Protein Skimmer Upgrade Question

[Riddler05]

So I have a 90 gallon mixed reef (mostly soft and LPS bc I can't seem to keeps SPS alive) with a pretty heavy bioload. Currently I am running a bubble magus curve 5 protein skimmer (rated up to 140 gallons) but I can't seem to get my nitrates below 12ppm even with carbon dosing. I am using zeostart as my carbon source and I have been slowly increasing the dose over the past 5 weeks. However I am a little concerned that my current protein skimmer is under rated for my tank. Everyone says to go as large as possible but my question is will buying a big skimmer really help and if so can anyone recommend a skimmer that they think will work best. If I have to upgrade my skimmer I am hoping to keep the price under $350-400. Any advice would be great.

 

[redfishbluefish]

What are you doing to maintain alk, calc and mag. Need these three guys to keep sticks.

 

[Riddler05]

Right now I just dose saturated Kalk using a BRS dosing pump and then once a week I test magnesium and dose as needed. However I am having problems keeping my alk stable. It fluctuates usually by 1-1.5 dkh per week. It could be testing error but I have a feeling it is real. I am thinking about moving to two part but I wanted to get my nitrate under control first.

 

[kacrocorals581]

I'd say aquamaxx co-2 with that price range great skimmers and I've had more than a few in my time reefing but those have really impressed me

 

[wangspeed]

I'm happy with my RLSS 6i on my 90. Undetectable N&P with recirculating BP reactor.

I would have gotten the Aquamaxx CO-2, but the footprint is bad, and it wouldn't easily fit my skimmer section. Pump in body saves a ton of room, at the cost of dwell time.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Your currently not dosing enough if your Nitrates are not falling.

 

[Finnaddict]

well a140G rated skimmer on a 90G should be fine. I don't think you have a problem there. How long have you been dosing carbon? If its been only 5 weeks I think you will need to give it a little more time to kick in or like RM said your not dosing enough. I am using BP an I added 25% of recommended amount each week until I had the proper amount in the reactor for my size tank. It took about 10 weeks for it to come down to zero.

 

[Riddler05]

Hey everyone, thanks for the advice. I think I will just stick with carbon dosing and slowly inscreasing the dose. I will give it another couple of months and see what happens.