Help!!! FILTRATION ADVICE NEEDED!!

[RC88]

Hello fellow reefers!!!

I hope you are all well.

I am seeking advice regarding filtration! I have a 100litre tank with a back sump. It has 6 compartments and this is what I currently have in them.

1st - intake - small sponge and clear fx pro media bag.
2nd - Empty
3rd - Empty
4th - Protein skimmer
5th - Empty
6th - outtake - pump and water heater

My question is - am I missing anything fundamental to the well being of my tank?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[brandon429]

Nice job not packing it down to the hilt that reduces flow and requires cleaning frequently each chamber when loaded. If this helps, even if you ran no skimmer and zero extra filtration beyond rock and sand, your ammonia and nitrite will always be ok even with the maximum fish bioloading the tank will ever see.


there is no time in display tank reefing post- cycle where rocks and sand up front are insufficient to process ammonia and handle nitrite regardless of support anywhere else. (Excluding power outages or circulation issues...a normal reef manages its base ammonia control inherently)


so that leaves you contemplating ways to control nitrate and or phosphate, if ever, from your arrangements. Check ammonia and nitrite help, any form of extra surface area just for safety, as 100% wasted space. Your mostly open arrangement is best, this extra flows allows fast water movement across the real filters up front.


some people like to polish water by catching detritus and removing it from packed in filters, that's fine. It was going to wind up in the sand if you didn’t occasionally remove waste somehow with or without a back area filter in place.


a reef tank never uncycles and never runs short on surface area even with no other supports. Your eventual arrangement is only helpful for modulating nitrate or phosphates or turning into a pod refugium. Running the entire filtration system totally empty would also work just fine, your fish carry ability isn’t changed.

live rock alone without sand will carry more fish in a reef tank than disease control will allow, ammonia wont be an issue in display tank reefing.

 

[RC88]

Nice job not packing it down to the hilt that reduces flow and requires cleaning frequently each chamber when loaded. If this helps, even if you ran no skimmer and zero extra filtration beyond rock and sand, your ammonia and nitrite will always be ok even with the maximum fish bioloading the tank will ever see.


there is no time in display tank reefing post- cycle where rocks and sand up front are insufficient to process ammonia and handle nitrite regardless of support anywhere else. (Excluding power outages or circulation issues...a normal reef manages its base ammonia control inherently)


so that leaves you contemplating ways to control nitrate and or phosphate, if ever, from your arrangements. Check ammonia and nitrite help, any form of extra surface area just for safety, as 100% wasted space. Your mostly open arrangement is best, this extra flows allows fast water movement across the real filters up front.


some people like to polish water by catching detritus and removing it from packed in filters, that's fine. It was going to wind up in the sand if you didn’t occasionally remove waste somehow with or without a back area filter in place.


a reef tank never uncycles and never runs short on surface area even with no other supports. Your eventual arrangement is only helpful for modulating nitrate or phosphates or turning into a pod refugium. Running the entire filtration system totally empty would also work just fine, your fish carry ability isn’t changed.

live rock alone without sand will carry more fish in a reef tank than disease control will allow, ammonia wont be an issue in display tank reefing.

Thank you for the advice. I purposely kept it free at the back to improve the flow like you mentioned but was concerned I was missing something that could essentially be beneficial for my fish / corals. My parameters are mostly fine apart from slightly high alk and low calcium which I am now dosing. My corals have been closed for the last two weeks and am hoping they will recover.

 

[brandon429]

Recommend to re ramp lighting and do a nice water change


be dynamic with reef lighting especially during stress times, vs constant all on


you’d be surprised how well that helps smooth our coral issues

when whole systems or multi corals are reacting it’s good to reduce lighting and do a nice water change

 

[RC88]

Recommend to re ramp lighting and do a nice water change


be dynamic with reef lighting especially during stress times, vs constant all on


you’d be surprised how well that helps smooth our coral issues

when whole systems or multi corals are reacting it’s good to reduce lighting and do a nice water change

I’ll give that a try. I’m sure I caused the upset when I removed the filters and added the clear fx. The sudden change and perhaps losing the bacteria in those filters caused it? I must say it’s a relatively new tank. It’s about 6 months old. I have also had a couple of recent cuc deaths. Hope with time I can get everything back to how it was. My corals we’re having a great time before I made the changes. Still learning but a lesson learnt was, don’t make any big changes to the set up.

