Chemi-Pure good/bad

[jefflink32]

I have a 120 reef tank, I'm trying to convert into more sps corals. I'm trying to accomplish the best of both worlds, with a tank that has fish and is nice to look at, but also has zero nitrates. Is Chemi-Pure a good product to help reduce these?

A quote from the site... "remove heavy metals, copper, phenol, ammonia, and other nitrogenous waste. Helps keep pH at a consistently safe range and your water sparkling clear." ... Sounds great!!!

Any thoughts???

Thanks, Jeff

[Sndwave80]

I have been using it for many years now and have only had good luck with it.

[Loverotties]

It's OK.

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!!



there is no real reason to worry about nitrates. they were given the bad rap for tank crashing when in fact it was phosphates the entire time. now keeping phosphates under control is another thread, but really, do not worry to much about nitrates unless they are above 60 or so. then this indicates an imbalance with bacteria that needs to be addressed. even at this level they are not a real problem for the critters in the tank.

G~

[jefflink32]

Does it do as promissed? Zero out Nitrates and balance PH? Seems to good to be true. Is there any down side? If non, I'd think everyone would use it. Pretty low cost for something that offers that sort of protection.

[DarthOcellaris]

Welcome Jefflink32!!

I've used that in the past to clean up my water clarity and it works GREAT. But, like anything else, it's just a temporary fix. You should find what causes the problems you are trying to fix and nip things in the bud.

as far as the balanced ph and zero nitrates..i dont really know cause I never tested after using it. I bought the stuff mainly as a 'super charged' carbon.

[jefflink32]

Originally Posted by Geoff

there is no real reason to worry about nitrates. they were given the bad rap for tank crashing when in fact it was phosphates the entire time.

I recently purchased a piece of acropora, and was told that it requires near perfect water condition. Specifically nitrates, phosphates, and PH. So you don't think I need to worry about nitrates as much? They are at 10 BTW. Phosphates are 0 and PH is running a little low at 8.2, not sure why that is, but I've been adding buffer to raise that slowly the last few days.

[DarthOcellaris]

If a coral is tank-bred, they can tolerate abnormal conditions better. I just got rid of a Larry Jackson Acro and he survived some major ph swings ( don't ask ). Plus, he was at the very bottom of my tank. He was flourishing very nicely. The only reason I got rid of him was because I'm planning a tank upgrade and didn't want him to go through too much more stress and take any chances on his life.

10 for nitrates is fine.

[jefflink32]

Picture of the acropora, I've had it a week.

[DarthOcellaris]

Nice specimen!

[saltysupply]

if your looking to reduce nitrates i'd give az-no3 a shot...ive had very good results with it...melev on reef central has been using it for a few months as well

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by jefflink32

I recently purchased a piece of acropora, and was told that it requires near perfect water condition. Specifically nitrates, phosphates, and PH. So you don't think I need to worry about nitrates as much? They are at 10 BTW. Phosphates are 0 and PH is running a little low at 8.2, not sure why that is, but I've been adding buffer to raise that slowly the last few days.

phosphates is what kills corals. to make things even more fun, phosphate tests kits will not help you any. they test for the wrong kind of phosphates. to get a good indicator of your phosphate level take a bit of your sand and crush it. then test this crushed mixture for phosphates. i bet the level will be a bit higher than 0.

the reason is that aragonite uptakes phosphates. it actually absorbs it from the water column. you will not get a reading on the test kit till the LR and sand is full and it starts leaching phosphates back into the water column. at this point it is already to late and you are battling an uphill. to make things worse, coral skeletons are also made of calcium carbonate (aragonite). the corals skeleton will wick up these phosphates from the LR and sand causing the coral to die form the inside.

nitrates have always been easy to test for. phosphates have been very difficult to test. with Wet/dry filters high nitrates tend to go along with high phosphates. so people started associating high nitrates with tanks dying when in reality it was the phosphates.

if you do not have a canister filter, wet/dry filter, or hang on back filter on your tank then your nitrates will start to drop if you start skimming properly. getting a nice light tea coloured liquid from the skimmer cup, and start siphoning out detritus whenever you do water changes.

G~

[jefflink32]

Not to create a debate (again) here, but are you recommending BB is the way to go for sps tanks? The real reason I went dsb is for the look, and the animals you can have living in the sand. However, this was before I upgraded to the 120 gal and now that I'm moving more toward coral, and specifically sps coral. I'm learning that it might be (as you said) an up hill battle.

I have good water movement, and do all the right things to reduce waste, like rinse food, reduce feeding to 3 times a week. I'm running a wet/dry sump, skim heavily, use a canister filter for phos-ban and carbon/chemi-pure, and also have a UV filter running. I dose B-Ionic 2-part, that gives me trace elements as well as maintains pH, cal, alk levels. Also do a 10% WC weekly. I don't vac all the way down in the SB, just an inch or so to get up the waste.

Any thoughts on my setup? I'm about 3 months into this tank, so it would be easier to make a major change now.

[bravo2]

jefflink32 What size is your tank? I am trying phos lock right now. I use to use phos sorb which I like. Phos ban I'm not sure if I used it. How do you like it? Chemi-pure I use to use when I did salt water before and it seemed to help but don't remember how much. The anzo3 I want to try.