Starting off with 5.5g

[fijiwigi]

Originally Posted by Sadielynn

Wrong they are nitrAte /phosphate factories , while you should be changing out your filter pad monthly at very least if you have issues with those 2 perameters take it off and do a water change you will see them fall or start to fall ... I have experienced this first hand .. LR rubble is a 50/50 in a nano as you want the best water polish you can get and sometimes it is just not practical to run rubble ... some one on another site had issues even with the rubble .. I can only tell you from experince what has happened to me . Others will also back me up on this and the bio balls/rings ...
Und, glad to hear things are going for you .I wish you continued success

I have no experience with a nano so I am sure you are correct very good point. I currently have a Biowheel with a purigen pouch in it but on a bigger tank simply because I needed a place to run chemical media. I just feel as if the Biowheels or similar type filters get a bad reputation for being Nitrate factories when If you are maintaining them as needed rinsing the media and changing often they very well can be beneficial. There are many variables to the equation. I am still new at this and learning maybe I am wrong it is very likely. I am just wondering how the Biowheel by itself could house nitrates it absorbs bacteria but really does not absorb as much waste as the filter pads do to create the nitrates.

[lando]

As far as "biowheels" or any other form of wet/dry filtration being NO3 factories...it is true. However, there is more to the picture. Wet/dry filtration does exactly what it is designed to do...convert NH3 to NO2 and NO2 to NO3. This is done in an aerobic (with oxygen) enviornment. The beneficial bacteria needed to consume NO3 (or at least help with it) tend to thrive in an anaerobic (without oxygen) enviornment. Plenty of biological filtration (in the form of LS and LR) is what is needed to keep NO3 low, in combination with bioload and feeding. My first reef tank was a 38gal with a HOB Emperior 400 filter that had two biowheels in it. I also used LS and about 100lbs of LR in the tank. I left the biowheels on and saw no issues with NO3 accumulation, because of the amount of biological filtration I had in the tank. That said...are biowheels, wet/drys, etc. appropriate for SW reef applications? I would say no. I mean, why bother with them when the majority of the biological cycle is handled by your other biomedia. Besides...YOU are the most reliable and consistant method for nutrient export...keep up on the water changes.

BTW...I am sorry to hear you decided to go ahead with the anemone. Both because of space and age of your tank. I am not sure a month is a very good gage of long-term success but I do wish you luck.

[fijiwigi]

Originally Posted by lando

BTW...I am sorry to hear you decided to go ahead with the anemone. Both because of space and age of your tank. I am not sure a month is a very good gage of long-term success but I do wish you luck.

I actually took the anemone back to the LFS and gave it to them as a gift as I realized I was not ready for it. Thanks for the good luck wish.

I enjoyed reading your post very informative I can tell you know what you are talking about and agree with what was said. It may seem as if I am arguing a point but in all reality I am just trying to understand. However I may not agree with everything said I am developing a commen opinion within all of the 12 opinions to every story. I do need a filter of some sort to run chemical media such as purigen I decided to choose the biowheel that way when I want to run my quarantine tank I can take the biowheel to start the biological filtration of the QT tank without having to keep a QT tank up and running so for me it is necessary as I need it for the flow and biological filtration of my 10g Quarantine tank. Maybe there is an easier way to do this. I am sure the ones that disagree with this have a different method and maybe could shed some light on the subject so that I can learn something new.

[lando]

Great news about the anemone...I applaud you for returning it.