I need some help with filtration for my tank. I have 10lbs of live rock and 2 powercilters running at 100 gph each. The filters have carbon phosban and a sponge. I do a 25% water change every week. What else should I do to keep the water clean enough for my sps coming in. I am also adding a little chaeto to the tank. If I got rid of blue damsel and anemone would my tank be a lot better off?

Pictures of the tank?
And is one of those filters mine :-P

I dont know crap about SPS, just wondering what your tank looked like!

So far that seems good, just keep up with your params.
yes and yes get rid of both.
i have a blue damsel i dont know if he is like yours, but mine likes to dig huge pits in the sand and kick it up everywhere.
also you dont want an anemone with sps in such a small tank.
GL lets see some PICS =)

I have gotten rid of the anemone but I dont want to get rid of my damsel. I tested my water and the nitrate is at 10ppm. I am getting some cheato and I added a few pounds of live sand. Should I do anthing else to get rid of the nitrate.

What does everyone with sps picos do for filtration?

What kind of carbon are you running? You might want to look into kind that removes nitrates.
Also, water changes will reduce your nitrates.

Is the damsel the only fish? Any other critters?
Pictures of your tank and setup would really be nice so we can see whats going on.

I tested my nitrate After I removed my anmone and it's at 10 ppm!!!! I added a little chaeto and did a water change. Is there anything else I should get as far as filtration? Would a small skimmer of some sort be worth it?

Also the carbon is marinelAnd black diamond. And the damsel is the only fish. I also have 2 turbo snails. Those are the only things in my tank. What is the best of those media for removing nitrate?

Is seachem matrix a good media for nitrate?

I would get rid of the sponge in your filter, and just go to walmart and get poly fill, that pillow stuffing stuff. Then you can just pull it out and throw it away and throw in a new wad. The sponge will start to produce nitrates in your tank.

What kind of water are you using in the tank? 25% water changes a week in 5.5 gallon a week should be knocking your nitrates down pretty well. Say you have 10ppm nitrates, a 25% water change should bring you to 7.5ppm another 25% would bring you to 5.6ppm etc. So if you did a 50% water change right now it would bring you to 5ppm. But if your source water has say 2ppm nitrate for some reason, your never going to get lower than that 2ppm because you keep adding it back to the tank. So make sure you have good water and good salt.

Try some chemi-pure as your carbon, you could buy the elite but thats got GFO in it (your already using phosban so you dont need gfo).

Seachem matrix is good for removing nitrate, but it has to be colonized by denitrifying bacteria, so it wont be a quick fix as it will take the bacteria awhile to colonize the media. Imagine it as very pourous live rock, with lots of nooks and crannies for the bacteria to be in. The only thing is its not LIVE so your rocks will have to seed it.

How long did you cycle your tank btw? Do you have a sand bed?

I have a 1/2 in deep sand bed of CC. I am using tap water with nothing done to it. I will take the sponge out and get some matrix. Is the chemipure better than the black diamond? I can use RO water every other water change but its a pain and I have heard that the tap water replaces trace elements and minerals.

Thanks

Don't use tap water. If you do not have access to a RO/DI unit you can buy distilled. Most krogers have a RO fountain where you can refill 1gal jugs for about 30 cents a gallon. Also tap water does not replace trace elements

+1 DO NOT USE TAP WATER!!
Buy distilled at grocery store or use a RO/DI machine they have "Glacier" systems near me at the local acme.

And tap water can replace SOME trace elements, some tap water will have calcium etc, but your salt mix will have all of the trace elements you need with using RO/DI water. Tap water also includes things such as NITRATE (your problem) along with copper, cyanide and other nasty nasty things.
You may need to supplement some trace elements between water changes though if your corals are depleting them (dont supplement anything unless your testing for it though).

And on a side note, ditch the crushed coral and get a real sand bed.

Okay I will use some ro water. I have about 20 cases of bottled ro in my garge its just its a pain opening each bottle and dumping it in the tank.

