Dear Community,
For the past few months, I have been setting up a seahorse tank with low flow and no corral, but due to very high phosphates, I want to add additional filtration, so I can finally add some ponies.
Current Filtration: My Biocube has 4 chambers. Chamber A is the display chamber,in which I have large quantities of decretive macro algae. Chamber B is the first part of the built-in-sump, currently I have a mid size protein skimmer here. Chamber C is the main segment of the sump, currently I have GFO in a bag that lies on the bottom, on top is a refugium with Chato macro algae tumbling in the water stream illuminated by a 30 watt led. In chamber D, I have submerged bioballs and an outflow to a very large canister filter, with no media, which simply moves water around and adds volume.
Option 1: I could move the LED light and macro algae from Chamber C into Chamber D, and use airstones in the bottom of Chamber C to create a fluidized filter, which would tumble K1, some phosphate media, or biopellates.
Option 2: I could move the led light from its current vertical orientation, shine it through the back of the tank, and direct the waterflow over a white plate that would act as an algae scrubber. This option would get rid of the refugium for my Chato.
Questions: Which option would be preferable? I’m guessing most will say Option 2, given that algae scrubbers are popular now, but if one were to go with Option A, what would be the best media for my situation?
For the past few months, I have been setting up a seahorse tank with low flow and no corral, but due to very high phosphates, I want to add additional filtration, so I can finally add some ponies.
Current Filtration: My Biocube has 4 chambers. Chamber A is the display chamber,in which I have large quantities of decretive macro algae. Chamber B is the first part of the built-in-sump, currently I have a mid size protein skimmer here. Chamber C is the main segment of the sump, currently I have GFO in a bag that lies on the bottom, on top is a refugium with Chato macro algae tumbling in the water stream illuminated by a 30 watt led. In chamber D, I have submerged bioballs and an outflow to a very large canister filter, with no media, which simply moves water around and adds volume.
Option 1: I could move the LED light and macro algae from Chamber C into Chamber D, and use airstones in the bottom of Chamber C to create a fluidized filter, which would tumble K1, some phosphate media, or biopellates.
Option 2: I could move the led light from its current vertical orientation, shine it through the back of the tank, and direct the waterflow over a white plate that would act as an algae scrubber. This option would get rid of the refugium for my Chato.
Questions: Which option would be preferable? I’m guessing most will say Option 2, given that algae scrubbers are popular now, but if one were to go with Option A, what would be the best media for my situation?
