[Sweetmule]

I'm doing weekly water changes and have a sump that is supplemented by an Eheim cannister - yet, I still get nitrate levels of about 40 after a week. Can anyone tell me if they have used a sulfer (or regular) denitrator? I have seen some DIY videos, but i'm a technical moron so I would like to go with a stock product like Kerallin, Aquamaxx or Seapora. Any comments?

 

[forkman]

How many fish? How big are they? What size tank? How much do you feed? Nitrates are inevitable and you may get to 40 ppm no matter what you do. Weekly water changes are just part of the hobby.

 

[Sweetmule]

I'm doing 50-60% changes every week in a 150 gallon tank. I have 20 African cichlids that are pretty mature, mostly 4-5". I just ordered a Marine Pure block to put at the bottom of my wet/dry and will see if that helps.

 

[tricktnt]

I have a 300 gallon African Cich Tank. I'm running a Large Aquaripure De-Nitrate Removal Filter. I have 20 large 6 inch or larger Haps. I'm able to feed the filter every 2 days with Vodka to keep my nitrates under 10ppm. I think you can't go wrong with Aquamax or Korallin filters. Just make sure you get the correct size based on tank size and Bio-Load. With Sulpher De-Nitrators you don't have to feed them with any nutrients. You just have to get the drip rate set correctly. I'm running 9 DPS (Drips Per Second). I still do 50% water change every 2 weeks. I just want to keep my fish very healthy!!

 

[BillD]

What are you doing to remove solids from the tank? That is, how often do you clean the filter? If you leave the solids in the filter, while they may be invisible, they are still in the tank, where they are broken down by bacteria adding to the ammonia in the tank.

 

[Sweetmule]

I have a 300 gallon African Cich Tank. I'm running a Large Aquaripure De-Nitrate Removal Filter. I have 20 large 6 inch or larger Haps. I'm able to feed the filter every 2 days with Vodka to keep my nitrates under 10ppm. I think you can't go wrong with Aquamax or Korallin filters. Just make sure you get the correct size based on tank size and Bio-Load. With Sulpher De-Nitrators you don't have to feed them with any nutrients. You just have to get the drip rate set correctly. I'm running 9 DPS (Drips Per Second). I still do 50% water change every 2 weeks. I just want to keep my fish very healthy!!

Thanks. I'd rather avoid having to feed the nutrients. Seems like you are understocked with only 20 fish in the 300 gallon! I wish I had that much room. I'm going to try and add some more media - marinepure blocks and balls, before I go to a denitrator. With a wet dry and a cannister, I would think I would be getting a better nitrate result.

 

[Sweetmule]

What are you doing to remove solids from the tank? That is, how often do you clean the filter? If you leave the solids in the filter, while they may be invisible, they are still in the tank, where they are broken down by bacteria adding to the ammonia in the tank.

I am vacuuming every time during a weekly water change and I have filter floss in the first chamber of the wet dry filter as well as in the canister filter. I clean or replace the floss in the wet dry every 2 to 3 weeks and in the canister filter every 2 months. My water is crystal clear and there isn't much waste in the gravel. I'm going to add some more media - marinepure block and balls to the wet dry and see if that helps.

 

[tricktnt]

I would spend the money and get a Kerallin or Aquamaxx Sulpher De-Nitrator if you don't wont to do the feedings. You will need to adjust the drip rate. I have 2 FX6 Filters 2 AC 110 filters and a W/D filter on my tank. I was doing a 50% WC every week and still was having over 40ppm of Nitrate.

BillD is correct that you need to keep your substrate and filters clean so the waste won't break down into Nitrate.

If you get the De-Nitrate filter this process will not be as important.

 

[Sweetmule]

I would spend the money and get a Kerallin or Aquamaxx Sulpher De-Nitrator if you don't wont to do the feedings. You will need to adjust the drip rate. I have 2 FX6 Filters 2 AC 110 filters and a W/D filter on my tank. I was doing a 50% WC every week and still was having over 40ppm of Nitrate.

BillD is correct that you need to keep your substrate and filters clean so the waste won't break down into Nitrate.

If you get the De-Nitrate filter this process will not be as important.

Thanks. I just got the marine pure block and some balls and will add those to the wet/dry and see how that goes for a month or two and then add the sulfur denitrator if I can't get the nitrates down.