DIY chaeto HOB

[JessKaye]

Has anyone made their own HOB chaeto refugium? I’m running a freshwater-converted 200L tank with a canister and looking for more nitrate export. (Will hopefully one day upgrade to sumped system but we I don’t quite have the funds for this yet). Cheers!

 

[mcarroll]

If possible I would try not to have that to worry about...that way you can focus more on tank fundamentls (vs filtration maintenance).

Can you do more to decrease nutrients held within the system? Canister filters don't usually get cleaned very often so they can become unwanted nitrate sources. If you're doing mechanical filtration with it, this is almost certainly happening.

Does the tank have a full compliment of live rock? Are you running a protein skimmer? Do you have anything else in place for cleaning/filtering the tank?

 

[JessKaye]

If possible I would try not to have that to worry about...that way you can focus more on tank fundamentls (vs filtration maintenance).

Can you do more to decrease nutrients held within the system? Canister filters don't usually get cleaned very often so they can become unwanted nitrate sources. If you're doing mechanical filtration with it, this is almost certainly happening.

Does the tank have a full compliment of live rock? Are you running a protein skimmer? Do you have anything else in place for cleaning/filtering the tank?

Thanks for your reply! I very much appreciate it
- the tank is very lightly stocked with fish at the moment but I feel might have been overfed so I’m dropping back on the amount being fed.
- I’m not currently running a skimmer but I was contemplating a HOB skimmer if this might help
- I’ve been cleaning the canister monthly (which I have to admit is just based on my freshwater maintenance but perhaps I’ll increase it to weekly- there never seems to be much in it)
- the canister currently has a mix of bio media and filtration sponge. I’ve seen conflicting views on whether you should put just live rock rubble vs just biomedia vs sponge and happy to change this up if it would help
- it was mainly a dry rock system set up with about 3kg of live rock added in
- there’s nothing else in place for filtration but again happy to hear suggestions :) As I said I would have loved to start with a sump but it just wasn’t feasible at the time, definitely on the wish list!!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What is your nitrate level and what is your concern? I mean are corals suffering, is algae growing? Canister filter does not export nutrients from the system, so other ways of 'exporting" include a protein skimmer, refugium, water changes, or some kind of carbon dosing. IMO the sponge and media rings in the canister don't provide any benefit, the rock in your tank is the real biofilter of the tank. Sponges and rings can become detritus traps

 

[JessKaye]

What is your nitrate level and what is your concern? I mean are corals suffering, is algae growing? Canister filter does not export nutrients from the system, so other ways of 'exporting" include a protein skimmer, refugium, water changes, or some kind of carbon dosing. IMO the sponge and media rings in the canister don't provide any benefit, the rock in your tank is the real biofilter of the tank. Sponges and rings can become detritus traps

My nitrate over the last couple of months has been fairly low (on my 5 or so) but then suddenly over the last fortnight has been 40 (maybe even more - I find the scale hard to distinguish at these levels). I can’t particularly work out why - I haven’t added any more fish (there are 4 small fish - clowns, damsel, cardinalfish, a cleaner shrimp and a few snails in 200L which feels fairly lowly stocked), 10% weekly water changes, no change in feeding amount or volume. I’ve increased the water changes but I’m not sure I can continue to water change larger volumes (and feel that will get expensive with salt anyway). I’ve rinsed the canister material. The only thing I can put it down to is one fish sadly “vanished” overnight recently - I’ve searched for it from every angle but can’t see it so presume it died and provided an ammonia load (though it seemed fine the day before). Short of taking out the rock to look for it not sure what else I can do though!

There are a small handful of softies and LPS in the tank and most of them seem reasonably happy, a couple maybe not with quite the polyp extension that I saw when I purchased them.

(If you had to run a canister) what would you run in the canister? Live rock rubble rather than the biomedia/sponges?

I do apologise for the silly questions - I feel the learning curve from fresh to salt has been steep and constantly trying to do right by these creatures!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My nitrate over the last couple of months has been fairly low (on my 5 or so) but then suddenly over the last fortnight has been 40 (maybe even more - I find the scale hard to distinguish at these levels). I can’t particularly work out why - I haven’t added any more fish (there are 4 small fish - clowns, damsel, cardinalfish, a cleaner shrimp and a few snails in 200L which feels fairly lowly stocked), 10% weekly water changes, no change in feeding amount or volume. I’ve increased the water changes but I’m not sure I can continue to water change larger volumes (and feel that will get expensive with salt anyway). I’ve rinsed the canister material. The only thing I can put it down to is one fish sadly “vanished” overnight recently - I’ve searched for it from every angle but can’t see it so presume it died and provided an ammonia load (though it seemed fine the day before). Short of taking out the rock to look for it not sure what else I can do though!

There are a small handful of softies and LPS in the tank and most of them seem reasonably happy, a couple maybe not with quite the polyp extension that I saw when I purchased them.

