polyfilter or carbon removing good elements? iodide ?

[MorayMadness]

hello i have a 55 reef tank with 70 lbs lr ls for about 6 years now . i only have a eible angel and a coral banded shrimp with about 40 assorted crabs and 30 astrea snails.

i have a hob filter with a carbon and a polyfilter right at the end of the return of the filter. but i read somewhere that it removes trace elements such as iodide . i am keeping mushrooms and polyps using 4 x 65w pc lighting.

also have a cpr bakpak 2 skimmer with chaeto in the return., i used the polyfilter and carbon to clear up the water and help reduce no3. my no3 went up when i did a pwc when i stirred the sand and possibly release toxic gas by accident.

am i safe to constantly use what i have ? i am trying to accelerate my coraline growth. i just changed out my bulbs after a year or so use from last.,

i have about 380 ppm ca need to test for alk and dkh. been using IO salt for years . am starting this week to use tropic marin salt heard has many trace elements and balances ca alk and mag better, i obviously need to test to verify. i currently use marc weiss combo vital since day one of my tank. within a month or 2 i am setting up my sump again to incorporate a dsb about 6 inches and a large amount of chaeto.

thanks in advance.

 

[Ziggy953]

I would suggest increasing the amount of LR that you have in the tank. 80-120lbs total and that will sufice as your filtration. I don't use carbon on my tanks and I have nice clear water. With a skimmer and the HOB fuge and enough LR you will be fine. I agree with you on adding a sump with a DSB as that is what I have on my 72g reef. I don't know whether or not the HOB filter with carbon is removing trace elements but my guess is yes to a point. I say go natural with the LR and LS.

 

[melosu58]

LR and a skimmer is all you need for proper biological filtration. Yes using constant GAC will strip your water of some trace elements. You`ll need to do weekly PWC`s if you are going to run GAC.

 

[MorayMadness]

thanks yeah i do about 10 gallons a week on my 55 with ls an lr volume it looks like 20 percent. i am adding new tropic marin salt which i hear has a lot of good trace elements so ill remove the carbon. thanks

 

[Ziggy953]

When you remove the carbon you may want to compensate for the reduced filtration with additional PWC until you can get more LR in there.

 

[MorayMadness]

why woudl i need more lr in there ? its a 55 gallon with 70 lbs lr and a dsb . .. . . i have had this tank set up for years with no problems. the only reason i added the carbon was to clear up the water from my low intensity light from not changing the bulbs causing an algea bloom.. not to mention 24-7 skimming.

 

[Ziggy953]

To each his own.

 

[roka64]

I agree with the rest, I removed my carbon months ago and have had no problems. I believe Ziggy was saying yoiu could add more LR for more biofiltration. Looking at your setup and you running it that long with no prblems, you sounds like your set up is great. I think stirring the DSB may have released gas pockets, but it sounds like you have it under controll. Personally, I am not planning on using a filter on my new 125. I am runnning a cheapo on now to help remove the funk, but once I get up my sump/fuge, I'll remove my filter. HTHs.

 

[MorayMadness]

thanks all yah didnt mean to insult or anything . .

i def think i released gasses by disturbing my dsb causing my no3 to go up .

i added the filter really only to clear up the water and increase water turbulence. i am adding a sump with another dsb and chaeto to remove po4 and no3


good advice though just dont have the extra cash to add 30 more lbs of lr at 7 bux a pound.