 

[Uncle99]

What levels of nitrate and phosphate does your filtration produce?
That would be the true indicator of filters ability to export.

 

[RC88]

What levels of nitrate and phosphate does your filtration produce?
That would be the true indicator of filters ability to export.

I’m not entirely sure I understand what you mean but my Ph is at 8.2 and Nitrate at 10. They have been like this for the last 3 weeks. Currently testing weekly. Does that help?

 

[GBRsouth]

Hello fellow reefers!!!

I hope you are all well.

I am seeking advice regarding filtration! I have a 100litre tank with a back sump. It has 6 compartments and this is what I currently have in them.

1st - intake - small sponge and clear fx pro media bag.
2nd - Empty
3rd - Empty
4th - Protein skimmer
5th - Empty
6th - outtake - pump and water heater

My question is - am I missing anything fundamental to the well being of my tank?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I agree with @brandon429 you just need to add in methods to control nitrate and phosphate levels.

I notice your heater is in your return pump chamber. This is not ideal as the chamber can potentially be sucked dry if your water top off system fails. Leaving your heater on and exposed to air. This can ruin your heater and is also potentially a fire risk. Just move the heater to an earlier chamber that won't run dry.

 

[GBRsouth]

I’m not entirely sure I understand what you mean but my Ph is at 8.2 and Nitrate at 10. They have been like this for the last 3 weeks. Currently testing weekly. Does that help?

Your ph level of 8.2 is not phosphate. It is the level of acidity/alkalinity of your water. (8.2 is alkaline and a good level, but not related to your phosphate level.)

 

[RC88]

Your ph level of 8.2 is not phosphate. It is the level of acidity/alkalinity of your water. (8.2 is alkaline and a good level, but not related to your phosphate level.)

Sorry - Phosphate - 0.1

 

[RC88]

I agree with @brandon429 you just need to add in methods to control nitrate and phosphate levels.

I notice your heater is in your return pump chamber. This is not ideal as the chamber can potentially be sucked dry if your water top off system fails. Leaving your heater on and exposed to air. This can ruin your heater and is also potentially a fire risk. Just move the heater to an earlier chamber that won't run dry.

This is a good suggestion regarding the heater. I have also included my parameters below if it helps;
Ph - 8.2
Nitrate - 10
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Phosphate - 0.1
Alkalinity - 12dKH
Salinity - 36
Magnesium - 1400
Calcium - 360

based on the above, I noticed that my salt has 10dKH só have changed it to a 7dKH alternative. Been introducing that slowly into the tank through my weekly 10% water changes and have started dosing calcium weekly to improve that.
Any other suggestions? What methods are there to control nitrate and phos? I think my levels are ok? I also don’t over feed.

 

[GBRsouth]

This is a good suggestion regarding the heater. I have also included my parameters below if it helps;
Ph - 8.2
Nitrate - 10
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Phosphate - 0.1
Alkalinity - 12dKH
Salinity - 36
Magnesium - 1400
Calcium - 360

based on the above, I noticed that my salt has 10dKH só have changed it to a 7dKH alternative. Been introducing that slowly into the tank through my weekly 10% water changes and have started dosing calcium weekly to improve that.
Any other suggestions? What methods are there to control nitrate and phos? I think my levels are ok? I also don’t over feed.

Your nitrate and phosphate are in range so no rush to deal with it. Macroalgae reactors or refugiums, algae turf scrubbers are natural ways to deal with nitrate and phosphate. Or nitrate could be dealt with through carbon dosing or reactors, sulfur reactors or methanol reactors. Phosphate can be dealt with by lanthanum chloride.

Research these methods and see what suits you. Personally, I prefer the natural methods.

 

[RC88]

Your nitrate and phosphate are in range so no rush to deal with it. Macroalgae reactors or refugiums, algae turf scrubbers are natural ways to deal with nitrate and phosphate. Or nitrate could be dealt with through carbon dosing or reactors, sulfur reactors or methanol reactors. Phosphate can be dealt with by lanthanum chloride.

