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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Aquaforest or other nitrate reducers


Clown79

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I'm interested in trying this product to reduce my nitrates in my 15g and 10g. I have tried purigen but it hasn't done a thing.

 

Do you need to use a skimmer with this product? Or a doser?

 

Has anyone seen good results with this or is there another product thats better?

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I tried using full aquaforest for a month. I was trying to achieve my ideal parameters. My coral suffered and I ended up with dinos. I really like the reef salt though.

 

Imo you are far better controling nitrates the traditional ways. Your mileage may vary.

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I have used the Aquaforest pro bio-s as well as np-pro.

I have noticed that my nitrates fall significantly the day after dosing 1 drop of each.

The problem is I also dose 1 ml of NoPox at the same time.

I will say that after switching to the prebiotic reef salt and pro bio-s, np-pro, my nitrates/phosphates consistently stay borderline ULNS.

 

But remember YMMV.

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Ya waterchanges aren't cutting it.

 

I just did a 50% waterchange on my 10g with changing my full sand bed, then another 15% and nitrates are still 10.

 

I have 1 fish and no over feeding.

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What's your feeding schedule?

 

50% water change will cut your nitrates in half, so if you are at 20 ppm, you need to do 4 - 50% water changes to get down to 2.5 ppm.

 

For small tanks, water changes are the most economical and surefire way to reduce NO3. If you can add a skimmer, there are a number of other methods but without one, your options are extremely limited. Just about about everything highly effective out there is going to require a skimmer or other hardware component.

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What's your feeding schedule?

 

50% water change will cut your nitrates in half, so if you are at 20 ppm, you need to do 4 - 50% water changes to get down to 2.5 ppm.

 

For small tanks, water changes are the most economical and surefire way to reduce NO3. If you can add a skimmer, there are a number of other methods but without one, your options are extremely limited. Just about about everything highly effective out there is going to require a skimmer or other hardware component.

 

3 water changes would get him to 2.5. ;) 4 would be 1.25 (in that example)

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Well my nitrates were 10 before the 50% and still are 10.

 

My feeding, i feed 1x a day a few pellets, the fish eats pellet by pellet. 1x a week a small amount of frozen.

I feed the corals 1 time a week a small amount.

 

Thats it.

 

Use distilled water, no additives, dose every other day esv bionic.

 

Use carbon - changed every 3 weeks, bag rinsed weekly.

Purigen

Floss changed as soon as it needs changing.

 

My sand was just completely changed. Pump/hose cleaned monthly, and back chambers every other waterchange.

It actually makes no sense why this tanks nutrient levels don't drop. Even with multiple waterchanges, it just creeps back up.

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SelectedByNature

Sounds like you have a little piggy fish in your 10g! Or tests are inconclusive? How soon after the 50% change did it creep back up it should have been 5 for a while at least?

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What nitrate kit are you using? And have you checked your water that you're doing the water change with rather then just assuming it's 0?

 

Also, 10 ppm nitrates is by no means high and not something that I would personally even care about.

 

Here's a pic of my tank, and it runs between 20-40 ppm nitrates.

 

4OOOccGm.jpg

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The last time i checked my waterchange water it was 0.

 

How are your sps handling the nitrates?

 

In my 15g its about 7 and i have no algae issues and everything is fine.

 

In my 10g, i've had ongoing issues with various algaes. I've tried so many things.

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SPS have no issue with the higher nitrates, at one point my tank tested 100 ppm Nitrates on a Salifert kit. There's a big thread about this recently on another forum as well. Phosphate is really where you're going to run into more issues in my experience.

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and if you care that much about your nitrates being 10 or whatever they are, you have a 10 gallon tank, do a 100 percent water change. the fish will automatically go to the lowest area of the tank and will be perfectly fine flopping in just enough water for a second while you start filling it back up. I do this often on my 16 gallon with 6 fish!. (tank has been running 2 years). Also, if you changed your sandbed you likely kicked up mad detritus which will now further break down over the next few days and cause potential ammonia spikes followed by increased nitrates yet again... Most people change their sandbeds in patches (one area each time they do a water change) when they are ready to change it.

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I use probio F and S daily as instructed. I stopped using them for 2 wks to see if it made a difference, my nitrates and phosphates did shoot up. I then started again my nitrates are again consistently 0 or 'trace'. My lfs tests my water once a fortnight using thier salifert test kits.

 

I also use purigen, rowaphos and chaeto but I swear aquaforest seems to keep things nicely in check. I feed quite a lot daily 4 fish 20g (and i have Just upgraded my tank 1 wk ago. ). Give pro bio F and S a try, its not cheap but lasts ages.

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Your welcome clown 79. You don't necessarily need a skimmer, the instructions say that the bacteria convert the phosphates and nitrates into a bio mass that the corals / sponges etc will consume, and/ or you can use a skimmer to take out. I don't have a skimmer, all good so far.

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Please keep this updated of you try a skimmerless method. I know I and others would like to see an effective nutrient control method, besides changes, for skimmer-less tanks.

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I am using the "full" AF line. I use their probiotic reef salt along with the NP Pro and Pro BIO F. For dosing, I use their Components 1-2-3, dosed daily. I also use their carbon and phosphate minus. So far after using for a few weeks, the tank looks good and the acros show good color. I do run a Tunze skimmer and the cup does pull some nasty looking stuff.

 

My nitrates run about 10 ppm and that's alright with me and my P04 is 0 according to my Hanna checker. I do dose acropower once a week.

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I think when i get the product I will start a thread so that everyone can keep up with the experience.

 

Obviously in such small tanks I will only need to dose very little as its 1 drop per 27g.

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