Nitrate-Phosphate ratio with a Sulphur Denitrator

[Muffin87]

I'm setting up a 50G with a 20G sump.
It'll be mostly LPS, and easy SPS (pocillopora, stylophora).

I'd like to set up my nutrient reduction so that automatic-feedings for a couple of tubastrea colonies (Sun coral) aren't gonna be a huge struggle.

I got myself:

• Clarisea Gen 2
• Oversized skimmer (geared towards tanks in the 80G to 180G range)

A sulphur denitrator (like the KORALLIN Biodenitrator S 1501) could solve potential nitrates issues.
But then my phosphates would still be sky-rocketing from the high feedings.

How do people keep phosphates in check, when you feed heavily and use a Sulphur Denitrator?

1. Good ol' Lanthanum Chloride?
2. You spend a ton of money on GFO?
3. Tropic Marin Elimi-NP: specific carbon dosing for tanks with increased phosphate concentration and a low nitrate-phosphate ratio?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Bump for folks with denitrator experience

 

[Arnielazo]

Late but maybe help someone - gfo works for me. Denitrator is totally worth it I have the Korallin 1500 on a Red Sea 350 heavy bio load and can keep nitrates at 0-5 no problem. I’ve used gfo for a year and I finally got it to 10 teaspoons every 2-3 weeks

 

[Muffin87]

GFO works for me

You aren't late at all!
What brand of GFO do you use? Does it get expensive with a heavy bioload?

 

[Reefahholic]

You aren't late at all!
What brand of GFO do you use? Does it get expensive with a heavy bioload?

GFO can be quite expensive and the issue I have with it is that it's difficult to measure the effect. One way to help manage NO3 is with Siporax. Once that stuff colonizes it's super effective. Most systems do well with about 10-20 liters. If it's too potent within a year....you just start removing it till the sweet spot is found. Sadly, it doesn't seem to have as big of an impact on Phosphate.

One of the easiest ways to keep Phosphate in check is by dosing LaCI. Once you find the sweet spot you will know exactly how much to dose for your system daily, weekly, etc. It is super potent (needs to be diluted), but very cheap to buy. The key is to go extremely slow. I dose into a 5-10 micron felt filter sock, because they say (don't think it's been verified) the flocculant can harm fish. I know people who don't say it doesn't and just dose in the sump, skimmer neck, or overflow box.

This is the brand you would want to get. It's called SeaKlear. It's about $42 for 32 Oz and just so you know how effective it is... 1 quart removes 9,000 ppb of orthophosphates in 10,000 gallons of water! Yikes! When I need to dose it I dilute it to 1mL for every Liter of RODI. That will handle a tank from about 75 - 150/G. I drip it slow over 6-8 hours.

Siporax... (which is sintered glass) looks like this:

 

[Arnielazo]

You aren't late at all!
What brand of GFO do you use? Does it get expensive with a heavy bioload?

I use rowaphos it’s price but works and I use less