20 inches of room under) instead of 32 inches... sump won't fit.
Other issue is that my tank wasn't made to be a reef tank (No pre-drilled holes)...and with 3/4 inch tempered glass for the bottom, i've been told there's about a 99.9% chance of the bottom exploding if i tried to drill it.
Would it work to have the output for my canister go into the refuge tank/tumbler/whatever, and then another pump pull the water out of the refuge tank and push it to the tank?
Other issue is that my tank wasn't made to be a reef tank (No pre-drilled holes)...and with 3/4 inch tempered glass for the bottom, i've been told there's about a 99.9% chance of the bottom exploding if i tried to drill it.
Would it work to have the output for my canister go into the refuge tank/tumbler/whatever, and then another pump pull the water out of the refuge tank and push it to the tank?
