Help! Haha. Macro algae, bio pellet reactor

[GulfCoast251]

Okay! So I have a cylced marine tank that's still relatively new (four months)...

240 gallon grow out tank for bamboo shark. Banded cat shark. Lionfish, harlequin Tusk and a snowflake eel

Ordered a 72x72x31 tank from glass cages for the two sharks as they will be housed their in about six months

With that said. Trying to keep nitrates down as obviously have a decent bio load with the way these fish eat

I have two FX6s, a Ecoreef 400 sump with three chambers

First chamber has Reef Octopus 220 and a Bio Pellet Reactor (installed today). Refugium has a little live rock at the moment. And bought some macro algae (chaeto) to add with live rock. But someone told me with that and the reactor I could pull too much out of my tank??

Is this true. Am I good? Should I use the algae or not lol. And any cons to using it. Trying to keep nitrates down as low as possible for sharks

 

[blaxsun]

The con with chaeto is that you do need to frequently remove excess growth.

 

[GulfCoast251]

The con with chaeto is that you do need to frequently remove excess growth.

Is that it? Will I get same results from pellet reactor?

 

[twentyleagues]

Without corals I doubt you have much to worry about. In the last 3-4 years of me keeping saltwater before I left for 12 years, I added 2 300g stock tanks (my saltwater ponds) to my system. 1 housed 2 bamboo sharks and a coral cat shark, the other housed a couple large angels, A couple triggers and a few other not coral friendly fish. I saw an increase in nitrate and phosphate obviously. I had always run a large refugium 75g with quite a few macro algaes and a couple mangroves (more for looks they don't do much for nutrient control). Before the ponds the system usually ran at 10-20 nitrate and roughly 0.08 to 0.15 phosphate. Corals seemed happy and grew well. After about a year and a half both numbers had doubled. So I added a biopellet reactor, a big one from reef octo. I added pellets watched them tumble for a couple months a little reduction. Added more, some more reduction and so on. This was also about the time everyone started going nuts with the ulns. I eventually got numbers down way lower then my reef ever ran. Before I got them lower though I had a few algae outbreaks. Once it was all (in control) I noticed a lot of my corals were not happy lps was deflated and lacked the vibrancy it once had, lost a few colonies too. Most sps went "pastel" in colors people thought they looked great, I didn't. I backed off the pellet amount in quantity and tumble rate or turn over got my n and p back to easy to read numbers again and corals started to bounce back. Fish never seemed to care one way or the other. People say nitrate doesn't matter for fish it's not toxic at any levels in salt water. I don't believe that. Do what you can to provide a healthy clean home for the animals. If you strip to much from the water the algae will start to crash, back off flow rate to pellets or remove some of the pellets. You may get some cyano or dinos if you go to low also. If you stay in the 20-30 nitrate range and a respectable phosphate range you should be fine.

 

[GulfCoast251]

Without corals I doubt you have much to worry about. In the last 3-4 years of me keeping saltwater before I left for 12 years, I added 2 300g stock tanks (my saltwater ponds) to my system. 1 housed 2 bamboo sharks and a coral cat shark, the other housed a couple large angels, A couple triggers and a few other not coral friendly fish. I saw an increase in nitrate and phosphate obviously. I had always run a large refugium 75g with quite a few macro algaes and a couple mangroves (more for looks they don't do much for nutrient control). Before the ponds the system usually ran at 10-20 nitrate and roughly 0.08 to 0.15 phosphate. Corals seemed happy and grew well. After about a year and a half both numbers had doubled. So I added a biopellet reactor, a big one from reef octo. I added pellets watched them tumble for a couple months a little reduction. Added more, some more reduction and so on. This was also about the time everyone started going nuts with the ulns. I eventually got numbers down way lower then my reef ever ran. Before I got them lower though I had a few algae outbreaks. Once it was all (in control) I noticed a lot of my corals were not happy lps was deflated and lacked the vibrancy it once had, lost a few colonies too. Most sps went "pastel" in colors people thought they looked great, I didn't. I backed off the pellet amount in quantity and tumble rate or turn over got my n and p back to easy to read numbers again and corals started to bounce back. Fish never seemed to care one way or the other. People say nitrate doesn't matter for fish it's not toxic at any levels in salt water. I don't believe that. Do what you can to provide a healthy clean home for the animals. If you strip to much from the water the algae will start to crash, back off flow rate to pellets or remove some of the pellets. You may get some cyano or dinos if you go to low also. If you stay in the 20-30 nitrate range and a respectable phosphate range you should be fine.

Great information! Thanks for the response. Right now I have just a very small amount of pellets in the reactor for a the first few weeks. I did go ahead and add chateo to my refugium. Still wanting to know if the two of them together is an issue or if I should be fine using both?

 

[twentyleagues]

Great information! Thanks for the response. Right now I have just a very small amount of pellets in the reactor for a the first few weeks. I did go ahead and add chateo to my refugium. Still wanting to know if the two of them together is an issue or if I should be fine using both?

