How do you use siporax ?

[X-37B]

If you do not go anaerobic - no denitrification - no real use of the stuff. But if you put a mesh bag in the sump and not "shake" it every day - probably the inner part will be anaerobic - but then - the Si problem. However if you do regular WC you will limit the concentration - as I did the first months

Sincerely Lasse

I use 3 liters of eheim substrate pro, spherical glass balls about the size of peas, in a mesh bag in my 120's 40 breeder sump.
I only shake it maybe every 2 months if that.
My no3 has been 1-2 since startup just about a year ago.
I run a no scheduled water change system and only replace skimmer loss and to adjust SG.
Sending out for the first ICP test in 2 weeks when tank turns 1.
Results will be interesting.

 

[Lasse]

Yes - if you do not rinse the bags - sooner or later they will become anaerobic - at least in the middle, But if you do periodic WC - does it matter and is high Si values dangerous for your system? In the chart below you can see how my Si levels was during 4 years. Till the point when it rise (around 17-5.6) a lot - I did regularly WC of around 20 % every second week. After that I did not do any egulary WC. The level - in my system at that time was around 1000 µg/L (around 1 ppm or 1000 ppb). Not signs of negative effects on the aquarium. After this is was more or less a steady rise up to around 20 000 µg/L 7 months later. A rise with around 2 700 µg/L and month. I use around 10 kg. It is also important that I did not see any biological problems during this time with sky rocket high Si levels but I get a chemical precipitation on the glass when it hit 15 000 µg/L (around that)

If your aquarium going well and it works for you - keep on the way you do now. Si concentration is very important for sponges and I have notice much better survival rate of snails in this aquarium compared with other I have had. Triton setpoint is 100 µg/L but my is usually around 2 - 300 µg/L

Hope this help you

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Lasse]

I use 3 liters of eheim substrate pro, spherical glass balls about the size of peas, in a mesh bag in my 120's 40 breeder sump.
I only shake it maybe every 2 months if that.
My no3 has been 1-2 since startup just about a year ago.
I run a no scheduled water change system and only replace skimmer loss and to adjust SG.
Sending out for the first ICP test in 2 weeks when tank turns 1.
Results will be interesting.

Yes indeed. I use SERAS siporax - not sure you have the same problem with EHIM relative. We will see. Please leave feedback in this thread. What type of filter is at the right in the sump?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[X-37B]

Tunze 3171 carx running Tunze media.
It is dripping into a 2"× 10" tube filled with coral bones. The tube was a small reactor I had laying around. Its really not needed as my carx is tuned and does not cause the ph to drop.
Cant hurt and it makes checking effluent easy
and may add some trace elements although I dose them too.
Here is a better pic.

 

[X-37B]

Yes - if you do not rinse the bags - sooner or later they will become anaerobic - at least in the middle, But if you do periodic WC - does it matter and is high Si values dangerous for your system? In the chart below you can see how my Si levels was during 4 years. Till the point when it rise (around 17-5.6) a lot - I did regularly WC of around 20 % every second week. After that I did not do any egulary WC. The level - in my system at that time was around 1000 µg/L (around 1 ppm or 1000 ppb). Not signs of negative effects on the aquarium. After this is was more or less a steady rise up to around 20 000 µg/L 7 months later. A rise with around 2 700 µg/L and month. I use around 10 kg. It is also important that I did not see any biological problems during this time with sky rocket high Si levels but I get a chemical precipitation on the glass when it hit 15 000 µg/L (around that)

If your aquarium going well and it works for you - keep on the way you do now. Si concentration is very important for sponges and I have notice much better survival rate of snails in this aquarium compared with other I have had. Triton setpoint is 100 µg/L but my is usually around 2 - 300 µg/L

Hope this help you

Sincerely Lasse

I have quite a few snails in my system and some pretty good size sponge on the underside of my live rocks.
I will post back this month when I get my ICP results.
Thanks for the info.
I have had no issues with coral growth or health in the tank.
My current stats I test for:
Temp 78-80°F
SG 1.026
Alk 7.3
Ca 470
Mag 1400
Po4 .02-.04
No3 1-2
Strontium 10
Iodine .03-.06
Couple of pics:
Startup
Now at 11 months.

 

[Reef.]

Yes - if you do not rinse the bags - sooner or later they will become anaerobic - at least in the middle, But if you do periodic WC - does it matter and is high Si values dangerous for your system? In the chart below you can see how my Si levels was during 4 years. Till the point when it rise (around 17-5.6) a lot - I did regularly WC of around 20 % every second week. After that I did not do any egulary WC. The level - in my system at that time was around 1000 µg/L (around 1 ppm or 1000 ppb). Not signs of negative effects on the aquarium. After this is was more or less a steady rise up to around 20 000 µg/L 7 months later. A rise with around 2 700 µg/L and month. I use around 10 kg. It is also important that I did not see any biological problems during this time with sky rocket high Si levels but I get a chemical precipitation on the glass when it hit 15 000 µg/L (around that)

If your aquarium going well and it works for you - keep on the way you do now. Si concentration is very important for sponges and I have notice much better survival rate of snails in this aquarium compared with other I have had. Triton setpoint is 100 µg/L but my is usually around 2 - 300 µg/L

Hope this help you

Sincerely Lasse

Thanks, i do change the bags for clean ones once a month, the return is set low in the chambers around 4x so I guess I maybe benefiting from a little of both, nitrifying and denitrifying.

It’s a 6 month old tank and I’m jet to get a reading for phos, so maybe it’s more denitrifying.

Thanks, very interesting if slightly a confusing subject, as the results are hard to attribute to just one theory.