EMERGENCY!!!

[MarineDan]

Hi all,

My tank finished cycling a couple of weeks ago so added my clean up crew have been testing water all ok. Its been 2 weeks so added 2 baby clownfish and a red fire shrimp! Today I went out and purchased a fluval canister filter with inlet and outlet. Filled the filter with my own water and some small bits of live rock from my LFS! Added a piece of live rock also and a soft coral! Fed my clowns about 15 minutes ago so thought whilst I'm here I'll test my water..
I got 0 for ammonia but now my nitrite is at 0.25 and my nitrate is at 10.. Could this be because I just fed them?? Also before anyone asks I've left the filter I had in there before so have 2 running!
I can't get down to my LFS till tomorrow when I finish work so can't do a water change right now!!!!
HELP!!!

Thank you

 

[jsker]

Feed is going to cause these issues. A temporary fix is a good size water change of 20% then run some kind of carbon product to drop you nitrates. The nitrates are really not the issue, the nitrites could if left. I would really slow down adding live stock and let your tank balence out the new bio load that you have now for 2 to 3 weeks.

 

[cmcoker]

Nitrite is not toxic to saltwater fish, the way it is to fresh water fish. Keep an eye on ammonia.
Agree with slowing down stocking and changes to the tank, it's still new and will need time to adapt to anything being added.
Link to article on nitrite in marine aquaria :http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.htm

 

[redfishbluefish]

I wouldn't be overly concerned. Nitrite at those levels are of no concern to saltwater fish. I wouldn't do anything.

 

[MarineDan]

Thank you all for your replies, that has stopped me panicking lol. Just thought I was about to lose everything I have worked so hard for!! So whats the best thing to do now? Leave it and let it sort itself or after work tomorrow do a 20% water change? I plan on doing a water test as soon as I walk through my front door tomorrow after work anyway!

 

[domination2580]

Yes i would recommend a water change tomorrow. Them let it Balance out

 

[SandJ]

The levels in your tank are very low right now. A canister filter can cause high nitrates down the road though. I purchased an established setup with a canister filter. I have since removed the canister (Fluval 305 I think was the model) and added a skimmer. The canister served no purpose, had to be cleaned weekly, and was always full of detritus. I even tried removing most of the filters and using it as a media reactor, but I felt it was not being very effective (probably caught more detritus and raised nitrates more than it reduced them).

Some people do use them to polish the water after a water change.

 

[cmcoker]

Thank you all for your replies, that has stopped me panicking lol. Just thought I was about to lose everything I have worked so hard for!! So whats the best thing to do now? Leave it and let it sort itself or after work tomorrow do a 20% water change? I plan on doing a water test as soon as I walk through my front door tomorrow after work anyway!

Test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate first, so you can see if any changes. Then a water change would be fine if you want to bring the nitrates down some, would be immediately necessary only if ammonia is elevated.

 

[MarineDan]

The levels in your tank are very low right now. A canister filter can cause high nitrates down the road though. I purchased an established setup with a canister filter. I have since removed the canister (Fluval 305 I think was the model) and added a skimmer. The canister served no purpose, had to be cleaned weekly, and was always full of detritus. I even tried removing most of the filters and using it as a media reactor, but I felt it was not being very effective (probably caught more detritus and raised nitrates more than it reduced them).

Some people do use them to polish the water after a water change.

The guys at my LFS are brilliant. He told me exactly how he has he's setup at home.
Same as I have today, purchased the fluval canister but gutted it! Its full of small bits of live rock that will filter my water. He said absolutely everything will be cleared by the live rock including debris! He also said its how he has he's set up and has never looked back since. He also said it acts like a skimmer now too which is brilliant

 

[cmcoker]

The guys at my LFS are brilliant. He told me exactly how he has he's setup at home.
Same as I have today, purchased the fluval canister but gutted it! Its full of small bits of live rock that will filter my water. He said absolutely everything will be cleared by the live rock including debris! He also said its how he has he's set up and has never looked back since. He also said it acts like a skimmer now too which is brilliant

A canister filter acting like a skimmer? How?
Skimmers use foam fractionation to remove organic compounds from the water column into the the collection cup.
A canister filter is not removing any organic compounds from the water column.
Did he explain what he meant to you?

 

[paul01]

You said you used your water to fill fluxa was it tap or rodi?

 

[MarineDan]

You said you used your water to fill fluxa was tap or rodi?

Used the saltwater from my actual tank.

 

[MarineDan]

A canister filter acting like a skimmer? How?
Skimmers use foam fractionation to remove organic compounds from the water column into the the collection cup.
A canister filter is not removing any organic compounds from the water column.
Did he explain what he meant to you?

