Aquapure filters

[FishFreak1961]

Has anyone out there used the Aquapure filter I see advertised to
remove nitrates? Wonder if it is cracked up to what they say it is?

 

[waynotcars]

Hi, It's Aquaria-pure. I have used one and they are a pain. Constant adjustment, constant clogging, no effect on my nitrates. You feed them vodka and the vodka clogs them. Have to constantly remove the tubing and blow it out and re-adjust. Way over priced, IMO, for very little effect. If they were all they were cracked up to be everyone would use one. Try Bio-pellets to lower nitrates. Can be set up cheaper and works better.

 

[FishFreak1961]

I figured as much. What brand bio pellets do you use. I have
never used that, just fluval canister w foam and charcoal and
those ceramic bio thingys. My nitrates are at about 10. Which
they have lived with it for months. It got way high about 3 mos
ago and you sure don't get them down in days..... it is weeks!!

 

[waynotcars]

10ppm is fine! Don't stress it! Most people who claim they have 0 trates are full of it anyway! 10 is just fine. Don;t spend money and mess with your system for nothing.

 

[FishFreak1961]

I figured, if it is that bad why ain't they all dead??
!! I think I am doing fine. Tank is clear as can be.
I do at least 10% chg weekly. I have had no fatalities in
months. I've learned a lot since October of 09 when
I changed over to salt. Don't let nobody tell you it is
easy, right? It is well worth it. Such a rewarding hobby.

 

[FishFreak1961]

See anything you would critique? I am always willing
to take any suggestions! I got new finger coral yesterday
and the wedged bubbletip and some Rics, a cute little
sea hare. Do I need to move finger coral up to that top
rock?

 

[waynotcars]

Well a few things of advice, not critique. RESIST adding too many corals all at once. You'll end up wasting $ as some will not make it. ! evry month would be better. Watch out for flatworms hitch-hiking on your corals. They will reak havoc. WATCH that cute little Sea Hare. If they are stressed out they can INK. Shot ink like a squid does. This ink can be toxic. If they die in the tank, it's even worse, possibly killing the whole tank SO make SURE you are running a canister of activated carbon and change it every couple weeks. Every one will say "WE all strive for 0 nitrates". Strive and acheive are 2 differeent things. IF you want an SPS tank then striving for 0 is al good. Keeping softies and hardy LPS 10 is fine. Try not to let it raise higher by doing water changes. I KNOW water changes are THE most important thing. We all hate doing them but thats the key to keeping a nice reef tank.

Next thing, KEEP distance between corals. They FIGHT and kill each other. If you see pictures of these beautiful packed full of coral tanks you can bet they are pretty newly stocked and will NOT look beautiful 6 months later as the corals start to fight. So resist adding too quickly and too much.

 

[FishFreak1961]

Thanks a bunch. It is so hard to resist buying stuff. The sea hare is not so cute anymore....live and learn.
I notices a couple of my rivieras are splitting or whatever that is.

 

[FishFreak1961]

How do ricordea get along? I hope ok cuz they do well for me!

 

[waynotcars]

I only say about buying stuff because, believe me, I've done the same thing. I have to fill a 220 gal tank with corals and tiny frags just don't cut it. After spending lots, and still having the credit card bills to prove it (lol), I've decided I like leather corals the best of all. I've killed a Torch coral, a Birds Nest, an Alveapora. I'm not sure I killed them but they aren't around anymore so something killed them. Here's what I have in my 220: Gonoipora (most say they last only 6 months), Green Star Polyps, Big Toadstool, Green Pagoda, Devil's Hand, Small Xenia Frag, Green Finger Leather, Brown Button Polyps, White Pipe Organ, Two Colt Corals, Frogspawn (fading fast, from 6 heads to 2, and I'll never get another one), Yellow Scroll (boring coral, slow grower, does nothing), and a small Kenya Tree. My favorites are the colts, Toadstool, and Pipe Organ). Here's the thing, there is never a day when EVERY coral looks it's best. There is always at LEAST one that doesn't look so good on any given day and it switches all around, if you know what I mean. Right now, my FAVORITE Colt, which is usually the size of a soccer ball is all compressed to the size of a fist and has been like that for 3 days. For fish I have a yellow Tang, Blue Hippo Tang, Naso Tang, Percula Clown, Green Chromis, 2 yellow damsels, Bi-Pseudo (Dottyback), 6 Line Wrasse, 2 Anthias and an Algae Blenny. Clean up crew consists of about 45 or 50 Small Mexican Red Leg Hermits, 35 snails (Turbo, Stomatella, and others) and a huge Coral Banded Shrimp. I once had a Sea Hare but he got into a Koralia powerhead and met his death. My 220 is in my living room and feeds to the basement where I have a 100 gallon sump with an ASM G6 skimmer, Turf Algae filter, Refugium with mangroves and live rock, two media reactors running carbon and GFO. My tank is barebottom, NO sandbed. It is lighted by 900 watts of metal halide and 300 watts of T5's. I have 5 Koralia 4's for circulation. I only skim from 10pm to 10am. My skimmer is the size of a small rocket ship and pulls as much out in 12 hours as a smaller skimmer would pull in 24. So running 24 hours only wasted my electric bill. This tank used to be a fish only with live rock and there are days I miss that as I loved my huge triggers, groupers, puffers etc that I can't keep with a reef tank. Also a fish only tank used way less electricity as it could be lighted by a few t5's only, didn't need 5 powerheads and a huge skimmer. I love my corals but miss my fsh but can't afford electric to run more then one big tank.

