chrisdamage Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 I have a BC14 first off... I just bought a 10g tank that I want to set up as an above tank refugium to grow some pods and also some cheato to help reduce my nitrates(currently at 40ppm!)... what type of pump should I use to get the water from my tank to the refugium? I believe the stock pump in the BC14 is rated at something like 135gph or something... will my pump that carries water from my tank to my refugium have to be of equal power to prevent some sort of overflow in one of the tanks? here is my design: critics wanted! suggestions! anything!? ha http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x86/chr...refugiumult.jpg any suggestions as far as the type of sand, algae, etc... I should use Link to comment
Matty1124 Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 first off i think you really should figure out how to lower those nitrates... in your fuge i wouldnt worry about sand... just put some rubble and some chaeto in there and it will be all good to go.... plans look good Link to comment
chrisdamage Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share Posted June 19, 2007 I've literally tried everything I know how... this is a last resort, trust me haha... the nitrate level doesn't even waver after a 50% water change so I don't know what the deal is... its not the water I'm using, I checked that... all my params are fine except for my nitrate... its stressful Link to comment
thejanitor86 Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 have you tried a different nitrate tester. i had a problem like this in my tank, i was using the 5 test quick dips. it showed around 30ppm nitrates always, even after doing 20% water changes every 4 days. so then i bought 3 different brand nitrate testers, and they all showed i had between .5 to 5ppm. Link to comment
dsoz Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Many LFS will test your water for free! take a water sample to them and have them test it. Chaeto and LR rubble is all you really need for a fuge. Oh ya, and a light. dsoz Link to comment
chrisdamage Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share Posted June 19, 2007 Many LFS will test your water for free! take a water sample to them and have them test it. Chaeto and LR rubble is all you really need for a fuge. Oh ya, and a light. dsoz would it be bad to just put a ball of the cheato in with my bio balls? or does it have to be fully submerged to survive? I'm confused as to how to keep that 2nd chamber submerged if I were to put the LR rubble and cheato back there... and also, as a side note... what would happen if I just took all of the Bioballs out at once and replaced them with LR rubble and cheato? My tank has been up and running now for about 3 months with livestock and everything... I don't want to cause a system crash Link to comment
atwater Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 would it be bad to just put a ball of the cheato in with my bio balls? or does it have to be fully submerged to survive? I'm confused as to how to keep that 2nd chamber submerged if I were to put the LR rubble and cheato back there... and also, as a side note... what would happen if I just took all of the Bioballs out at once and replaced them with LR rubble and cheato? My tank has been up and running now for about 3 months with livestock and everything... I don't want to cause a system crash Maybe your nitrate issues are within the bioballs? There are many threads stating that they are nitrate magnets. If you do remove the bioballs i would it sould be done slowly and replaced with LR rubble to keep your sydtem from crashing, but you will probably get a mini cycle. Link to comment
chrisdamage Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share Posted June 19, 2007 Maybe your nitrate issues are within the bioballs? There are many threads stating that they are nitrate magnets. If you do remove the bioballs i would it sould be done slowly and replaced with LR rubble to keep your sydtem from crashing, but you will probably get a mini cycle. what if I just stuff some cheato down in there with my bio balls? will that accomplish anything? they won't be fully submerged, does that matter? Link to comment
juin21 Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Your cheato needs light, do you have a light in that back chamber? Link to comment
chrisdamage Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share Posted June 19, 2007 Your cheato needs light, do you have a light in that back chamber? I can scrape off the black paint on the back and just use velcro to attach a light... does the chaeto need to be fully submerged though? Link to comment
atwater Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 what if I just stuff some cheato down in there with my bio balls? will that accomplish anything? they won't be fully submerged, does that matter? Are you DIYing the back of an all inone system??? If so ypu can remove all the bioballs becuase its only a few. Yes the cheato would need to be submerged and you will need to light it as well. If you have some strands sticking out of the water I would not be too concerned. Link to comment
prisonspider Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Here's a small submersible light you could sink right into that NC chamber 2 with that Chaeto http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=110140797828 Link to comment
juin21 Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 I can scrape off the black paint on the back and just use velcro to attach a light... does the chaeto need to be fully submerged though? Yes, the chaeto needs to be fully submerged. Link to comment
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