Nitrate reactor in 25g cube

ahiggins

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Hey all!
Just stopping by to document progress on a new nitrate reactor in my 25 gallon.

Day 1-noticed nitrates had risen to 50. Ive been feeding a little heavier to get some bleached corals up to par and I had a bi-color blenny that tipped the scales for being "overstocked". I did rehome the blenny in my 20 gallon. After about a month of getting nowhere with water changes I finally decided to buy Marine Biosystems F5 nitrate reactor. I put in the polymer pellets for nitrate/phos reduction (I cant tell you which brand because I forgot :( )
When I installed the reactor I noticed that the pellets got clumpy and didnt want to spin. It did this until day 3 ish. I also dosed dr tims bacteria per the LFS to get the colony started inside the reactor.

Day 7-after testing nitrates daily, and keeping my 4-5 gal/week water change schedule the same, I finally noticed a small drop in nitrates. I use salifert and instead of a 50, its a little more than 25.

Ill keep everyone updated. I dont like that I have to use the reactor but I have a clown, orchid dottyback, and a 6 line (all about 3") and theyre perfect for the tank so I dont want to get rid of any of them. Im also heavily stocked with zoas, palys, acans, a hammer, random other LPS, and 2 sps so I feed heavily 1-2x per week.

Anyone have experience using a reactor on a nano reef?
 
If your doing water changes on a regular basis wouldn't that help with lowering nitrates?
 
Not that I noticed-ie not that much.
From my experience, small water changes on a semi frequent basis isnt an effective way to get rid of nitrates. A large water change could do it but I dont want to do a massive one.
 

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