 

[FishFreak1961]

I have killed a colt coral, toadstool I got tired of waiting for him to a how his stuff and I was afraid he would nuke my 36 gallon baby tank compared to yours. I discarded it after a few wks. I have two clowns, 1 algae blenny, pygmy angel, sleeper goby that makes everything look like it has been snowed on, mated cb shrimp
I never see, two curly q anemone, one long tentacle nem numerous housekeepers, rock nem, finger, hammer coral, several ricordea and they are growing new ones. And that hare. Every time I get a lettuce nudibramch
It disappears. What was a QT now hosts a chili coral that is lovely, fox face that is afraid of me, a red hawkfish that cracks me up, a chocolate chip, a brittle star, more rica, a bubble with a maroon clown that will
Bite you, he is very protective of bubbles, it is so cute. I have only done this 16 mos. Was freshwater for 20
Years and was bored with it. My son loves the sw tank. I use IO reef crystals or crystal sea biossay formula if I can find it. What is your preference? I need to find a quick way to buffer my ph in my RO water. I am on well water down on the farm with a countertop RO unit. The ph is only 4 or so aggravating me!

 

[waynotcars]

Take the ceramic things out of the canister filter. They're nitrate traps. If you have plenty oflive rock, that's enough. Take em out slowly, a little every week. Your salt "should" buffer your water right to around 8.2. If it's not, I use Sea Chem Marine Buffer and Reef Builder. Use as directed the Marine Buffer should put you right at 8.3 BUT don't do it all at once! Do it to your top off water for evaporation. use the RO water treated with Marine Buffer and test it for Ph. If it's correct, around 8 to 8.3, then use this as your daily top off water. a 4.3 swing in Ph will kill everything if it's done all at once. Here's the main thing: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If your corals and livestock are doing real well then just monitor and make any changes REAL slow. Remember, nothing GOOD happens FAST in this hobby. Only disasters happen fast, good things take time and patience. My toadstool stood closed and shriveled for 3 weeks. Finally I moved him to the opposite side of the tank and the VERY next morning it was open, huge and happy. He was too close to my huge Colt that's all shriveled up right now. I read up on them and it said do not keep colt corals close to toadstools or finger leathers as the colt will battle with it and probably win. Ugh, by the way, Chocolate chip stars wil eat invertebrates and "sometimes" small fish. I'm 53. I got my first tank, a 10 gallon freshwater when I was 10 years old and my friend's Mom wouldn't let him keep it. He gave it to me and it was instant love. I tried my first saltwater tank around 1988. Back then we used Dolimite for substrate and undergravel filters. State of the art was a canister filter. My first saltwater was what was known as a 77 gallon "show Tank".. It was 5 feet long and only 12" front to back. There was NO such thing as live corals. We spent fortunes on coral skeletons for decorations, I mean fortunes. They weren't cheap. I SWORE I would NEVER try a Reef tank and thought reef people were nuts and snobs. They kind of looked down on fish only hobbyists. I don't know what possessed me to try a reef tank but I know that just to convert from fish only to reef in this 220 I spent about 1800 to 2500 and many hours. Just when things were awesome I got my first electric bill and it went from 225 a month to 425!! My skimmer alone was costing 40 a month to run. So this past month I have changed the way I have been doing things. Skimming only 12 hours a day instead of 24, shortening my photo period, etc. It's a never ending battle but I love it.

