swanedog
Community Member
Hey guys,
Looking for some advice on trying to control nitrates and phosphates. We have two setups.
The first setup is a 180 gallon predator setup with an E-Shopps E-300 with refugium (chateo and macro algae) containing a soldier fish, Koran angel, large porcupine puffer, Niger trigger, humu humu trigger, approximately 24” spotted moray eel, and roughly 18” brown-banded bamboo shark.
The second setup is a 55 gallon beginner reef with an Aquatop cfuv-400 mkii. We have a heavier bio load in this tank with a juvenile emperor angel, blue hippo tang, sailfin tang, sunburst butterfly, lawnmower blenny, bicolor fox face, 2 fire fish, small sweet lips, melanarus wrasse, and 3 clowns, snowflake eel, 2 chocolate chip starfish, coral banded starfish, and an electric flame scallop. For coral, we have a lobo, torch, devils finger, anemone, xoanthids, pulsing Xenia, and monti-digitora (I think that’s what this is called).
We have been doing bi-weekly water changes and sometimes weekly in the 55 gallon between 15-25 gallons. In the 180, we have done 3-4 water changes generally around 30 gallons but Monday of this week we did a 75 gallon change.
Our phosphates fluctuate weekly from 1-1.6 in the 55 and have been similar in the 180. Nitrates have fluctuated weekly as well from 20-42 in both tanks.
I just wanted to see if there were any other options to help control these numbers past the water changes. We have lost a candy cane coral, but I do believe that’s because the par may have been too intense where we had them placed in the tank as they got “bleached.” I would like to upgrade the 55 gallon reef to something around a 125 with a sump, but need to work on lowering these numbers now as we look for an upgrade. I’m sure the bioload may be a big factor in the 55 but any advice is appreciated.
Thank you.
Looking for some advice on trying to control nitrates and phosphates. We have two setups.
The first setup is a 180 gallon predator setup with an E-Shopps E-300 with refugium (chateo and macro algae) containing a soldier fish, Koran angel, large porcupine puffer, Niger trigger, humu humu trigger, approximately 24” spotted moray eel, and roughly 18” brown-banded bamboo shark.
The second setup is a 55 gallon beginner reef with an Aquatop cfuv-400 mkii. We have a heavier bio load in this tank with a juvenile emperor angel, blue hippo tang, sailfin tang, sunburst butterfly, lawnmower blenny, bicolor fox face, 2 fire fish, small sweet lips, melanarus wrasse, and 3 clowns, snowflake eel, 2 chocolate chip starfish, coral banded starfish, and an electric flame scallop. For coral, we have a lobo, torch, devils finger, anemone, xoanthids, pulsing Xenia, and monti-digitora (I think that’s what this is called).
We have been doing bi-weekly water changes and sometimes weekly in the 55 gallon between 15-25 gallons. In the 180, we have done 3-4 water changes generally around 30 gallons but Monday of this week we did a 75 gallon change.
Our phosphates fluctuate weekly from 1-1.6 in the 55 and have been similar in the 180. Nitrates have fluctuated weekly as well from 20-42 in both tanks.
I just wanted to see if there were any other options to help control these numbers past the water changes. We have lost a candy cane coral, but I do believe that’s because the par may have been too intense where we had them placed in the tank as they got “bleached.” I would like to upgrade the 55 gallon reef to something around a 125 with a sump, but need to work on lowering these numbers now as we look for an upgrade. I’m sure the bioload may be a big factor in the 55 but any advice is appreciated.
Thank you.
