skimmer and ro/di questions

[angeladawng]

Hi folks!

I am wondering if I can remove my emporer 400 HOB? I got a reef octopus bh2000 on Friday night and it's been doing well so far (pics below of what it's been pulling out) I think the hob has been causing my high nitrates...have been battling for a while now to get them down and I was just reading that if you have a good skimmer, live rock and circulation, you really don't need a hob filter.

My parameters are: ammonia and nitrites 0, Ph 8.0 and nitrates between 20-30. I did a pwc last night and one last Sunday as well. Last Sunday they were over 40 so I am making progress to get them down.

Also, just installed a RO/DI system in my laundry room and flushed it according to the instructions, then made 1st batch of new saltwater and used it to do yesterday's pwc. (so refreshing to not have to pay for water at the lfs) Problem is, my water has been cloudy since the change last night. Can I put some water clarifier in the tank? It was crystal clear before last night, now back to being cloudy???? don't know if I didn't flush the system long enough or what happened? I followed the directions exactly.

 

[angeladawng]

here's pics of what skimmer has been pulling out....

 

[menotakoala]

Yes to removing the HOB filter. Are you running carbon? In my experience, those "water clarifiers" don't do much.

 

[Mrc8858]

Running with just a skimmer is fine and does work but keep in mind when you remove the HOB you remove a lot of surface area colonized by BB so depending on your stocklist and feeding schedule you could experience a small-large spike in parameters. As for the cloudy water, it sounds like you may have mixed the salt wrong in a sense. Did you dump all the salt in at once or add the water to the bucket with the salt already in it? The cloudiness if in your mix bucket is either gonna be unmixed salt or calcium carbonate (may be the wrong name lol) suspended in the water from the massive fluctuations in alkalinity and calcium while mixing.

 

[Greenpillow]

Ewwww why did ya touch it?!?

 

[Mr. Crabs]

I wouldn't add a clarifier.

I would give it a few days. Do you have a TDI meter? If not, you might want to get one to test the water coming out of the RO/DI.

I would give the tank a few days to settle. As long as the salinity is right, I think you should be ok. Sounds like you got some residue from the membranes passing into the water during break in of the RO/DI. This made the water cloudy in your tank. No big deal. I am assuming that you circulated the salt in the RO/DI water for an hour or two before adding (Atleast)?

Also, I wouldn't remove the HOB just yet, if you have been running it for a length of time, especially if it has the bio wheels. I would get the protein skimmer broken in over the course of a month or two, and THEN remove one bio wheel. Wait a month, and then remove the entire HOB from the system.

When you break in a skimmer, it is normal to skim "wet" which is more of a clear sludge.....that's what you have there. Over time, as you dial it in adjusting the water level, you will yield a darker skimmate that is closer to motor oil.

 

[angeladawng]

Water cleared up next morning....it was my fault when I poured it in I stirred up the sand.

HOB doesn't have biowheels....I never put them on when I set up the filter after reading in other threads that they should be removed. Still having nitrate issues and I am starting to get really p****d about it and can't figure it out. I spent almost $400 on a skimmer(reef octopus 2000) and RO/DI unit from BRS, and to me, that's a lot of money to still be having issues with nitrates considering all the time and energy I put into this tank...it's like having a second full time job.

I change 20 gallons every week and siphon the sand when I do changes. I have a pretty big cuc in my opinion. My fish seem to be thriving as well as inverts so I can't imagine that my test kit is accurate. I just tested 5 minutes ago and it's reading over 40, which to me is ridiculous.

I have to empty the collection cup on the skimmer daily and I don't know how to adjust it (absolutely NOTHING in the instructions on how to adjust it) and it can't be adjusted via the air tube like my last one. I guess I just move the collection cup up but I don't know.

I'm not so worried about circulation if I take off the HOB because I have 2 Koralia 1050's on it now and can get another one if need be to make up the difference.

I just don't know at this point.....very discouraged

 

[danbstrong]

Water cleared up next morning....it was my fault when I poured it in I stirred up the sand.

HOB doesn't have biowheels....I never put them on when I set up the filter after reading in other threads that they should be removed. Still having nitrate issues and I am starting to get really p****d about it and can't figure it out. I spent almost $400 on a skimmer(reef octopus 2000) and RO/DI unit from BRS, and to me, that's a lot of money to still be having issues with nitrates considering all the time and energy I put into this tank...it's like having a second full time job.

I change 20 gallons every week and siphon the sand when I do changes. I have a pretty big cuc in my opinion. My fish seem to be thriving as well as inverts so I can't imagine that my test kit is accurate. I just tested 5 minutes ago and it's reading over 40, which to me is ridiculous.

I have to empty the collection cup on the skimmer daily and I don't know how to adjust it (absolutely NOTHING in the instructions on how to adjust it) and it can't be adjusted via the air tube like my last one. I guess I just move the collection cup up but I don't know.

I'm not so worried about circulation if I take off the HOB because I have 2 Koralia 1050's on it now and can get another one if need be to make up the difference.

I just don't know at this point.....very discouraged

If youve got plenty of liverock imo get rid of that nitrate factory before your battling algae

 

[danbstrong]

If youve got plenty of liverock imo get rid of that nitrate factory before your battling algae

Can you adjust the flow coming out of the skimmer?

 

[Greenpillow]

I went to YouTube and searched for bh2000 and found a few set up videos for the skimmer. Maybe search there?

 

[angeladawng]

The videos on youtube are what I watched to set it up since the instructions it came with were less than helpful. Only problem is that they don't show how to do adjustments. Started searching last night and found some posts on this and other forums about how to adjust it and it is indeed done by moving the collection cup either up or down depending on if you want a wet or dry skim.

