Biowheel and Nitrates

[dwoods]

Hola again, I am back with more questions.

I have been fighting an algae issue for quite some time. I have been doing some reading on lowering nitrates in these forums by a search and I came across several instances of biowheel discussion. It seems to be the general rule to remove the biowheel as it traps debris and can pump lots of nitrates into the tank. I have killed 3 coral and 3 fish, so I am about ready to scream or call it quits.

My question
A) Should I turn off the whole filter?
B) Remove the bio wheel and leave the carbon filter
C) Remove both items and just leave the water flowing for some motion?

I have a protein skimmer thats pumping stuff out at a furious pace. Nice brown gunky stuff.

I have lots of LR with some plant growth on them.

3 Damsils
1 Bleany

1 Dead coral

All information is greatly appreciated as always.

[Wiskey]

I have not used a mechanical filter on any of my SW tanks in years,..

Can you run carbon in it without using any sponge at all?

How much LR do you have in what size tank? If you have plenty of LR it will do all the biological filtration you need and the filter just does more harm than good.

Whiskey

[hng]

What sized tank do you have? Without knowing any more, I would recommend removing the biowheel and keeping the filter on for water movement. If you have enough water movement without it, then remove the entire power filter. Keep the skimmer going full blast. Also try to do a few more often water changes. During the water changes, try to use a powerhead to blow off as much detritus from your rocks as possible. Look at how often and how much you are feeding the fish. Chances are, you might be overfeeding them. If you are not already using ro/di water, consider purchasing a filter. HTH

[dwoods]

Thanks for the quick responses.

40 gallon tank
RO water is being used

I don't know the exact weight of my rocks as I just added over a couple of months, but it fills my tank pretty well. I haven't added any rock in atleast 3 months, probably 4.

I would think we underfeeding if anything. Sunday and Wed usually a shrimp block.

picture
http://www.simplisticcreations.net/a...MG_7460_sm.jpg

[Wiskey]

Judging by the picuture I think you will be okay taking the filter off,.. but I would take the biowheel out first,.. wait a month, then remove the whole thing.

If it were me I would replace the filter with a powerhead for your circulation.

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Oh,.. And on the powerhead,.. I would get one that puts out wide flow like the Hydor Korallia, or the Seio. Assuming you don't have any flow other than the HOB filter right now I would go with something in the 800 GPH or so range if your keeping soft coral.

Whiskey

[Loverotties]

I agree with Wiskey.

[Elegance Coral]

If you have no sump, I would keep the filter. I would remove the wheels and the cartridges it comes with. They are junk. Then I would get some quality activated carbon like Matrix carbon and maybe some Phosguard or other phosphate removing media to place in the filter. This would keep the flow in the tank, remove the nitrate factory, and provide valuable filtration for the system.

[dwoods]

Thanks everyone for the responses. As of last night I took the filter out and cleaned it good. I Removed the biowheel and scrubbed where they set. I put two new carbon filters in and have left it running. My problem I think is that the nitrates are so high? How long would it take to remove the nitrates at a level around 20-30 do you think?

I did a good 30% water change this weekend and last night probably 2 gallon change.

[hng]

There's really only two practical ways to remove nitrate, and one of them ain't so practical. Easiest way is to just do water changes. For that size tank, I'd say do 10 gallons each weekend for a month, then you would want to do it twice a month if that keeps your levels low enough. I would rather do small frequent changes than infrequent big changes (but that's just me). Th eother way to remov nitrates is the conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas, but that's a slow process and requires a deep sand bed or large pieces of live rock. I agree with Whiskey to get a Koralia, I think they're great powerheads.