 

[FishFreak1961]

bio balls/ph

Don't have live rock, just inert rock. Do you mean take the bio balls completely at once? What about the 4 foam pieces,
reckon they are nitrate traps too. Should I just load the canister with carbon and leave it at that. Foam seems like it
would be a nitrate farm too. I moved my toadstool all over the aquarium, he must have been a lemon. I got so disgusted with it, all it ever did was shed and look like it had ashy skin. I NEVER saw polyps. I would love to try one again. I skim all the time and have an aqua c remora, but it worries me to death trying to keep the water level just right. It was kinda costly and I hate to replace it. I may try your skimming only 12 hours or something. I'm still adding buffer to my RO water. I checked my sink water and it was below 4, why I don't know, I wonder if that is detrimental to our health. After it runs
through my RO unit I start buffering and it takes at least a week and that is soooo frustrating. If I make salt water and then buffer it that don't take as long, but I need to get salinity down in my QT so I'll have to do RO tomorrow about 2 gals out of 20. My main tank is stable and all is well. Does the finger coral show polyps or look like fingers all the time?
Have I asked enough questions yet?

 

[waynotcars]

If your inert rock has been in the tank for months it may be live rock now. Here's what I would do. Each time I went to LFS I'd buy a small piece of live rock. Don't get a crummy piece, get one with coralaline algae and lots of life. Don't let them lie to you and say it's cured when it isn't. You can tell by looking. You want a pink & purple covered rock with NO hair algae. Each time you add a piece of rock, wait 1 week and remove 1 piece from your canister. 1 sponge. then repeat the next 2 weeks, 1 rock, next week HALF the bio balls. Slow, slow slow. Do you have a lighted refugium?? If so, get some Chaeto algae and toss it in there. Get a mangrove root or two and place it in lighted fuge with rrot end under ater and leaf end out of water. Stick them through a piece of styrofoam and float it in there. Each time you add a rock you may get a very small nitrite spike. Thats why you wait one week before removing a filter media. You do not ned a canister filter. Once it is all empty, then yes, it is great for running carbon.

Yes, if you look at a finger leather you will see the polyps. They are very small bumps.

If you don't have a fuge or sump, you really need to add one.

Again, if use a quality salt, it should buffer your ro water on it's own.

 

[FishFreak1961]

Rock

I use IO reef crystals most of the time. The salt does help buffer, my main
issue is the ph in my RO water when I want to top off or bring down salinity.
I may have to buy some distilled water or something for that.
I am going to google some research on that. Yeah, LFS will sell you anything
I learned that. This is definitely a learning process. Oh you will be fine with
the mandarin then I get home and read it has to have big tank with lots of
food floating around and stuff, needless to see I lost him in a few weeks.
I don't have a refugium yet, don't know where to start on that one. My tank
has always been just as clear as glass. I have been very lucky. Just a nitrate
spike one time that took weeks to get down and I added something one time
that was for fresh water only and my Tangs died and a jawfish which I was
devastated over. They are hard to keep anyway. The sleeper goby is much
easier but he is messier for sure!! I will send you a pic of my set up in my
son's room and see what you think - if I even have room for a fuge or not???
16 mos and I am soooo new at this thing. I think I have done great though
LFS said I was their best customer as far as setting up and all, made me
feel good. Said some folks had added table salt to water..duh.... Are there
enough polyps on fingers ya think? This is in my kids room and he hasn't
complained much about the noise I hope he doesn't get tired of it. It was
his idea. I like it more than him now.

 

[waynotcars]

Nice. You would be so much better off removing the canister filter and buying a 10 gallon tank. You could put live rock, mangroves, miracle mud, chaeto algae and even a small skimmer in it. You light it with a CFL 23 watt light bulb. Keep it lighted when your tank lights are out. It's REALLY easy to set up and your tank would come alive with pods, coraline and all the neat stuff. The sump is fun in itself to watch. Every night I take a flashlight and look at my sump and tank and the amount of life never ceases to amaze me. Your son would love it too.

 

[FishFreak1961]

I have a lot to learn about setting up a sump. That sounds fun, I just have so much tied
Up in my filtration stuff now. I will have to read up on how to set the sump up And
Where do u get all that stuff...mangrove, miracle mud, chaeto, etc. Haven't seen that
At LFS! I think my little galaxea. Coral has found my hammer coral, at lunch he had his
Little tentacle stretched out to it. Should I move them apart?

 

[FishFreak1961]

Hi, It's Aquaria-pure. I have used one and they are a pain. Constant adjustment, constant clogging, no effect on my nitrates. You feed them vodka and the vodka clogs them. Have to constantly remove the tubing and blow it out and re-adjust. Way over priced, IMO, for very little effect. If they were all they were cracked up to be everyone would use one. Try Bio-pellets to lower nitrates. Can be set up cheaper and works better.

Do you put the bio pellets In your filter somehow? Where do u get those and what brand?

 

[waynotcars]

Heck yeah move it. I wouldn't even own a Galexea. They're deady.

 

[FishFreak1961]

Ok, he's goin to the QT!! right now!! It is very pretty, sure didn't know he
was that mean, very small probably 2" square but he has a long tentacle
and I love my hammer more! Thanks for all your advice!!