How do you know if you are "over-filtering" your tank?

[Cary Meredith]

Yes, I noticed that all my macro algae was slowly wasting away. I tested Nitrate's and Phosphate's and both were 0 from what I could tell. I did let it run for a bit longer testing along the way and still coming up and 0 for both. I picked up the Hanna High Range Nitrate and ULR Phosphate and started dosing Nitrates and Phosphate's currently manual dosing and nitrate max about 11 ppm and phosphates at about .06 trying to drop that back to about .03. Within 2 weeks of dosing what little macro algae I had left is now again flourishing and growing like weeds.

 

[LPS Bum]

Our glass boxes are a far cry from the ocean. I’ve never worried about over filtration. Not with tangs at least. Heavy in, heavy out seems to be the right approach for me.

 

[NatsRams]

For a couple years I never detected nitrate or phosphate. I had issues with cyano and a little bit of dinos. I learned from researching that outbreaks of both are related to issues with nutrients, either too low or out of balance. So, I stopped WCs a few months ago, drastically reduced skimming, and removed the GFO. I also, for stability’s sake, went back to slowly adding (regular small doses with dosing pump) kalkwasser. My SPS have taken off after doing these things and I started to see low level nitrates (<1ppm). Phosphate was consistently <0.1ppm and often undetectable, and I still have cyano issues. So, I am now slowly, regularly dosing nitrates with a dosing pump and will soon be doing the same with phosphates. The nitrates are getting close to 2 ppm. I’m hoping the cyano will fade with time.

 

[M Stein]

My coral over-filter my nitrates.

 

[Shevlin77]

I over filtered per se by adding lots of SPS into my 17 year old system. When I finally started getting good growth I didn’t realize they were eating all of what was previously balanced nutrients since I didn’t test for them. All of a sudden I was not dealing with the very minor nuisance algae that I always had and was happy as a clam. Glass and sand was always clean.

Then the Dinos started showing up high in the water column, in heavy flow and forming on the tips of my SPS. Was completely baffled until coming on here to do some research and sure enough nutrients and bottomed out. Luckily able to get the Dino’s under control with hydrogen peroxide and adding a UV sterilizer in just a couple of weeks. In the process over corrected and ended up with another algae bloom but everything is finally balance back out. Phos at .05 and nitrites around 3.5.

 

[scardall]

My only over filtration per say is when i brought down my nitrates to <1ppm. Results Dino's and many corals died. grrrrrr fortunatly I eventuely fixed that problem with sodium nitrate solution.

 

[Double monti 61]

Although I use two small filters a power head and a small protein skimmer I use no filter media just some ceramic tubes in the two hang on back filters one has some sera siporax along with a small clean up crew in the tank the system does well.

 

[fohadi16]

I ran a protein skimmer on my 10 gallon nano, and boy was that a mistake. Nutrients went down to zero, corals looked pale, and Dino spread everywhere. I learned the hard way not to let nutrients bottom out

 

[nosduj]

Dinos, back when I was feeding twice a week and running filter floss on top of my media basket

 

[Brian W]

Yes dealing with it now. For the 2nd time. Dinos. ugh!

 

[jonas777]

When my no3 drops below 20ppm i get green algae on my rocks, maybe its bryopsis... very strange, with no3 above 20ppm my rocks looks great. Dont know why?

 

[Pmj]

I think ”too clean” is a bit of a misnomer. Your nutrients can get highly imbalanced and out of wack from GFO and carbon dosing, but also poor maintenance, circulation and rotting detritus buildup. That can mean something is 0 but it doesn’t necessarily mean the tank is too clean. Likewise having detectable nitrates and phosphates doesn’t imply the tank is sufficiently dirty imho.

 

[A Young Reefer]

I run the heavy in heavy out method. I feed heavy and have an oversized skimmer and a lot of biological filtration. 9/10 of the times I have undetectable phosphates and nitrates. No problems, and corals are happy because they are fed regularly.

