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Algae Scrubber Vs Biopellet reactor


Mattb1612

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Hi Everyone,

I am having some issues with Cyano Algae due to high nitrates.  My nitrates sit right around .6-.8. I feed once a day with a turkey baster however with some new fish ( potter and tang) they wont eat unless it floats by them. Where the chromis and six line eat straight from the baster. I feed half cube a day to three-fourth a cube a day however some food does hit the sand bed. I always thought the peppermint shrimp and snails would handle it. But anyways I am running red sea reefer 250 with 2 radion x15 and I have 152-s classic octo skimmer which is over kill for the tank. I am also running media reactor with GFO and carbon. I am thinking about purchasing a bio pellet reactor till one member said he didn't have any luck lowering his nitrates with it. So I started researching Algae scrubbers and I have seen some very convincing videos where is works amazing. I was looking at buying a Santa Monica Algae scrubber drop in for my sump since i have a small footprint sump. So the question is what are the pros and cons of each and would anyone recommend one over the other? I know everyone's  tank is different and everyone's experience is different but before I buy a new piece of equipment i want to make sure I make the best decision possible. Thanks ahead of time for all the help guys :-).

 

Parameters 

temp:81

Salinity :1.26

Ph:8.3

Pho4:0

Nitrates:.6-.8

Alk:9.5

Calc:450

Mag:1480

 

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I wouldn't consider .6 to .8 as high nitrates but that's just me. Post a picture so we can see how bad the issue is. How long has the tank been up and running? For me cyano is just an early stage of a new tank and goes away unless the water quality stays nutrient rich.

 

Algae scrubbers have always worked great for me and the only drawback I had was that there was some smell of seaweed in the room since the algae is exposed to the air. It does require some maintenance as you have to thin out the algae routinely. The Santa Monica type scrubbers I've seen used an air pump which seemed noisy, something to think about. Bio-pellets can be a little pricey depending on the type of reactor you get. You might also need an additional pump to run it and it takes time for the bacteria to become established. How big is your tank? If it is a small tank I would suggest trying to just use Purigen for nitrates and a GFO or Chemipure Elite for phosphates. 

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Agree with coral hind. I have 2 full blown reefs with nitrates around 8 to 10 always where they used to stay at 40 plus. I also have a little cyano here and there but not bad. A pic will definitely help us to help you

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My tank is 65 gallons. I do 15-gallon water changes weekly but my nitrates are still high due to my heavy bioload: 2 chromis, sixline, yellow tang,potter angle fish. I think my nitrates are the issue since I vacuum the sand bed weekly and turkey baster the rocks daily almost. Here are some pictures to show you my issues: 

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Sorry the pictures are so blue I will take some more and add them later when I get home. These were the only ones I had on my phone. But you can see in some of the pictures the brown on the sand and the red on the rocks. Trust me its not Coraline algae on the rocks its red slime im able to blow it off. So I think I am going to go with this model for algae scrubber unless someone has any cheaper options:http://www.santa-monica.cc/DROP12x-drop-in-upflow-algae-scrubber-with-Xtra-LED-and-Green-Grabber-surfaces--12-cubes-feeding-per-day_p_70.html

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Cyanobacteria typically indicates a silicate issue. I see nothing in your other test results that would lead me to believe there is an issue with your water quality and GFO should be effective at removing the silicates as well. How often is it changed?

 

Edit: I dont consider that a high bioload either (especially given the equipment you're running provided it is running as intended).

Edited by madweazl
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Ugh so why would the red slime come back again. I haven't run any test however I just added seagel with some extra phosguard to assist in phosphate removal in my reactor and I used red slime remover which cleaned my tank up. It's back again though and I know my nitrates are low since I've been dosing nopox Red Sea nitrate removal. Am I doing something wrong please help I am at my wits end. I feed once a day a half a cube however I try spot feeding but the potter is still shy of the turkey baster so he hides. Any help guys? I will run some test this weekend and give you some hard facts but my corals look amazing my torch grew another head my frog spawns are wide open and my nems look beautiful. Everything seems happy so I have no idea

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