Research these methods and see what suits you. Personally, I prefer the natural methods.

Hi guys.

thank you for all the advice so far. Today I ran another test and I have traces of ammonia. Below are all the results. My nitrate has also gone up by 10. Could my corals be dead and are causing this spike? When will I know that they have died? They have been closed for over 2 weeks now.

Ph - 8.2 -
Nitrate - 20 - up by 10
Alkalinity - 11dKH - improved by 1.
Phosphate - 0.4 - up by 0.3
Calcium - 450 - up by 90
Salinity - 37 - BAD - up by 1.
Ammonia - 1.2 - BAD

 

[RC88]

Corals attached for reference

 

[DC Reefer]

Something is causing the ammonia spike, need to find and remove. Also would do a water changes to reduce the ammonia and dose some bacteria to help get it under control quickly.

 

[RC88]

Something is causing the ammonia spike, need to find and remove. Also would do a water changes to reduce the ammonia and dose some bacteria to help get it under control quickly.

I had a shrimp die on me earlier in the week as well as a sand shifting starfish who was disintegrating. Apart from that. I can’t think of anything else causing the spike besides the dying coral?

 

[GBRsouth]

Hi guys.

thank you for all the advice so far. Today I ran another test and I have traces of ammonia. Below are all the results. My nitrate has also gone up by 10. Could my corals be dead and are causing this spike? When will I know that they have died? They have been closed for over 2 weeks now.

Ph - 8.2 -
Nitrate - 20 - up by 10
Alkalinity - 11dKH - improved by 1.
Phosphate - 0.4 - up by 0.3
Calcium - 450 - up by 90
Salinity - 37 - BAD - up by 1.
Ammonia - 1.2 - BAD

Something is causing the ammonia spike, need to find and remove. Also would do a water changes to reduce the ammonia and dose some bacteria to help get it under control quickly.

I had a shrimp die on me earlier in the week as well as a sand shifting starfish who was disintegrating. Apart from that. I can’t think of anything else causing the spike besides the dying coral?

I agree with @DC Reefer it's time for a water change. This will help reduce your ammonia, nitrate and phosphate levels. Keep testing ammonia after that (until you stop getting ammonia readings) and look for any decaying or dying matter and remove it to stop ammonia rising. The updated phosphate and nitrate readings show that it's time for you to look at methods to control them too.

 

[Uncle99]

I’m not entirely sure I understand what you mean but my Ph is at 8.2 and Nitrate at 10. They have been like this for the last 3 weeks. Currently testing weekly. Does that help?

Ok so you asked for some input on filtration.
I follow my Nitrate and Phosphate levels closely and when they stay stable, my filtration is sufficient.
When they are on the rise, I need to address the filtration export.
So, I might increase carbon dose, I may increase the photoperiod of my fuge, I may add some surface area in form of marine pure block, I may use GFO.

Your nitrate was 10ppm and phosphate, .1, for me that’s perfect.

So for me, no changes, filtration is meeting its goals. When these are stable I believe what’s going in, is coming out

 

[RC88]

Ok so you asked for some input on filtration.
I follow my Nitrate and Phosphate levels closely and when they stay stable, my filtration is sufficient.
When they are on the rise, I need to address the filtration export.
So, I might increase carbon dose, I may increase the photoperiod of my fuge, I may add some surface area in form of marine pure block, I may use GFO.

Your nitrate was 10ppm and phosphate, .1, for me that’s perfect.

So for me, no changes, filtration is meeting its goals. When these are stable I believe what’s going in, is coming out

This is great guys thank. Upon inspection I can’t see anything dead in the tank so can only assume it was from the dead shrimp that I removed mid week. Following the advice, I’m just going to make daily water changes and see how the tank reacts. I looked into reactors and refugiums but my filtration system is at the back of my tank and none of the reactors I’ve seen would fit in the compartments. I am hesitant to start connecting things outside of the tank but would do if completely necessary of course. Regarding the corals though - do any look like they are dead? Specially the GSP? It’s been closed for weeks and now has a layer of mucus on it. Looks dirty. Anyone seen this before? At this point I’m not exactly sure what’s irritating them.