Well, I have an Osaka aquarium so I don't have any room for a sump so I had to settle for a canister filter to put my carbon etc... I have canister filters on both of my aquariums, a 70 gallons Osaka and a 21 gallons skimmerless nano tank and after 6 months for the nano my nitrates are still 0 and I feed my scallop, gorgonian etc each day.
Nitrates factory? I think it's the fishes that are nitrates factory.
I have filter floss in both canister and carbon. I shut down the filters for about one hour when I feed and then restart them. No problem so far.
I am especialy surprised of the 21 gallons nano because that's been without a skimmer for 4 months now, but I do have micro algae in both tanks. I clean the canister every 4 to 6 weeks. I do 20% water change every 2 to 3 weeks.
I have no fish in my nano and only 2 mandarins in my 70 gallons and that's probably why I have 0 nitrates. Coral food does not seem to create lots of nitrates in the water.
Why do you think a canister would help your system?? I don't see how it would help you since you already have a sump.
Quote:
Originally Posted by globaldesigns
As many know I have a 180G display with 100G sump/refuge.
Things have been great, but I had a coral die at Easter, and it has been a slow comeback to my vibrant colorful state. All is great don't get me wrong, but I can't seem to get back over the hurdle. SPS are colored, but some are still kinda brown. You can see them trying to pop their color, but I can't seem to get over that hurdle.
Parameters are near perfect:
Calcium @ 400
Magnesium @ 1350
DKH was being kept at 7-8, as I was running full Zeo, but kept it at that range after removing the Zeolites. Kevin @ Coral caught on that I removed them and said try raising back to 10-12... I now have had it at about 11 DKH for a couple weeks. Can diffinetly see improvement. Thanks Kevin.
PH @ 8.3
Nitrate, Nitrates/Ammonia are all at near Zero.. No algae issues
Re-Calibrated Refractometer with solution bought from Kevin @ Red Coral (again thanks), found it my refract was low by 2.5 points. Damn that RO water... Again been a couple weeks and am seeing improvements along with the DKH... Salinity is being kept @ 1.025 - 1.026 (right now in the middle)
Everything is as normal, I have no worries.... But I was thinking is it worth adding a cannister filter. Usually they just become nitrate factories, but I want some experienced people to tell their tale.
I will decide from there if to do it or not. Maybe I should just wait as the DKH and Salinity has been adjusted, but want some thoughts.
If you have any other ideas besides the cannister filter, please throw them in the ring. If anyone ever wants to come by and see the setup, maybe I am missing something, that you can be alerted to. There would be a free nice tasty Cuban/Domincan Rum drink for ya. HEHE, bribery always works.
P.S. As alot of you also know I am also running NP BioPellets... Running in 3 reactors, about 3 litres total (1 litre in each)... All was great before and had the same volume of pellets running, so I don't think it is too much. As overall coral polyp extension is good, algae none, crystal clear water... But if anyone can give an educated reason for removing some, please again throw it at me.
Thanks all!
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