Neptune Aquatics

To keep or not to keep my algae scrubber?

Keep Scrubber or not

  • Remove scrubber

    Votes: 2 50.0%

  • Keep scrubber

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Slowly ween tank off scrubber

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Your tank is going to explode with algae if you remove it

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    4
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I am constantly dealing with low no3 in my tank. I’ve been no3 dosing for a few weeks now and Ive seen some nice results but I hate dosing things that aren’t “necessary.”

I firmly believe that refugiums and algae scrubbers seem to only reduce no3 with any sort of consistency. I’ve always needed to use some sort of po4 removal along side any refugium ive had and also my algae scrubber. So my question is, why am I even using the dang algae scrubber of it’s not really removing much po4, and I having to dose nitrate? Seems a little wasteful to me.

Should I take down the scrubber and see what a happens? Or should I not? What potential harm to the tank would follow? I’ve always used som sort of algae to help with nutrients, but this is the first time I’ve dealt with low nutrient issues.
 
Tough to say, especially with how beautiful your display has been doing.

If you added the scrubber after your tank was already running, did you notice it bump your ph up a bit? The ability to raise ph is an aspect I like about the scrubbers.
 
Patio said:
Tough to say, especially with how beautiful your display has been doing.

If you added the scrubber after your tank was already running, did you notice it bump your ph up a bit? The ability to raise ph is an aspect I like about the scrubbers.
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I havnt noticed anything hut I’ve been using it for a couple years now.
 
Can you cut back the schedule for how long the light is in and see what that does. Maybe have the light turn on 2 hours later than normal and see what that does over a week? I wonder if the fuge will ”pick up the slack”.
I would not turn it off all at once, that sounds like a potential path towards a nutrient spike, but im curious to see what others think
 
max_nano said:
Can you cut back the schedule for how long the light is in and see what that does. Maybe have the light turn on 2 hours later than normal and see what that does over a week? I wonder if the fuge will ”pick up the slack”.
I would not turn it off all at once, that sounds like a potential path towards a nutrient spike, but im curious to see what others think
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I agree with cutting back on the light on time to find a new balance.
 
I said screw it and took it off. I’ll reduce feedings a bit and watch the no3. I think I have enough live rock to keep the no3 down. We shall see. I’ll also stop dosing the no3 as well.

the scrubber needed a good vinegar bath anyway. So if I end up needing to use it again at least it’ll all be clean.
 
I would say reduce lighting or make a smaller screen.

Note that people do add Nitrate to over-sized scrubber systems, as a way to reduce phosphates.
Algae removes a certain ratio of nitrates/phosphates. If it is Nitrate limited, it stops reducing phosphates.
While it seems wasteful, it is less so than dealing with GFO.

Removing it is not so risky. It will not produce any sudden changes.
 
Coral reefer said:
I don’t think live rock is gonna reduce nitrate really. You should Be fine. Like you said, just keep an eye on it.
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I'd heard the opposite ... that live rock produces as much nitrate as there is nitrate... ie; LR has a lot of capacity and probably houses as much bacteria as can be supported.

V
 
Some science.

There are various pathways in the nitrogen cycle
  • N-fixation, that is, reduction of atmospheric N2 into ammonia NH3
  • Assimilation, that is, conversion of NO-3 and NH+4 to organic nitrogen
  • Mineralization or ammonification, that is, conversion of organic nitrogen to NH+4
  • Nitrification, that is, conversion of NH+4 to NO-2 and successively NO-3
  • Denitrification, that is, conversion of NO-3 to gaseous forms of nitrogen (NO, N2O, N2)

Various bacteria and organisms in water, in fish, and on surfaces, turn detritus and fish waste into Ammonia.
(Ammonification above)

Aerobic bacteria, on the surface of everything including live rock, convert Ammonia => Nitrite => Nitrate
(Nitrification above)

Anaerobic bacteria, inside live rock, where they do no get oxygen, convert Nitrate => Nitrogen
(Denitrification above)

Algae is different. It converts ammonia and Nitrate to amino acids, nitrogen containing cells, and so on.
(N-fixation and Assimilation above)

--

Denitrification is a bit tricky.
You need a low-oxygen zone, yet enough flow to actually transfer Nitrate.
This is achieved well in live rock, since the surface is covered with Aerobic bacteria that produce low oxygen environment,
yet the pores in the rock allow for enough flow. Still, you need a lot.
 
What you need is something like the 8x8x4 marine pure or large chunks of semi-porous LR that mimic a DSB for denitrification...

LR will solve nitrites but anaerobic regions are what breaks down nitrates
 
I may buy one brick. The entire fuge area of my sump is full of live rock and carx media

image.jpg

image.jpg
 
One brick is more than enough. My system was happy with one brick. I used a second one to raise my skimmer and turns out my nitrates bottomed out
 
NanoCrazed said:
I used a second one to raise my skimmer and turns out my nitrates bottomed out
Click to expand...
Did raising the skimmer make the skimmer more efficient at removing nitrate? or did you just replace a lift that was already there with a better lift, the brick, then noticed the brick bottomed you out?
 
Patio said:
Did raising the skimmer make the skimmer more efficient at removing nitrate? or did you just replace a lift that was already there with a better lift, the brick, then noticed the brick bottomed you out?
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I raised it to make sure it would dry skim... had trouble with overflow prior to.

The second brick probably contributed to the bottom out.
 
I just added all the rest of dry rock I had laying Around to the sump. I’m curious to see how the yank does for the next few weeks.
 
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