(If you had to run a canister) what would you run in the canister? Live rock rubble rather than the biomedia/sponges?

I do apologise for the silly questions - I feel the learning curve from fresh to salt has been steep and constantly trying to do right by these creatures!

Its no problem, many of us came from freshwater. I was freshwater 10 years then built a saltwater tank and added a yellow tang into my 30 gallon uncycled tank and it died 2 days later, that was my intro to the saltwater hobby 20 years ago.

I ran a canister long ago when I first started, I ran it empty at first, basically using it as a powerhead, then added some rubble. The main purpose of the rubble is to act like a breeding spot for copepods and micro fauna.

When is the last time you cleaned your filter compared to when the nitrate jumped to 40? Canisters have been called nitrate factories - which might be a myth or not IDK - but I'm curious the if the nitrate buildup was related to the canister, just for kicks.

But our forum chemist recommends nitrate in between 5-50, so you are within his safe zone, personally I find 40 a little high, but I would try to find the cause of that jump. As fyi, many tanks run with no filtration at all, just rocks and good water flow and regular water changes are enough to maintain a reef tank. I have 4 salt tanks and 3 are run with no filtration. So I would suggest a bit more research and no need to jump to any actions at this moment IMO. Sorry to write so much, good luck

 

[mcarroll]

Thanks for your reply! I very much appreciate it
- the tank is very lightly stocked with fish at the moment but I feel might have been overfed so I’m dropping back on the amount being fed.

Seems decently stocked to me. Don't underfeed your fish, just be SURE not to waste food in the tank. Feed only what they will consume in a minute or so, that way they have a chance to get it all before it goes into the sand, rocks or filter. (Do that as many times as it takes to complete a feeding session.)

- I’m not currently running a skimmer but I was contemplating a HOB skimmer if this might help

I would consider swapping the canister for a protein skimmer and a couple of powerheads (for flow).

- I’ve been cleaning the canister monthly (which I have to admit is just based on my freshwater maintenance but perhaps I’ll increase it to weekly- there never seems to be much in it)

I think you will quickly tire of cleaning it weekly.

- the canister currently has a mix of bio media and filtration sponge. I’ve seen conflicting views on whether you should put just live rock rubble vs just biomedia vs sponge and happy to change this up if it would help

I would run it empty if you do keep running it....just for extra flow and extra water volume.

- it was mainly a dry rock system set up with about 3kg of live rock added in
- there’s nothing else in place for filtration but again happy to hear suggestions :) As I said I would have loved to start with a sump but it just wasn’t feasible at the time, definitely on the wish list!!

Sump can be nice for various reasons, but isn't a necessity.

My nitrate over the last couple of months has been fairly low (on my 5 or so) but then suddenly over the last fortnight has been 40 (maybe even more - I find the scale hard to distinguish at these levels). I can’t particularly work out why - I haven’t added any more fish (there are 4 small fish - clowns, damsel, cardinalfish, a cleaner shrimp and a few snails in 200L which feels fairly lowly stocked), 10% weekly water changes, no change in feeding amount or volume. I’ve increased the water changes but I’m not sure I can continue to water change larger volumes (and feel that will get expensive with salt anyway). I’ve rinsed the canister material. The only thing I can put it down to is one fish sadly “vanished” overnight recently - I’ve searched for it from every angle but can’t see it so presume it died and provided an ammonia load (though it seemed fine the day before). Short of taking out the rock to look for it not sure what else I can do though!

That was probably the cause.

A protein skimmer would have removed some percentage of that before it was broken down to NO3. A skimmer can actually remove waste to the collection cup so it's not in the system water anymore.

There are a small handful of softies and LPS in the tank and most of them seem reasonably happy, a couple maybe not with quite the polyp extension that I saw when I purchased them.

Their look will change based on the amount of flow they are getting. What do you have (besides the canister) for flow? They might just need more.

(If you had to run a canister) what would you run in the canister? Live rock rubble rather than the biomedia/sponges?

Nothing.

I do apologise for the silly questions - I feel the learning curve from fresh to salt has been steep and constantly trying to do right by these creatures!

There are some silly answers, but no silly questions. ;)

Consider picking up a copy of the Marine Aquarium Handbook by Moe. A true classic, full of good fundamentals that almost everyone used to read before starting a saltwater tank. (Some more ideas for books here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-long-is-your-aquarium-book-collection.180547/)

 

[Saltyreef]

I built a nice diy fuge with a seachem tidal HOB filter. It worked great. Plenty of space you just have to get creative with a weir or netting to keep the macro out of the display.

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

An HOB chaeto box is about as easy to DIY as it goes. For your tank a 10" long x 4" wide x 4" deep black box with a hook to hang it, and a clip-on 10 watt LED grow light over the top.