Freshy girl wants a FOWLR Tank

[scottayy]

And yeah, there's no need for carbon unless you're removing medicines or something else from the water. Throw another sponge in there! more places for beneficial bacteria to grow.

 

[abdhalim2]

im not sure where u read that hob was a nitrate factory....not the hob, but the materials inside it...the sponge,bio-balls, etc...u need to rinse it well when do your PWC...i would not add more sponge in there...i will let the bacteria to grow on the Live Rock...that is why we call it Live Rock....JMO

 

[huma-huma]

But unless you have 2.5-3lbs of live rock for every gallon, you need extra space for more bb. Replacing the carbon with another sponge isn't going to hurt a single thing. There's a total of 5 sponges on my tank and refugium. Save the carbon for if you ever need to dose your tank, the carbon will remove meds quickly. Plus it also helps having more than 1 sponge in your filter, because then you can alternate cleaning them with every pwc without worrying about destroying your bb

 

[abdhalim2]

im not sure what type of carbon are u talked about...if it was about dose your tank with carbon sources (vodka,sugar,vinegar) or VSV, i dont think u shud...carbon dose was for bacteria food sources...it multiply the bacteria in short term of period n give a good results reducing the nutrient level...but u need to understand more about it before start...but if u bought commercial carbon source such from Seachem,it can be dose according to their instructions....
btw, carbon dosing needs a good skimmer....

 

[huma-huma]

abdhalim- I'm sorry bud but I don't think you're understanding what the topic was, we are talking about having carbon in your filter...not carbon dosing, I don't even know why someone would dose their tank with carbon. You are talking about an ammonia source, which is what the bb feeds on and converts to trites then trates... But that's another topic.......replacing carbon filter media with more sponge filter will only give you benefits, not negatives

 

[abdhalim2]

if u talked about the carbon filter media, then it was my fault talked about carbon dosing....
bro huma huma- yes....there are lots of successful reefer practising the carbon sources dosing in their salt water tank...im sorry if u didnt even heard that...n im not even talked about ammonia source, which i knew it will convert to nitrite then nitrates which bring your nitrate reading high...u need bacteria which will convert this extra nutrient to nitrogen...or else u need macroalgae which consume this as their food source to thrive in a tank...that is why, tank with high reading in nitrates and phosphates can give u problem with nuisane algae...btw, another commercial type of carbon source such NP biopellets, prodibio, etc which is run in a reactor...

 

[Ricksreef]

And yeah, there's no need for carbon unless you're removing medicines or something else from the water. Throw another sponge in there! more places for beneficial bacteria to grow.

I disagree,you should have your water running through activated carbon 24/7.It absorbs impurities in the water and helps keep it clear whether in a HOB filter or in sump.

 

[TraceyB4602]

Well I have 100 pounds or rock in there right now and at least half is live. The tanks a 100 gallon tank. So i have 1 pound of rock per gallon. We are getting more rock soon. There is carbon in there now it came with the filter but with my other tanks ( which at FW) I don't replace my carbon unless I medicate.

In a SW tank I don't know if it's necessary or not to have it replaced every month. I'm getting mixed reviews here, but there always are, I hear the same thing about fW tanks. But I never replace mine and it's clear as can be.

As for a protein skimmer, we have a HOB skimmer that is breaking in at the moment. It already pulled a bunch of nasty smelly stuff out an I'm glad to se it's working. It's an Aero Force 2. I don't know if anyone has experience with that skimmer but if you do please let me know how it works.

I think I'm going to try not replacing the carbon and see how that works for a couple months and then replace it and see if there is difference. Just to see for myself.

 

[Grizz]

I've run carbon in my tanks for the past 7 yrs have'nt had any problems as of yet i keep a lot of mixed corals and worry about the toxins i replace it monthly may be over kill but if it works dont fix it..

 

[huma-huma]

Yeah I don't keep any carbon running in any of my tanks because it just absorbs everything, so if you dose regularly or medicate, you have to remove the carbon, imo the very small benefits of running active carbon aren't worth having to replace it evryu so often and remove it for dosing/meds....

 

[Grizz]

I'd never dose any of my DT's QT QT QT lol it cant be said enough The only tank i dont run carbon in has two tangs i dont run it there cause i heard it can cause HLLE

 

[TraceyB4602]

So our tank is now cycled. In a 100g is 40ppm nitrate a good level? Or should it be a little higher? I know my freshwater tanks are all about that and they range from a 10- 45 and they never really go up from 40so didn't know if salt water is different.

We just added 6 damsels to get it broken in a couple turbo snails, hermit crabs and a bumblebee snail. Looking at a lion fish, the Fu Manchu. Tiny little guy. So that brings me to my next question.

How long will FW ghost shrimp last in saltwater? I'm trying it right now and he's still alive and I added him like an hour ago

 

[Grizz]

you realy should try for 0 nitrAtes in both FW and SW IMO 40 ppm is to high

 

[TraceyB4602]

What? Are you serious. No. I will not do that. I know that in both fresh and salt water you need nitrates to keep your tank cycled.

 

[huma-huma]

I second grizz's statement. You wanna be as close to 0 for trates as possible.. And you may wanna hold off on the fu manchu lion....he's prob the hardest lion to keep and you really wanna make sure you have your water and tank operations down pat before bringing him home. Unfrotunately if you try to keep a fu manchu now, its gonna get stressed out and be a handful....I'd wait 2-3 months and then pick him up. Your end experience will be soo much better

 

[huma-huma]

And you don't need trates at all...they are the end result of the nitrogen cycle.....you have to get rid of them with pwc's or you'll start stressing your fish out

 

[abdhalim2]

its hard to get 0 nitrates for a beginner...but if u can keep it as low as possible such 10ppm with a fowlr sw tank, that consider good...and it was great if u can them 0....0 doesnt mean the nitrate isnt there...

 

[huma-huma]

0 trates is def possible, granted beginners may have some trouble holding it at 0....but its def possible.
Tracey if you want to get your trates knocked down considerably, do a 50% pwc now and another 50% pwc tomorrow.....itlls knocked your trates down quite far.

 

[TraceyB4602]

So do some SW fish/coral/anenomes not tolerate nitrate levels as well as FW? I have always been told to keep my nitrates at or below 40. I understand that 0 isn't bad but with my experience in FW 40 never hurt anything. This is actually the first time I have heard of keeping trates at 0.

 

[huma-huma]

Yeah most fish can tolerate up to about 70-80 trates. Although 40 prob would not cause immediate death to fish, it will stress the fish and gradually weaken their immune systems. And for 95% of us, there's nothing but pwc's to remove trates. I personally try to keep mine below 5 because I've noticed that the higher the trates get, the quicker it can swing.... Again I see you really haven't had any issues with it so far but it can (and sadly prob will at some point) make a small problem worse.