Nutrient control for FOWLR

reefandreptileautomation · May 27, 2019

Hello all. I have a well established 7+ year old 300ga FOWLR tank. I have a tremendous bio load. I currently have a Algae scrubber, roller mats, skimmer, and a GAC reactor. That is all for my filtration. While I believe the algae scrubber is big enough for my tank I still continue to have 50 nitrates/.30 or so phosphates in the tank. I get a decent amount of algae build up on the rocks, glass, etc after a few weeks post water change.

Should i invest in GFO or something? Would something like chemipure help? I noticed in the past when I tried using GFO it would be exhausted very quickly due to the bio load and I had to replace it very often.

I am up for any suggestions. Keep in mind I am doing this just to clarify the tank and less maintance as a 300 ga is a pain to clean every couple weeks.

JumboShrimp · May 27, 2019

Just curious— how many algae-loving fish do you have? My Yellow Eyed Koke Tang and One Spot Foxface seem to really keep things under control in my 90 gallon FOWLR.

Sashaka · May 27, 2019

Derrick Picker said:
Hello all. I have a well established 7+ year old 300ga FOWLR tank. I have a tremendous bio load. I currently have a Algae scrubber, roller mats, skimmer, and a GAC reactor. That is all for my filtration. While I believe the algae scrubber is big enough for my tank I still continue to have 50 nitrates/.30 or so phosphates in the tank. I get a decent amount of algae build up on the rocks, glass, etc after a few weeks post water change.

Should i invest in GFO or something? Would something like chemipure help? I noticed in the past when I tried using GFO it would be exhausted very quickly due to the bio load and I had to replace it very often.

I am up for any suggestions. Keep in mind I am doing this just to clarify the tank and less maintance as a 300 ga is a pain to clean every couple weeks.

I have a 180 gal and that's a pain to clean every few weeks too! I recently got my nitrates under control by adding an in line pellet reactor. For the first time in about a year my nitrates have dropped to 5. I'm so excited! Nothing else worked for me, not Chemipure, large water changes, or chemicals (chemicals were a temporary fix but there was always a repercussion such as a spirulina outbreak). It's been two weeks since my last water change. The nitrates used to rise to over 80 in just one week. It's a FOWLR like your tank, so no corals to worry about in this tank. I'm going to adjust my lighting next to fewer hours and invest in some darker window curtains. I also haven't done a phosphate check in awhile on this tank, so I may have to deal with that soon too. In any event, I don't know if what I've done to bring down my nitrates will help your tank, but I've had a positive outcome adding the pellet reactor.

BTW, I have a Royal tang, a yellow tang, and a Foxface. They don't make a dent in my algae...though when I had the Kole tang, it was a nonstop workhorse on algae, preferring it over the nori I add every day on a clip.

Good luck!

asting · May 27, 2019

Do you have a refugium and chaeto? It's been TOO efficient on my reef tanks.

reefandreptileautomation · May 28, 2019

Thanks guys for your input. I actually have a Kole tang and 2 Rabbitfish. My tank is LARGE at 300 gallons so they do not do much. I have the algae scrubber so I am under the impression I will not need a pellet reactor. However, I have had it running for about 2 months and not seeing any significant drop in either Nitrate or Phosphate. Not sure I am doing something wrong with it.

sa6hir · May 28, 2019

Well I have 220g I did have highish nitrates 60-80 so I over dosed with NoPox for a week. 3x the amount I was ment to, this was about 6 months ago now my nitrates are stable at 5ppm. That’s half the story the other half is I started to use bio pellets at the same time and now that what’s actually helping. I am also over using these to keep things in check. I’m using 1 litre of the pellets in my system. Give it a try definitely will work. By the way Nopox is a form of carbon dosing u could use, vodka, sugar, vinegar, I used NoPox because it’s out the bottle and comes with instructions so No need to mess about. NoPox will also help reduce phosphate but it primarily used for nitrates. I just did water changes to bring it down, everything seems to have stabled for me. I’m also using filter floss to ensure all food and crap it’s trapped and removed every 2-4 days. Try to locate the cause of the phosphate, could be the water, food etc. You need to get to the source of the problem.

jda · May 28, 2019

I used sugar on my FOWLR, in addition to a fuge and stuff. Once I lowered the N and P quite a bit, the fuge and algae grew better. Look into vinegar, vodka or sugar dosing - all work. Go slow and be consistent and both the N and P will drop over a few months. You will notice your skimmer pulling out even more junk than ever. Once I got my levels down pretty low, I cut way back on the dose. The coralline really started to take off again, once I lowered the N and P. You still should be changing water and doing other maintenance, IMO.

reefandreptileautomation · May 28, 2019

Thanks guys. I am concerned however because I have an ATS. I think dosing anything will cause that to stop working properly.

sa6hir · May 28, 2019

Derrick Picker said:
Thanks guys. I am concerned however because I have an ATS. I think dosing anything will cause that to stop working properly.

Then I think you will be left with no other choice but to siphon and do large water changes on a regular basis. I would sit and think which will be better for you long term the ATS or lower nitrates. My set up is so simple with nothing more then a skimmer, filter sock, bio pellets reactor, heater and return in the sump. And everything is where I want it to be. Your just going to have to decide how you want to do it, now that you have the options.