Do rollermats help keep nitrate/phosphate down?

[Oregon Grown Reef]

Not really anything else to worry about. It’s a good way to make food for filter feeders and even feed many corals and sponges and such directly,

what is the nitrate now? Phosphate?

I'm not sure as I haven't tested them in far too long. My systems are nearly devoid of corals right now as I had a family emergency that kept me from home and subsequently I lost almost all of my coral from not being able to care for the tanks. I am going to be starting back up though. I'm sure they're sky high. Will I first need to get levels down to an acceptable level before dosing? I know that nitrate will not be consumed if phosphate is limited, but right now it should be plentiful...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not sure as I haven't tested them in far too long. My systems are nearly devoid of corals right now as I had a family emergency that kept me from home and subsequently I lost almost all of my coral from not being able to care for the tanks. I am going to be starting back up though. I'm sure they're sky high. Will I first need to get levels down to an acceptable level before dosing? I know that nitrate will not be consumed if phosphate is limited, but right now it should be plentiful...

I personally wouldn’t start organic carbon dosing without knowing nitrate and phosphate because if either bottoms out you can get problems that may include dinos.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

I personally wouldn’t start organic carbon dosing without knowing nitrate and phosphate because if either bottoms out you can get problems that may include dinos.

I haven't done a water change in far too long, so I was confident in them being high. I tested nitrate after my last post and confirmed it's embarrassingly high at 63ppm... I am going to be doing a series of water changes to bring it down before I begin carbon dosing. Not just for the number, but I'm sure other undesirables have built up over time as well. I'll also test phosphate before I begin. If too low, I have neophos on hand to raise it. I've tried carbon dosing in the past, but I stopped before seeing results because I started seeing cyano pop up all over the tank. Is one form of carbon dosing more likely to cause cyano than others? I was using nopox which I believe contains several.

 

[emain879]

Not used one myself but a reefing buddy has and found it to not make all that much difference to his nitrate levels. He’s anti social media, so not on the reef boards but I can ask him again if anything’s changed. Our ‘provisional’ conclusion was that too much detritus never makes it to the filter, and that that does is already mineralized.

Yeah they’re snake oil

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

Yeah they’re snake oil

I don't believe that to be true. My original assessment of them being able to stop nitrate from rising was inaccurate, but they do remove vast amounts of detritus and uneaten food. Instead of changing out filter socks every couple of days, you have to change a roll out every couple of months. They're incredibly convenient for that. As Randy and I just discussed, there are other causes of rising nitrates that filter socks or rollers aren't capable of controlling. Personally, I'd rather not have a bunch of poop and rotting food left in my tank.

 

[Waboss]

When I added my filter roller my nitrates and phosphates dropped a good bit. Enough that I pulled the drain plug from my skimmer so all liquid gets dumped back into the sump and it only collect "solids" that stick to the neck/cup. That combination has worked well for me.

 

[JDCagley]

I have a ~5 month old 165g mixed reef. I was recently battling dinos from a mistake on my part of running GFO - caused nitrates and phosphates to bottom out. I added a UV and aggressive removal of the dinos and all is well so far. (dosing NaNO3 and PO4 also and reading >0 values now). Dinos are in retreat and expect fully gone in the next week or so. While this was happening, I added a red sea 1200 reef mat and holy hell - the rolls I am/was going through is crazy. Initially, while the dinos were at full on attack mode, I was going through a 115' roll in 3-4 days. These rolls are $30 each. This is unsustainable. I raised the unit by 0.75" and it helped extend the roll life (still with full blown dinos) to 5 days and the roll was noticeably darker. Now that the dinos are nearly gone, I am now getting about 9-10 days/roll. I am still not very "satisfied" as I only wanted to automate filter sock cleaning and now, I am not 100% "sold" on this as a solution. 3 rolls per month is still quite an expense. I guess a little more time will tell, but as of now, the expense of the rolls is a concern.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

I have a ~5 month old 165g mixed reef. I was recently battling dinos from a mistake on my part of running GFO - caused nitrates and phosphates to bottom out. I added a UV and aggressive removal of the dinos and all is well so far. (dosing NaNO3 and PO4 also and reading >0 values now). Dinos are in retreat and expect fully gone in the next week or so. While this was happening, I added a red sea 1200 reef mat and holy hell - the rolls I am/was going through is crazy. Initially, while the dinos were at full on attack mode, I was going through a 115' roll in 3-4 days. These rolls are $30 each. This is unsustainable. I raised the unit by 0.75" and it helped extend the roll life (still with full blown dinos) to 5 days and the roll was noticeably darker. Now that the dinos are nearly gone, I am now getting about 9-10 days/roll. I am still not very "satisfied" as I only wanted to automate filter sock cleaning and now, I am not 100% "sold" on this as a solution. 3 rolls per month is still quite an expense. I guess a little more time will tell, but as of now, the expense of the rolls is a concern.

I can't speak to the red sea filter roller as I have the clarisea. 1 thing I will note is that I have the SK5000, which is meant for larger tanks, on a 40 breeder w/ a 29 gal sump and I have it raised all of the way up so the material is fully saturated by the time it's pulled out of the water. It's still turning countless times per day. If I had a larger tank with more fish, I'm sure that I would be going through more fleece. For me it's either this or never changing out filter socks in enough time to benefit anything. I value my time as well and cleaning poop filled filter socks isn't how I want to spend it.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

I have a ~5 month old 165g mixed reef. I was recently battling dinos from a mistake on my part of running GFO - caused nitrates and phosphates to bottom out. I added a UV and aggressive removal of the dinos and all is well so far. (dosing NaNO3 and PO4 also and reading >0 values now). Dinos are in retreat and expect fully gone in the next week or so. While this was happening, I added a red sea 1200 reef mat and holy hell - the rolls I am/was going through is crazy. Initially, while the dinos were at full on attack mode, I was going through a 115' roll in 3-4 days. These rolls are $30 each. This is unsustainable. I raised the unit by 0.75" and it helped extend the roll life (still with full blown dinos) to 5 days and the roll was noticeably darker. Now that the dinos are nearly gone, I am now getting about 9-10 days/roll. I am still not very "satisfied" as I only wanted to automate filter sock cleaning and now, I am not 100% "sold" on this as a solution. 3 rolls per month is still quite an expense. I guess a little more time will tell, but as of now, the expense of the rolls is a concern.

A big factor for fleece life also depends on how many fish and how much food you feed. I know you have low nutrients, but how many fish (specifically tangs) do you have and how much do you feed?

 

[JDCagley]

A big factor for fleece life also depends on how many fish and how much food you feed. I know you have low nutrients, but how many fish (specifically tangs) do you have and how much do you feed?

I have total 18 fish - mostly small, chromis x5, 2 clowns, 2 anthias, 4 mixed damsels, and 2 convict gobies. 2 tangs hippo and Scopus (sp?) and a coral beauty. I was feeding 2x daily, I have increased that to 3-4x daily (food eaten within 4-5 minutes), so I don't really feel I am feeding a 'lot'. Originally I felt the usage was strictly from the dinos as my socks were dirty - and I mean plugged - in less than 24 hours. So I knew at first I was in for high usage on the rolls, but I was reading where people were getting 3-4+ weeks out a roll! I don't see that happening at all - ever - honestly. The roll that is in here now and likely done today was installed 10 days ago. My water is looking great, clear (running UV), and all parameters are spot on (except the nitrates and phos. that I am currently working on.)