It will be fine. Like I said if nutrients drop to low the chateo will start to crash, turn pale start to break apart. The chateo will do this if not harvested also. Keeping the chateo rolling or at least moving will help it work better and be healthier also. I made a sort of chateo reactor for a while the flow entering the chamber and a couple small power heads kept it suspended and rolling. It worked pretty good for a while. I didn't have enough nutrients at the time I had it working to sustain it and my display refugium so the chateo came out. My display I used codium, gracilaria, ulva, a few types of caulerpa and a couple I don't remember the names of currently. The problem with using any macro algaes is you need to care for it for it to do its job. The right lighting, micro nutrients need to be added to keep it doing its job. Biggest issue I had was adding iron, not a good test for it and it is essential for the macro algae. Not enough iron and it starts to yellow or go pale. Check your phosphate and nitrate levels and if they are detectable you may need iron.

 

[Aspect]

Run the chaeto if it isn't growing you'll know your nutrients are depleted. You also could have an issue with the Tuskfish and the Sharks they have been known to nip on sharks in captivity and they can get really territorial.

 

[GulfCoast251]

Run the chaeto if it isn't growing you'll know your nutrients are depleted. You also could have an issue with the Tuskfish and the Sharks they have been known to nip on sharks in captivity and they can get really territorial.

So far no issues with the Tusk. But he is a new addition to the tank so I'll keep my eye him.

 

[Aspect]

So far no issues with the Tusk. But he is a new addition to the tank so I'll keep my eye him.

It's very unlikely you'll see the tusk picking on the shark as fish typically take cover when people are around. It'll happen when you're not around and you might not notice any nips on the shark but the stress such as unwillingness to eat could be caused by bullying.

 

[GulfCoast251]

It's very unlikely you'll see the tusk picking on the shark as fish typically take cover when people are around. It'll happen when you're not around and you might not notice any nips on the shark but the stress such as unwillingness to eat could be caused by bullying.

Gotcha. Well so far they are all active and eating like crazy. But ill definitely keep a watch

 

[GulfCoast251]

It's very unlikely you'll see the tusk picking on the shark as fish typically take cover when people are around. It'll happen when you're not around and you might not notice any nips on the shark but the stress such as unwillingness to eat could be caused by bullying.

 

[GulfCoast251]

 

[tkiry1]

Without corals I doubt you have much to worry about. In the last 3-4 years of me keeping saltwater before I left for 12 years, I added 2 300g stock tanks (my saltwater ponds) to my system. 1 housed 2 bamboo sharks and a coral cat shark, the other housed a couple large angels, A couple triggers and a few other not coral friendly fish. I saw an increase in nitrate and phosphate obviously. I had always run a large refugium 75g with quite a few macro algaes and a couple mangroves (more for looks they don't do much for nutrient control). Before the ponds the system usually ran at 10-20 nitrate and roughly 0.08 to 0.15 phosphate. Corals seemed happy and grew well. After about a year and a half both numbers had doubled. So I added a biopellet reactor, a big one from reef octo. I added pellets watched them tumble for a couple months a little reduction. Added more, some more reduction and so on. This was also about the time everyone started going nuts with the ulns. I eventually got numbers down way lower then my reef ever ran. Before I got them lower though I had a few algae outbreaks. Once it was all (in control) I noticed a lot of my corals were not happy lps was deflated and lacked the vibrancy it once had, lost a few colonies too. Most sps went "pastel" in colors people thought they looked great, I didn't. I backed off the pellet amount in quantity and tumble rate or turn over got my n and p back to easy to read numbers again and corals started to bounce back. Fish never seemed to care one way or the other. People say nitrate doesn't matter for fish it's not toxic at any levels in salt water. I don't believe that. Do what you can to provide a healthy clean home for the animals. If you strip to much from the water the algae will start to crash, back off flow rate to pellets or remove some of the pellets. You may get some cyano or dinos if you go to low also. If you stay in the 20-30 nitrate range and a respectable phosphate range you should be fine.

Would love to see pictures of your ponds... I have 2 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tanks as ponds as well.

 

[twentyleagues]

Would love to see pictures of your ponds... I have 2 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tanks as ponds as well.

Me too. Between a total corruption of my computer from that time and photo bucket holding my pics hostage for $ out of nowhere which was free at the time I started using it Ive lost all my pics of that time frame. Not just reef pics but wedding pics, reptile pics, dogs, anything I'd want to save. It wasn't just that they started charging money to host it's how they went about it. I may end up paying to get them back at some point. But now they also watermark all the pics you host on their site and in the fine print they also claim rights on anything you put there. In multiple emails to them explaining my side they always told me any pic anyone hosts with them becomes their property and they can use it however they want....
Anyway these two pics are all I have left of my saltwater from that time frame.