Chaeto reactor or algae turf scrubber??

[sc_reefer170]

I have a Red Sea reefer 170 coming up on 2 years old an I have been having trouble keeping nitrate an phosphate down. I have accumulated 7 fish in the tank an a few coral mostly LPS. I feed frozen food everyday an have scaled back on the amount trying to reduce nitrate an phosphate but still rising. I feed coral once a week or once every 2 weeks an 20% water changes once a week. Would a algae scrubber or chaeto reactor help me or should I try other methods first?

 

[fushi]

I have a Red Sea reefer 170 coming up on 2 years old an I have been having trouble keeping nitrate an phosphate down. I have accumulated 7 fish in the tank an a few coral mostly LPS. I feed frozen food everyday an have scaled back on the amount trying to reduce nitrate an phosphate but still rising. I feed coral once a week or once every 2 weeks an 20% water changes once a week. Would a algae scrubber or chaeto reactor help me or should I try other methods first?

I also have a reefer 170 and think the biggest limitation is space as the cabinet is pretty tight. Both options you mentioned will reduce nutrients but take up a lot of space.

How high are your nutrients?

If they are very high you might want to try carbon dosing as that seems to be the strongest reduction process in my experience. My go to would a big dose of biodigest to promote good bacteria growth and dosages of potato vodka.


If your nutrients are only a little high maybe just add a ball of cheto and a cheap par38 light in your sump. Its a pretty cheap but effective option.




If you want a cleaner look in your sump Santa monica makes a mini turf scrubber that would fit in your sump. (I have never used a santa monica product but they looked like a good option when I planed out my 170 build)

https://www.santa-monica.cc/SLIP7-nano-chaeto-reactor-waterfall-scrubber-upflow-scrubber_p_104.html

 

[sc_reefer170]

I also have a reefer 170 and think the biggest limitation is space as the cabinet is pretty tight. Both options you mentioned will reduce nutrients but take up a lot of space.

How high are your nutrients?

If they are very high you might want to try carbon dosing as that seems to be the strongest reduction process in my experience. My go to would a big dose of biodigest to promote good bacteria growth and dosages of potato vodka.


If your nutrients are only a little high maybe just add a ball of cheto and a cheap par38 light in your sump. Its a pretty cheap but effective option.




If you want a cleaner look in your sump Santa monica makes a mini turf scrubber that would fit in your sump. (I have never used a santa monica product but they looked like a good option when I planed out my 170 build)

https://www.santa-monica.cc/SLIP7-nano-chaeto-reactor-waterfall-scrubber-upflow-scrubber_p_104.html

my nitrate has been running around a 14-17ppm for the last month an my phosphate around .06ppm. With the rising levels comes the green hair algae in the tank but I’ve kept it in control so far just hate seeing in. I was running 4-8ppm nitrate an .01-.02ppm phosphate for a while after switching from filter socks to a Clarisea fleece roller which helped my nutrients out big time.
I dose red sea nopox an I run a skimmer which work’s very well always gunk it’s getting out. Thank you for the tips an showing me the mini turf scrubber definitely gonna look into that an gonna try upping my dosing of nopox over time an see where I am with nutrients. Thanks for the input really appreciate it.

 

[fushi]

my nitrate has been running around a 14-17ppm for the last month an my phosphate around .06ppm. With the rising levels comes the green hair algae in the tank but I’ve kept it in control so far just hate seeing in. I was running 4-8ppm nitrate an .01-.02ppm phosphate for a while after switching from filter socks to a Clarisea fleece roller which helped my nutrients out big time.
I dose red sea nopox an I run a skimmer which work’s very well always gunk it’s getting out. Thank you for the tips an showing me the mini turf scrubber definitely gonna look into that an gonna try upping my dosing of nopox over time an see where I am with nutrients. Thanks for the input really appreciate it.

Nopox is carbon dosing and should make a strong impact on your nutrients.

But I would be very careful bringing NO3 and PO4 down too close to zero as corals need those and it’s hard to balance their ratio at lower levels.

NO3 and PO4 are used by organisms in your tank at a ratio that varies from organism to organism but a good guideline is the redfield ratio. I have found when NO3 is high and PO4 is low, dosing PO4 will help organisms with a better balance of nutrients and they wconsume more of both nutrients.

For the algae it might be a better option to just invest in more clean up crew, I couldn’t really see much in your picture.
Also keeping all sides of your glass clean will push your CUC on the the rocks and places that you cannot easily scrape algae.

I actually just got in another batch of CUC in from reefcleaners today, as I have a few killer hermits.

This is a good package, but if your algae is real bad you could add some Mexican turbos to it.

https://www.reefcleaners.org/store/quick-crews-3/rimless-crew-45-gallon-detail

I hope this helps.