subsea Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 In other words I dont know what I want but I know I need one Andrew, My name is Patrick Castille. I also keep it simple. To save you money, may I suggest natural nitrate reduction. No protein skimming. If you want to talk chemistry, then let us do so. Protein skimming is technically foam fractionation. It relies on surface tension at the air molecule water interface. In so doing, proteins are attracted to the bubbles, skimmate. Many other things are also attracted to the bubbles, which I consider to be food for the tank inhabitants. I prefer to use bacteria to consume nitrate, thus the faculative zone in the deep sand bed. Another favorite is decorative macro algae. Corals, as well as, algae consume nutriants from the tank water. Why not cultivate the conditions to remove nitrate in more than one place. Multiple nutriant exchange pathways is the name of the game. Use macro in the refugium. When you feed the fish it is nutriant recycling. When you prune to compost tomatoes , it is nutriant export. Grow decorative macro in the display tank. This will compete with micro algae for nutriants. I do not starve it out. I feed the tank heavy. What grows that I do not like, I find something to eat it. That is the fun in knowing what it is that you are doing. Patrick 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Mendez WTR Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 Ive moved forward with this. Hydro told me to go to Texas Hydroponics for pumps. I picked up a 400gph with 8 foot Max head and its pumping straight up only 23 dollars. I thought I was going to spend 75 to 100. Bought water and salt yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggedfire Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Drew, This all depends on what you want to do. I tried a canister filter, note 'tried'. You can use one, but it has to be cleaned often. This is what spiked my nitrates in my FOWLER and is slowly coming down with my poor mans solution assuming you have an overflow and return pump: $4 Sterilite tub $3 clip on light $7 18W CFL with reflector in 5.1K $1 Macro container from $store Total cost: $15 As long as the macro is not tore up, it wont get through the holes in the small tub. This has gone a fair way at reducing my nitrates and providing food for my tangs. BUT! this is temporary, I would not run with this tub for too long without reinforcement. Being that you are running a 150gal tank, adding 20-25 gallons isn't adding too much buffering for water capacity. Also, flow through the sump doesnt need to be a hurricane, just a light turnover. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All WYSIWYG Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Ive moved forward with this. Hydro told me to go to Texas Hydroponics for pumps. I picked up a 400gph with 8 foot Max head and its pumping straight up only 23 dollars. I thought I was going to spend 75 to 100. Bought water and salt yesterday. Actually I told you to go to brite ideas hydro in south austin, I wouldn't send my worst enemy to texas hydro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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