Bad filter decision, is there anything I can do?

[ZachariahBeanzz]

Hi, I’ve been having high nitrate issues in my tank for a little while now, and I think it’s due to my filter. Back when I bought my tank, I got it for $150 which included a stand and a 20g AIO. I didn’t do my research and just bought the tank. This wasn’t a good decision, as it doesn’t seem to be a very good design. I replaced a couple of the filter floss parts, and I had to get a new heater. I’m left with this

I know it’s not that good, so what should I change?
PS…My tank parameters are all in the norm except my nitrates, which are around 50PPM. I only currently have three fish, no CUC or coral yet.

 

[JTP424]

Full tank pic? Do you have any rock/substrate etc? How did you cycle your tank?

 

[sixty_reefer]

Your filter is working well for nitrification, for denitrification (reduce No3) you need anoxic areas in the tank, this comes from good quality live rock or you can also buy media bricks for this purpose.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

How often do you do water changes? What is your Phosphate?

 

[ZachariahBeanzz]

Full tank pic? Do you have any rock/substrate etc? How did you cycle your tank?

Yeah, I do have about an inch to two inches of live sand that I added, and I have around 12lbs of dry rock in the tank. I’ll try and get a picture as soon as I can.

 

[ZachariahBeanzz]

How often do you do water changes? What is your Phosphate?

I do a 10% water change weekly, and I lost my phosphate test kit . I ordered another one though

 

[JTP424]

Keep doing water changes until you get them under control to start. Otherwise you can add some macroalgae as another thread recommended to you!

 

[ZachariahBeanzz]

Keep doing water changes until you get them under control to start. Otherwise you can add some macroalgae as another thread recommended to you!

I’ve been doing the water changes, and it hasn’t seemed to be helping. But, I was being a bit one dimensional with the macro algae comment. I just thought since they said to put it in with the heater, that that’s what I should do. But now after thinking of more, I think it might look nice in my display tank? I’ve never done anything with macro algae, and I’d have a bunch of questions. I guess, are they compatible coral? And what parameters do they generally prefer? Are there any better varieties I should look out for?

 

[JTP424]

Try a small water change every other day or so until they get down.
There are a bunch of macros available, many work fine with corals. Here's a thread about it:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/macro-algae-and-corals.1026242/
All in all I don't think there is anything wrong with your filter setup. You've got mechanical and bio-logical. How did you cycle the tank?

 

[twentyleagues]

This all really depends on how much nitrate you add per week. A 10% water change on my 120g of water volume doesnt even make a noticeable dent in my nitrate levels even if I test right after maybe 1-2ppm. I went for months with out doing water changes and nitrates leveled off at 30.

 

[JTP424]

@twentyleagues brings up a valid point, the nitrates aren't' extremely toxic unless you're keeping certain things etc. Do you believe they are causing harm to your fish?

Edit: What test kits are you using.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I would remove the rocks from the filter ,they aren't needed and serve no purpose, and will just trap particles in them. Thats just me though

 

[ZachariahBeanzz]

@twentyleagues brings up a valid point, the nitrates aren't' extremely toxic unless you're keeping certain things etc. Do you believe they are causing harm to your fish?

Edit: What test kits are you using.

Oh, yeah, they not causing my fish any harm. But I eventually wanted to get coral, so that’s why I’m trying to get them down. I’m also using the Red Sea Marine Care testing kit.

 

[ZachariahBeanzz]

This all really depends on how much nitrate you add per week. A 10% water change on my 120g of water volume doesnt even make a noticeable dent in my nitrate levels even if I test right after maybe 1-2ppm. I went for months with out doing water changes and nitrates leveled off at 30.

Yeah, I have another FOWLR tank that I don’t need to do water changes on too frequently just because the parameters have stabilized. But, I would assume I’m not adding too much nitrate into my system, I’m feeding frozen food about 5 times a week.

 

[ZachariahBeanzz]

Full tank pic? Do you have any rock/substrate etc? How did you cycle your tank?

Here’s the picture, if its still helpful

 

[twentyleagues]

Yeah, I have another FOWLR tank that I don’t need to do water changes on too frequently just because the parameters have stabilized. But, I would assume I’m not adding too much nitrate into my system, I’m feeding frozen food about 5 times a week.

I don't remember seeing it what do you consider high nitrate?

I mean this is 32ppm and .13 is that high? Sorry couldn't find a everyone awake pic atm. This is just after lights on about 2 months ago.

 

[ZachariahBeanzz]

I don't remember seeing it what do you consider high nitrate?

I mean this is 32ppm and .13 is that high? Sorry couldn't find an everyone awake pic atm. This is just after lights on about 2 months ago.

For my FOWLR, I don’t mind my nitrates getting to 30-40ppm, as long as nuisance algae isn’t being too much of an eye sore. But, for this tank, I want to get it down to around 20ppm for nitrate, and would consider that decently high. BTW, that’s a beautiful tank you have!

 

[twentyleagues]

For my FOWLR, I don’t mind my nitrates getting to 30-40ppm, as long as nuisance algae isn’t being too much of an eye sore. But, for this tank, I want to get it down to around 20ppm for nitrate, and would consider that decently high. BTW, that’s a beautiful tank you have!

Thank you.

I found it 50ppm. Do larger more frequent water changes. Also change or clean whatever mechanical media you have every couple days. I dont use mechanical like floss or socks at all just a skimmer. I also agree with @Mr. Mojo Rising take the rocks out of the filter they will trap detritus or put them in a mesh bag and rinse it off in tank water regularly.

I said above 10% water changes once a week do nothing to the nitrates in my tank. I wanted to see how my tank looked if I could get away from 30 down to 15ish. Water changes alone I did 3-20g water changes in one week so 60g and nothing looked different, and I was at 18ppm. It took 2 weeks in which I did 10% water changes once a week to get back up to 30ppm. Nothing looks different. I do think the corals enjoy water changes as the hammers and duncans get super fluffy after even a 10% change. I think I will continue doing them for that purpose alone. I went for 3 months without doing a water change and my nitrates seemed to sit right around 30ppm. So it seems my system can process whatever extra that would take it over 30 but can not take the 30 lower by itself. Maybe carbon dosing? But everything seems happy at 30 and my cuc handles any algae before I even see it. Except a bit of red "hair" like algae no one touched tooth brush and a little peroxide took care of that.