No not 100% like a skimmer but basically I had a crappy filter in there orginally ( 64L tank ) he see it and said its no good really if I plan on adding more fish over the months so recommended this as he uses the same setup for he's 50L tank. He said it will sort of act like a skimmer until I can get an actual skimmer. I don't know thats all he said lol. But as I said its the same thing he has done for a long time and has never had a problem. They are very knowledgeable down there.

 

[cmcoker]

No not 100% like a skimmer but basically I had a crappy filter in there orginally ( 64L tank ) he see it and said its no good really if I plan on adding more fish over the months so recommended this as he uses the same setup for he's 50L tank. He said it will sort of act like a skimmer until I can get an actual skimmer. I don't know thats all he said lol. But as I said its the same thing he has done for a long time and has never had a problem. They are very knowledgeable down there.

Ok, i have not used a canister filter on a saltwater setup due to their reputation as nitrate factories without religious weekly cleaning, and my reputation as a procrastinator [emoji1]. I've read people being successful using them with weekly cleaning of the debris out of the canister, but never heard a claim it would be like a skimmer..

 

[MarineDan]

Ok, i have not used a canister filter on a saltwater setup due to their reputation as nitrate factories without religious weekly cleaning, and my reputation as a procrastinator [emoji1]. I've read people being successful using them with weekly cleaning of the debris out of the canister, but never heard a claim it would be like a skimmer..

Weekly cleaning is for the pads bags etc.. But I've taken all of that out and replaced it with live rock. The bacteria and live rock will clean the water and put it back into my tank.. This is a good practice according to this geezer at my shop.

 

[domination2580]

Imho skimmer is a must.

 

[cmcoker]

Weekly cleaning is for the pads bags etc.. But I've taken all of that out and replaced it with live rock. The bacteria and live rock will clean the water and put it back into my tank.. This is a good practice according to this geezer at my shop.

I believe what I have read is weekly cleaning, regardless. The live rock still leaves plenty of places for debris to build up, but that is just what I have read. If it was me I would start a new thread asking people who use canister filters effectively what their maintenance routine is and how they run it. I know there's lots of good lfs out there but many give questionable advice. So I always look for others who have done what is suggested and what their results are. Skepticism is good in this hobby

 

[MarineDan]

I believe what I have read is weekly cleaning, regardless. The live rock still leaves plenty of places for debris to build up, but that is just what I have read. If it was me I would start a new thread asking people who use canister filters effectively what their maintenance routine is and how they run it. I know there's lots of good lfs out there but many give questionable advice. So I always look for others who have done what is suggested and what their results are. Skepticism is good in this hobby

Yes definitely, I agree. But according to the guy at my LFS I literally do not need to touch the filter. He said he has the exact same set up on his 50L tank and swears by it. But I will ring him tomorrow and ask a few questions to things thst have been pointed out on here.

 

[Newb_reefer1]

I believe I understand where the man from the lfs is coming from. It will not act like a "protein skimmer " per say with the foaming up and collection of DOC's
( dissolved organic compounds ) but it will definitely "skim" the water going through the canister via bio filtration from the surface area and bacteria of the live rock itself.

I believe that's where you are confusing the others, & in my opinion and experience that would be just the same filtration method as running live rock in a chamber of a sump.

Seems like a fine idea to me as I actually have a fluval canister that I used in the exact manner you are running yours on my old 50g long aquarium for 2 years or longer when I was first starting out. It did its job well and didn't get dirty much after I took all the racks / filter pads out and just let saltwater run over multiple pounds of LR. That system was bare bones and I have learned a lot since then.

As for a real protein skimmer, it is a must have piece of equipment for me. Now that I've been in this hobby for the last 5 years or so, I have steered clear from the canister filter method to a sump. not to say it can't be done with recurring maintenance, but you really gotta be on top of it as well as water changes to really maintain good water quality with one of those guys.

 

[SandJ]

The rocks are no different than having a filter pad/bag/etc... in the canister. The rocks will catch detritus. Even an empty canister running on the tank will have detritus settle in the bottom. And rock in the tank will get detritus settling in it, seems the same would happen in a canister. If I remember correctly, people tend to not put live rock in their sumps because debris will build up.

And I don't understand how the canister can act as a skimmer. Had had the skimmer running as I was trying to slowly decrease the media in my canister so I could take it off the tank (and not remove a large amount of bacteria at once) and the skimmer was pulling a ton of skimmate, never seen anything like that from the canister.

And yes, the bacteria will break down the ammonia and nitrites (and to some degree nitrates), but the solids will have to manually be removed from the canister.

I found I had to shut off the canister every time I fed or else I had an excessive build up of food in there. And even with shutting it off each time I would still find food in it (and if I did not clean that weekly it would cause nitrates to get out of control).

Like anything in life, there are exceptions to the rules though :0) And always willing to learn something new about the hobby.