What’s your personal opinion on Nitrate and Phosphate levels for a mixed reef tank? Not zero?
Nutrients Control.
What exactly are nutrients? Are they good or bad? How can you monitor and manage nutrient levels without losing your mind? These topics are just a sample of what we see people asking around R2R forum. And I understand how confusing these concepts can be for novice reefers and even experienced aquarists.
The marriage of nutrient control and technology is truly brilliant. Our beloved hobby has come a long way since its watery beginnings, and while there's room for growth, monitoring nutrients is easier now than ever before.
Challenge or a simple task?
From one side, managing nutrients levels in a clownfish breeding system are easier than in a reef tank, as your goal is to bring them as low as you can. Without the fear that you will starve fish if the water is too clean comparing to tanks with corals. But from another side, we deal with much heavier bioload, and we need to know how to process more nutrients and keep them under control.
So what is the best way to deal with nutrients?
There is a lot of different ways to keep the nutrients at low levels, but each person is different, and after all, it comes down to personal preference. Also, keep in mind that nitrates are harmful to fish only at extreme levels when they are over 100ppm. So acceptable nutrients levels for a reef tank is not the same as an adequate level of NO3 in a fish only system.
My preference is the Biological Filtration Method combined with a nice skimmer.
As its name suggests, biological filtration uses natural microorganisms to maintain nutrient balance. In many ways, this process is as close as you can get to replicating the filtering processes of natural environments.
In our setup, we are using the following steps.
- Chaeto Reactor from PAX-Bellum. (Dosing Iron+Manganese to support chaeto growth) Why chaeto? Because this algae absorb higher concentrations of nutrients than other species and it's super easy to control and harvest.
- Bio-Media Brightwell Aquatics Xport BIO Brick. 1 for every 20g. (I'm a firm believer in bacterial surface and using much more than recommended). Much like live rocks, bio-media filtration bricks are colonized by anaerobic and aerobic bacteria. Essentially, these bacteria dissolve organics, such as phosphate, to maintain proper water nutrient levels.
- Dosing NOPOX from Red Sea. 3ml per 25g. No secret for many years, carbon dosing was a cost-effective option to increase tank health and appearance safely.
- The classic water changes - 10% weekly.
- Skimmer (At this moment testing different models).
But best advice would be to monitor and manage your aquarium with accurate water testing consistently. We are testing the water daily with Salifert test kits and recording the readings. This way, we can adjust the carbon dosing schedule or apply larger water changes depending on the results.
Don't hesitate to ask questions I'd be glad to share more details on the particular setup elements or subjects! Have a lovely evening. ;Shamefullyembarrased
My preference would be to keep the nutrients at zero and then feed. This is my current practice. I use Reef Energy A & B 2x per week, BRS Reef Chili 2-3x per week, and then I feed some of the bigger LPS and Anemone larger pellets once a week. Is that frequent enough feeding?
Hello everyone,
Finally, I can post again after a long break! Last 12 months were absolutely insane in the right way, but I could barely keep up with all my projects.
And today, it's a perfect day, and I can show you the results of 18 months of work, learning, testing and researching. ;Pompus
Equipment List:
Tank: 160g - 72x16x24 custom acrylic by Acrylic Habitats.
Light: BeamsWork DA 72" LED.
Overflow: Synergy Reef 16″ Shadow Overflow.
Sump: Synergy Reef TS-34 Triton Method Sump in Red Mercury.
Skimmer: Dalua Great White Protein Skimmer GW-10.
Return: The Hydor Seltz D 3200 GPH Controllable AC Universal Pump.
UV Reactor: Pentair Aquatics SMART UV 40 WATT.
Controller: GHL ProfiLux 4 Aquarium Controller - Mega-Set.
Doser: GHL Doser 2.1 SA
ALK Monitor: GHK KH Director.
Heater: x2 Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 300 Watt Aquarium Heater.
ATO: XP Aqua Ultimate ATO - Complete 4-Sensor Aquarium Auto-Top-Off System.
Carbon Reactor: Bulk Reef Supply GFO & CARBON REACTOR - DELUXE.
Cooling: Lasko 1827 18″ Elegance & Performance Adjustable Pedestal Fan.
RO/DI: SpectraPure MaxCap Performance Plus.
Control Board: Standard Aquarium Controller Board Mounting System - Marine Depot.
Other:
Stand: 80/20 aluminum t-slots by Fandl8020.
Cycling: Red Sea Reef Mature Pro Kit.
Nutrients Control Additive: Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE22204 NO3 PO4-X Biological Nitrate and Phosphate Reducer.
Nutrients Control Equipment: Pax Bellum ARID N24 Macroalgae Reactor.
Bio Media: x8 of Brightwell Aquatics Xport Bio.
Reefing Q&A Thread Index:
Q: What is the best level of nutrients in a mixed reef tank?
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Breeding Q&A Thread Index:
Q: How to pair maroon clownfish?
Q: Spotlight of the controller board.
Q: How do you keep your nutrients at the desired levels?
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Business Q&A Thread Index:
Q: How you ended up bringing your hobby fish to market?
Q: How I can start selling my reef photos and get extra income to support the hobby?
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ReefHacks | Clownfish Breeding System - 160g.
First of all, huge thank you to my wife Yuliya. She did an insane amount of work on this project and still working daily to improve all aspects of this breeding project.
I want to present to you our new clownfish breeding system (grow out part). At this moment we've transferred almost all of the babies to this new home. And the system is fully cycled.
Cycled with Red Sea Reef Mature Pro Kit, on day 21, we had 1000 baby fishes in the system with absolutely no issues. But as you can see on the photo, we are also using a much more significant amount of the biomedia, x8 of Brightwell Aquatics Xport Bio, when each brick is rated for 1000 gallon.
We are very happy with the tank quality. Acrylic Habitats did a fantastic job, and everything was made as we have requested, these guys know what they are doing. The tank is 72" long, 16" high and 24" deep with nine divided chambers. Each chamber can hold around 200 mature fishes between 6 and 12 months old. The first chamber is for small clownfish babies transferred there from the hatching tank at the mark of one month old and hold around 500 fish.
When they are large enough and can't pass anymore between dividers, we sort them by type in different chambers.
Each chamber is 3/4 drilled for the incoming flow.
This is one of the most fun projects that we made in the last year, and we are very proud. If you guys have questions about how to breed clownfish, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm very open to any questions, and we have no secrets about the process. Many people are afraid of breeding, but it's really not that hard, especially if you know reef tanks. There is a tremendous amount of information about the breeding process; not everything is modern sure. But still very useful and I'm here if you need help. Cheers!
I will post more details on this build and process later! Have a nice evening everyone! ;Shamefullyembarrased
@Peace River
reefhacks.com