Its a 5.5 gallon it cant be that bad :-p
I do water changes on a 40 breeder, and a 24 gallon nano with bottled distilled or ro/di water.

How old is this tank?

In a 5.5g you don't want an anemone period. Secondly, keeping SPS in a 5.5g is risky at best. If you've been using tap water (a terrible thing to do in a saltwater tank, heavy metals and other harmful substances) and think that opening bottles of distilled water is a pain, then don't even go there. SPS will succumb to RTN (Rapid Tissue Necrosis) with temps swings of as little as 5 degrees, pH swings of .6, and salinity swings of .004 SG. Stability is the key with SPS, which I don't think can be attained in a 5.5g unless you have a good knowledge base and are ever-vigilant, which, no offense, seems like you are not. As for filtration, in a 5.5g I would have 10lbs. LR, a small HOB filter with no sponge, 2x MJ 400 (1 with a hydorFLO rotating deflector, and 1g water changes every 3 days. This will decrease nutrient levels and replace trace elements. Hope that helps.

Please mix the saltwater overnight before you put it in the tank. It takes awhile for the oxygen to rise to sufficiently high enough levels for marine life.
Also +1 on what everybody said. Except I would use koralia nanos instead of maxi-jets.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=215249 This nem?

you know thats like a 55x turn over rate right? thats a crap ton of flow ( and to much IMO )

I might just go for lps instead then. I was under the impression that a birdsnest and monti digitata would do good in my tank. All my zoas are doing great right now. I might not even try sps for now because there is no way I can keep salinity in check. I will start using bottled water now.

Thanks

"Too" much? I have two VorTech mp40w's coming for my 90g. They mp40's run 3200gph wide open. So with my return pump that's about 7350gph. That's about 80x turnover, which I think is going to be just right for an SPS dominant tank. He asked about SPS....granted he shouldn't even try that yet...especially with a 5.5g. SPS likes flow with turnover rates of at least 30x and at the most 80x+. The small HOB will have a widely diffuse return, which is highly unlikely to cause terrible undertow or detrimental turbulence. The hydorFLO rotating deflectors will have a head loss of at least 30% due to the low flow rate of the MJ400's (106gph). Think about the natural environment of most SPS: shallow, highly turbulent, random flow that is well-aerated, low nutrient values, and stable. For LPS, I would shoot for a turnover rate of at least 20x. I had great success in my 12g at such rates and so do my friends with <10g tanks. Random, intermittent flow is key in the health of a nano reef, you're corals and fish will thank you for it. You can survive with low turnover rates and uniform flow patterns but it's like running a marathon hungover, you'll never reach your potential.

****JBM, you're pointing out too much flow, but you're missing the fact that Klink wants to keep SPS in 5.5g that he dumps tap water into. Klink: I commend you for being receptive to everyone's info and I hope everything works out for you. LMK if you need any help.

So, other than doing water changes. Is there any equipment I can buy that will allow me to keep sps easier? There has to be some people out there that keep sps in a tank this small.

75 gallon sump maybe?

ive setup tanks with tap water, granted the tap water in northern ca is quite good
but it just takes a long time to cycle through the phosphates and silicates... IME more so even the silicates

but i ALWAYS use RO/DI to top off an established tank!

It's possible, I think El Fab has SPS in his 5g

an auto top off will help keep your specific gravity where it should be

I am going to give some montipora a shot. I will look into an auto top off.

Thanks

I say just do it find a small cheap frag and just try it every tank is difrent you may find yours does exellent or you never know. Then come to the forum and ask . No one has the same openion on setups or what to keep , but every one has had problems and can give advice on how they fixed what was wrong for them. (I do nothing by the book topoff with tap water ,have never tested and my tank is alive ?)

I just ordered 2 birdsnest frags so I will see how good they do in my tank. Is water from a refrigerator water dispenser okay to use? My nitrates are down to 5ppm so its getting better. Are birdsnest the hardiest of all sps?