Nitrate Factory---WoW

[ckmn101]

Well without knowing any better I got a canister filter- and now I haven’t really heard anything good about them.
I have the foam and 4 compartments. 2 with carbon, 1 with the bio max rings, and one empty in case I need to use it for something. I do my pwc every single weekend and rinse the foam in fw at that time.
My tank has been up and running for 10wks now and nitrates slowly went from 5 to 20 and rising. (I realize 20 isn’t that high but I want the fish to be as healthy and comfy as possible) I do not use ro water. Tap nitrates are steady around 5. I only have 60lb lr but for now it is just a fowlr tank. I am slowly upgrading and adding rock and things to hopefully have a reef tank after it is well est. I’ve ordered an AquC pro and it should be here very soon.
My ?’s are- do I need the mech filtration If so should I rinse the foam more often Whatever suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I think the intake skimmer thing of the AquaC is supposed to have a place for carbon so I wouldn’t mind doing away w/ the can if I don’t need the mech filt.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[roka64]

I'm not completely sure, but I believe if you add more LR you won't need to have any media in the canister. I have the 304 and love it. Do you clean your CC? I believe that may cause the nitrates (some one correct me if I'm wrong).
When I do my PWC, I clean the foam and media in the old SW and rinse out the canister as well.
I believe tecwzrd doesn't run anything in his canister....

 

[2revup]

i also have a canister and do water changes weekly. I dont clean my caniser all that much maybe once a month, and my nitrate levels are 0 and has been since cyle whci was over 6 months ago.

 

[ckmn101]

If you mean gravel vac, yes I vac every week w/ pwc.
thanks,
Mike

 

[tecwzrd]

I love my canister but keep it empty to keep waste from building up in it. I went in more detail in this post.

IMO considering your light fish load depending on how large your Tang is I think 60 lbs of lr is enough currently to do away with the media in the canister. I’d still run the canister empty for water circulation. If not cleaning the canister weekly (if you have media in it) then it’s guarantied to trap waste and kick up your no3. If you run it empty I wouldn’t use any foam filters and food should just suck up and blow back out into the tank mostly so cleaning can be reduced to once a month.

The CC substrate is always going to trap waste and even vacuuming will still trap waste where you can’t vacuum. I know it’s a pain but I’d remove it slowly (10%-20% a week) over the next couple of weeks till empty and then replace with aragonite sand.

CC will never accumulate the wanted oxygen deprived bacteria that helps break down no3 to the harmless nitrogen gas.

You need 140 lbs of sand for a 4” sand bed for your 75 gal tank. With good sand shifting inverts you would never have to vacuum it.

You may be over feeding your fish which could increase your no3 as well.

 

[roka64]

The CC substrate is always going to trap waste and even vacuuming will still trap waste where you can’t vacuum. I know it’s a pain but I’d remove it slowly

Yeah, tell me about it! I made the mistake of having CC and LS. I had to use a strainer to separate the LS from the CC....Boy was that fun! I did my change in 1/3 increments, and then did my PWC.