How many different methods of nutrient export are you using?

[ClownWrangler]

A skimmer, corals, and some ceramic plates. I have a low fish load currently but I can't keep my PO4 up and have to dose it at times. Nitrates bounce around (according to my ICP tests) but I don't care about them. They aren't dangerous to fish to or corals so I am not sure what the fascination is with nitrate these days.

I have had starfish almost die from high nitrates. And I have seen irreversible gill damage on clowns from high nitrates. But we are talking in the red on the test kit. Also, there's the whole algae thing. Low nutrient systems are easier to manage in general. If you ever try to keep a macro algae tank you will find this out quickly. Macro algae will never out compete nuisance algae with high nitrates. But on the flip side, if nitrates are too low, macro algae will go sexual and die off, particularly caulerpa.

 

[igord]

My aquarium is full of SPS corals and those are feeding on nitrates and phosphates like crazy.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

10-15% water change bi weekly, nopox dosing (1/2 strength), skimmer and filter roller. I'd grow macroalage but all I do is kill it (shrug).

 

[Sunny in Miami]

I am in the process of switching from LFS bought natural seawater to premixed and currently have a 29 gallon reef without sump and no skimmer. My only nutrient export is waterchanges. I was thinking of doing daily 1 gallon waterchanges rather than 5 weekly for better export. Feedback anyone? Thank you in advance.

 

[ClownWrangler]

I am in the process of switching from LFS bought natural seawater to premixed and currently have a 29 gallon reef without sump and no skimmer. My only nutrient export is waterchanges. I was thinking of doing daily 1 gallon waterchanges rather than 5 weekly for better export. Feedback anyone? Thank you in advance.

Technically, yes daily water changes are better than weekly because the swing in parameters isn't as bad. But you may get sick of the groundhog day vibe quickly. I think any benefit would be negligible.

What I did with a tank that size was put an Aquaclear 70 HOB on it, though a 110 might be better, made a plexiglass cover for it and filled the compartment with Chaeto and put a LED blurple grow light over it. It may not completely eliminated the need for water changes depending on the bio load, but it helps. On my 20G long it eliminates water changes for the most part for 4 clownfish. I might use an aquaclear 110 for the 29 gallon. Its not the prettiest set up, but it works and provides nice flow and aeration in the tank. Another option would be a glass mounted algae scrubber. They don't take much space, but I haven't tried one.

 

[ClownWrangler]

My aquarium is full of SPS corals and those are feeding on nitrates and phosphates like crazy.

Im glad you brought this up. There are a lot of old school reefers that will argue to death that their live rock is removing all the nitrates when its actiually their dense corals that are doing it. No way to prove which is doing more in these tanks. Its like a conspiracy theory war.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

I’ve tried them all. Refugium, Algae Scrubber, Zeovite, and now finally a combination of bio balls and sulfur reactor. I’d say by far the most efficient method is the Sulfur reactor. It allows me to keep my nitrates consistently under 2ppm.

Zeovite kepted my PO4 near 0, but could never get nitrates under 10 with it (which is why I finally gave up on it).

 

[Reefvision]

Technically, yes daily water changes are better than weekly because the swing in parameters isn't as bad. But you may get sick of the groundhog day vibe quickly. I think any benefit would be negligible.

What I did with a tank that size was put an Aquaclear 70 HOB on it, though a 110 might be better, made a plexiglass cover for it and filled the compartment with Chaeto and put a LED blurple grow light over it. It may not completely eliminated the need for water changes depending on the bio load, but it helps. On my 20G long it eliminates water changes for the most part for 4 clownfish. I might use an aquaclear 110 for the 29 gallon. Its not the prettiest set up, but it works and provides nice flow and aeration in the tank. Another option would be a glass mounted algae scrubber. They don't take much space, but I haven't tried one.

Good idea- I have been harvesting mainly gha that really grows well on the outflow water ramp of both hob filters on separate 20 gal tanks now for over 2years. I have kessil lights aprox 1’ above water surface with just factory cover and water is clear and coral&fish thrive.These tanks also have calerpa in bottom/attached to rocks too. I don’t test these tanks much either- just infrequent 4gal water changes. Your idea with chaeto has me thinking—Hmmm

 

[Paul B]

DIY 5' skimmer that I just re installed an ozone generator on and a DIY algae scrubber.

Once or twice a year I make a typhoon with a diatom filter to stir up my reverse undergravel filter.

 

[MillennialReefer]

Just using an ATS, no skimmer, filter sock or anything. Doing a 10% water change weekly - about 6 gallons.

 

[Minhaj Qazi]

It's been aptly said that as reefers, we don't keep fish/corals; we keep water. And that keeping water is primarily a game of importing good things and exporting waste. Today let's talk about this second part. There are tons of things you might use for nutrient export in your tank: skimmer, carbon/media reactors, refugium, ATS, filter socks, rolling mats, reef diapers, etc... The options for mechanical and chemical export options seem almost limitless (that may be a slight exaggeration, but you get my point). Most of us use a combination of these nutrient export options to handle this task.

1) So how many different types of nutrient export are you using?
2) How is this working out for you?

Photo by @HB AL

No Filter Socks.
Bio Filteration using Maxpect Blocks.
Wetter Skim as per No3
Cheto
LaCl for Po4.

 

[paul barker]

my 180 starts out with 120 lbs of live rock that that I made myself in a 55 gal. fish only tank 2 years 3 inchs of live sand trigger 39 sump regal 250 int one bio 8x8 block 10% water change bi week no3 5ppm po3 0.00ppm I do have gfo if I need it and one carbon bag in the sump I don't use the gfo much