lewisriverfisherman Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I am tired of doing so many water changes to get my nitrates down. There seems to be alot of methods around to do this, but i have been toying with the idea of a couple different things. Does anyone here run a sulfer denitrater, RDSB, or a fluidized sand bed? I would be interested if any of these work at all. Maybe which one will give me more bang for my buck. I hope someone here has a little experience with some of these. Thanks in advance for your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Maybe get rid of about ten fish..lol Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 +1 on the fish lol. Have you considered the biopellets? Barelycuda was trying them on his clownhouse and was having good results. I have heard both good and bad things about them in regards to coral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 Hum maybe if I got rid of the 6 or 7 Tang's in my tank, that would do the trick.DOH! What can I say, I love the Tang's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I'd reduce the # of tangs to 2 or 3. Then upgrade your skimmer. What one are you running now Brandon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 Im running a Reef Octpus 200 the old model with a sedra 9000 pinwheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Let me know when/if you want to upgrade. I know a guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Algae scrubber? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 Let me know when/if you want to upgrade. I know a guy I know a guy as well but its hard to upgrade without a job(laugh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 Algae scrubber? I have been pondering one of these as well. Thank you for the suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I know a guy as well but its hard to upgrade without a job(laugh) Yeah I hear that. I meant that I know a guy who could possibly make your skimmer work better............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I'm running a rdsb. I started it just a few days ago, so I can't tell yet. A lot of people are having luck with it and it is only a few bucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold B Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 RDSB works but limiting imported nutrients along with macro, MB-7 & reef Bio-fuel is almost a sure bet IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Since I'm such a nice guy brandon and I want to see your tank be less of a burden just bring on over that purple tang....(laugh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I'm running a rdsb. I started it just a few days ago' date=' so I can't tell yet. A lot of people are having luck with it and it is only a few bucks[/quote'] Mine's been running about 6 months now. Haven't kept very good track of it though to say how well it does. (Probably check all of the parameters in the next day or two so I'll have a better idea then) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelhead77 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 IME, the only way to get them down is with large water changes. Small ones won't do it. Three 50% water changes will drop them from 100 to 12.5 in a week or so. From there they are much more manageable. This is what I had to do last summer in my 180. Because I was in Singapore and China most of the summer it got so that they were over 160. When I returned, I did a series of 50% changes and I got them down to under 10 where they have stayed since. BTW I have 18 fish in my tank including 4 large Tangs plus one HUGE FF Rabbitfish. Vodka, MB7, all that other stuff helps to keep them down, but to bring them down initially, the only way is with water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fast5oranger Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Feed your fish the minimum amount, Sometimes I will skip an entire day (once a week). Other than that I only feed once a day. I've got twelve fish in a 110 and nitrates are at zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 30, 2011 Author Share Posted March 30, 2011 Since I'm such a nice guy brandon and I want to see your tank be less of a burden just bring on over that purple tang....(laugh) Jesse if you were a proven Tang keeper i might consider bringing a Tang or 2 over but I think we all know your track record.(laugh) Really I am just kidding Jesse, I think everyone should at least have a Tang or 2 in a larger system for algae control and I am sure that you will finally be able to keep one in due time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I agree with big frequent water change for initial lowering the nutrients. Water changes always works. As for probiotics, whatever it is (MB-7, vodka, rice, red wine, zeo, xaqua, etc) in most of the cases a macro/refugium setup is gonna compete with the carbon/bacteria and it is not something you want. If I remember well you have concrete bricks in your sump. Keep an eye on those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted March 30, 2011 Author Share Posted March 30, 2011 IME' date=' the only way to get them down is with large water changes. Small ones won't do it. Three 50% water changes will drop them from 100 to 12.5 in a week or so. From there they are much more manageable. This is what I had to do last summer in my 180. Because I was in Singapore and China most of the summer it got so that they were over 160. When I returned, I did a series of 50% changes and I got them down to under 10 where they have stayed since. BTW I have 18 fish in my tank including 4 large Tangs plus one HUGE FF Rabbitfish. Vodka, MB7, all that other stuff helps to keep them down, but to bring them down initially, the only way is with water changes.[/quote'] I have 18 fish as well but only in a 150gal. I have 6 Tangs in mine with 3 large Silver Mono's that i cant catch, with out tearing apart my tank. My nitrate test kit(elos) went bad so that's how the nitrate problem really got started. I have done a couple 35gal water changes in a months time. I was just looking at something to help I wonder if the algae scrubber would help that much, it seems like it would be the cheapest to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 The cheapest is the DSB in the bucket. The bucket is free, a few $ for 2 uni-seals (I used 1'' and .5''). A bag and a half of sand from home depot (the one sold for kids to play with), an used maxi jet and some tubing. I think it wont cost more than $20. If you have an external pump you can feed the bucket with that. It is not filtered as recommended but it seems to work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Hey I have a yellow tang that is alive and healthy. I know it's only been about a month but hey it's still alive and kicking..(laugh) But I did deserve that one.. Freakin' hilarious...(laugh) Jesse if you were a proven Tang keeper i might consider bringing a Tang or 2 over but I think we all know your track record.(laugh) Really I am just kidding Jesse' date=' I think everyone should at least have a Tang or 2 in a larger system for algae control and I am sure that you will finally be able to keep one in due time.[/quote'] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Hum maybe if I got rid of the 6 or 7 Tang's in my tank' date=' that would do the trick.DOH! What can I say, I love the Tang's[/quote'] I NEED a few more tangs for my 210 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralreefer Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Take the concrete brick out of the sump...water changes never will help if sand bed is nitrate trap...I had a denitrator...will work...however, using vodka/sugar/vinegar and MB7 will allow you to use your whole tank as a denitrator (a good thing)...In creasing flow, reducing fish load, reducing feeding, increasing clean up crew, biopellets, all good ideas....but again, if tank is being "abused" by overfeeding and over"fishing", nothing will help long term...I was an abuser...had to finally resort to tear down and get rid of rock and sand... DrMerle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 The cheapest is the DSB in the bucket. The bucket is free, a few $ for 2 uni-seals (I used 1'' and .5''). A bag and a half of sand from home depot (the one sold for kids to play with), an used maxi jet and some tubing. I think it wont cost more than $20. If you have an external pump you can feed the bucket with that. It is not filtered as recommended but it seems to work for me. I don't even use a pump for mine (I did originally). I changed mine and put a tee with a valve in the drain and give it a slow gravity feed from it instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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