How does this sound for a plan? I am going to ditch the HOB and keep a really close eye on my parameters over the next few days to watch for a spike. Instead of doing a 20g water change, I think I will do a larger one and see if I can get the nitrates down substantially, continuing to monitor parameters closely afterwards and if they don't climb, I know I "fixed" the problem by ditching the hob. If they climb back up, well, then I guess I'll be picking your brains some more.

 

[danbstrong]

The videos on youtube are what I watched to set it up since the instructions it came with were less than helpful. Only problem is that they don't show how to do adjustments. Started searching last night and found some posts on this and other forums about how to adjust it and it is indeed done by moving the collection cup either up or down depending on if you want a wet or dry skim.

How does this sound for a plan? I am going to ditch the HOB and keep a really close eye on my parameters over the next few days to watch for a spike. Instead of doing a 20g water change, I think I will do a larger one and see if I can get the nitrates down substantially, continuing to monitor parameters closely afterwards and if they don't climb, I know I "fixed" the problem by ditching the hob. If they climb back up, well, then I guess I'll be picking your brains some more.

Ya thats a good plan id remove it for a couple days then test im almost certain thats the issue anyone that has hob filters and nitrate issues 9/10 times hob is culprit good luck

 

[angeladawng]

Ya thats a good plan id remove it for a couple days then test im almost certain thats the issue anyone that has hob filters and nitrate issues 9/10 times hob is culprit good luck

Removed hob and took test results....

Ammonia: 0
pH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: almost 80?

Can't believe nitrates are that high...have a big cuc and thought they can't handle high nitrates? If it's really that high, wouldn't they be goners?
I am using API test kit and have read everywhere that they are notorious for showing high results.

 

[danbstrong]

Removed hob and took test results....

Ammonia: 0
pH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: almost 80?

Can't believe nitrates are that high...have a big cuc and thought they can't handle high nitrates? If it's really that high, wouldn't they be goners?
I am using API test kit and have read everywhere that they are notorious for showing high results.

If its high for to long ya itll stress inverts out waterchange and test id change water maybe 10% each day for a week

 

[angeladawng]

Now it's off to the utility room to get me some water goin'.....will keep posting results.....

 

[danbstrong]

Now it's off to the utility room to get me some water goin'.....will keep posting results.....

Dont stress take your time one thing make sure when your doin aggressive waterchanges is make sur makeup water is same params as tank several wc's with params off a lil each time can throw system in shock in a weeks time

 

[angeladawng]

ok...so I took the hob off the other night like I said I was going to....didn't do anything with it yesterday and just tested the water today....nitrates are down by HALF compared to the other night. PWC today and going to test again tonight. FINALLY headed in the right direction (crossing fingers)

 

[danbstrong]

ok...so I took the hob off the other night like I said I was going to....didn't do anything with it yesterday and just tested the water today....nitrates are down by HALF compared to the other night. PWC today and going to test again tonight. FINALLY headed in the right direction (crossing fingers)

Good deal

 

[angeladawng]

ok...I just don't get it....I changed 18 gallons on Saturday, tested today and trates are back up to 40 or more...going to change another 25 tomorrow and see what reading is. Could my test kit be bad?? It doesn't expire until 2017 but I don't see how doing all these water changes is not bringing down the level of nitrates. I'm averaging 2 pwc's a week for the past month. My ammonia is 0, pH is 8.1, Nitrite is 0...only trates are high. Will take a water sample to lfs tomorrow and see what they get. It can't be the water I am making...I am testing it before I add salt with my freshwater kit and getting 0 nitrate reading and then after I put salt in and mix it overnight testing with salt kit and getting 0 reading so it's got to be something else.

I bought 2 more Koralia's today off ebay and they will be here this week sometime so that I can get more flow. Right now I have 2 1050's, one pointing across live rock and the other pointing up at top of water to get gas exchange. My fish and all inverts seem to be very happy (as far as I can tell) and crabs are all growing (they have all changed shells since I put them in a few weeks ago) Common sense tells me if something is stressed and not well it won't grow. Even my shrimp are growing.....I might sound like an idiot by saying that, but I am just at a total loss here and don't know what to do. I want to get some softies but there is no way I can with trates supposedly that high

 

[danbstrong]

ok...I just don't get it....I changed 18 gallons on Saturday, tested today and trates are back up to 40 or more...going to change another 25 tomorrow and see what reading is. Could my test kit be bad?? It doesn't expire until 2017 but I don't see how doing all these water changes is not bringing down the level of nitrates. I'm averaging 2 pwc's a week for the past month. My ammonia is 0, pH is 8.1, Nitrite is 0...only trates are high. Will take a water sample to lfs tomorrow and see what they get. It can't be the water I am making...I am testing it before I add salt with my freshwater kit and getting 0 nitrate reading and then after I put salt in and mix it overnight testing with salt kit and getting 0 reading so it's got to be something else.

I bought 2 more Koralia's today off ebay and they will be here this week sometime so that I can get more flow. Right now I have 2 1050's, one pointing across live rock and the other pointing up at top of water to get gas exchange. My fish and all inverts seem to be very happy (as far as I can tell) and crabs are all growing (they have all changed shells since I put them in a few weeks ago) Common sense tells me if something is stressed and not well it won't grow. Even my shrimp are growing.....I might sound like an idiot by saying that, but I am just at a total loss here and don't know what to do. I want to get some softies but there is no way I can with trates supposedly that high

Check your source water