 

[nano reef]

I added to many corals at once and the extra bioload shot up my nitrates. I started dosing nopox and over did it therefor I got my nitrates and phosphates down to zero and of corse you know what happened next!! DINOS! Took a while to beat them but finally did!

 

[BillyW]

I voted no, I saw much better results with heavy in and heavy out.
Had stopped feeding as much as I was, and continued with the same nutrient export I without a doubt would have had problems. Nutrient export from my experience and what I have read is all tank and reefer dependent.
Two people with the exact same tank can run them 100% differently and achieve the similar results. 1000 ways to skin a cat, 1000 ways to run a reef.
I believe the science of reefing has come a long way in the last 20 years and as we learn more will continue to evolve.
The art of reefing is fascinating. I’ve read many times of people doing something to their tank I wouldn’t dream of doing and they achieve phenomenal results.

 

[Dkman]

One BIG mistake we have seen over the years, and have more recently been educated on, is that you can "over filter" your tank. Or your reef tank can be TOO CLEAN! So let me get this straight. Don't filter and you run the risk of an algae explosion, over filter and you run the risk of an algae explosion? Seems about right for keeping a saltwater reef aquarium! Let's talk about it!

How do you know if you are "over-filtering" your tank and how do you keep a good balance?

image via @Roberto Denadai

 

[Emerson]

Absolutely YES!!!

After a five year hiatus from the hobby, I set up a 75 gal (upgrade to a 90) reef tank using Dry Pukani. It was still in vogue and I was operating under the assumption that no nutrient is a good nutrient. I got PO4 and held it at 0 running GFO, ran a filter sock, and starved my fish when I first stood up my current tank five years ago. The tank did fine until about the 1 year point when (I surmise) the dry Pukani Rock had finally given up the majority of whatever it gives up in "locked nutrients.... My NO3 levels stabilized at a near zero with healthy soft coral and (probably) too much skimming and the GFO kept PO4 at absolute zero. The fight I had over the next 18 months almost made me shut it down. First i battled cyano, then dinos, and finally Red Turf Algae (RTA). The cyano, while bad, was much easier to get rid of with chemical additives like Chemiclean or Red Slime Remover.

Thinking I had to fix the "root cause" I upped my filtration, water changes, and became even more stingy with feeding. Nutrients were 0/0. Then came the dinos... My research lead me to believe that dinos thrive in near zero nutrients. I finally got rid of dinos by taking GFO offline, feeding more, backing off water changes and installing an appropriate sized UV. Next up Red Turf Algae.

You think RTA will eventually go away, but it never did. After scouring the internet, I was able to correspond with Dr. Jack Kent (Kent Marine and Brightwell Aquatics) who recommended I try BA MicroBacter Clean in conjunction with Razor; I also ran a filter sock 24/7. After two weeks, my tank was devoid of any RTA and have had good results for the last three years.

Looking back, I think my microfauna/biome was way out of balance with near zero nutrients. Tha allowed the "bad guys" (cyano, dinos, RTA) a competetive advantage. I try to keep my PO4 level at something less than .03, and NO3 below 10. I took my filter sock off line, and reduced my skimming. My mixed reef is now thriving.

 

[saltyhog]

how did you beat the dino's?

in my case, i have under filtered my tank resulting in algae blooms/patches and cyano. and over filtered leaving room for dino's. have overcome both situations, luckily.

Dino treatment depends very much on the type of dino. For the one I had (Ostreopsis) and Coolia the treatment is an over sized UV with low flow. Be happy to supply you with specifics in a PM so as not to side track the thread.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Look at it at night with a flashlight. If nothing is moving you have too much filtration.

You have that spot on. Best test there is.

 

[gbroadbridge]

My only over filtration per say is when i brought down my nitrates to <1ppm. Results Dino's and many corals died. grrrrrr fortunatly I eventuely fixed that problem with sodium nitrate solution.

Ten years ago and ULNS was a thing.

Red sea still promote this in their recipes.

Never again.