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Kent Marine - Nitrate Sponge Filter Media?

12K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  bfish5150 
#1 ·
Anybody had any experience with Nitrate Sponge Media from Kent? I've got some high nitrates right now and I am doing frequent water changes, cutting back on the feeding of my fish to every other day and I am considering purchasing this Nitrate Sponge media and running it inside of my wet/dry filter. There is someone on Ebay who has a 1 gallon bucket of this stuff for $18.00 and my LFS sells a 2-qt container of it for $19.99. Go figure.
 
#2 ·
Ebay rules!!

I have tried one of the nitrate sponges in the past but I've found that the best method is good tank habits and just a little patience(sing like Axel Rose here);) As a wise man once said, nothing good happens fast in a reef tank!

Just continue your good habits and things should straighten up in no time! HTH

-Big Dave
 
#3 ·
The nitrate sponge is not a fast-fix, it's not like phosphate sponge or an "absorbant". It's a biological medium that will eventulally populate with bacteria to convert the nitrate into nitrogen.

Having said all that, I have to echo BigDave's comments about good tank housekeeping.

Do you know what is causing your high nitrate? What is your nitrate reading specifically, and what kind of filtration/skimming are you using? What's your tank size and how much live rock? Crushed coral or live sand? When you water change do you vacuum the sandbed (unless you have a plenum or DSB)...

Perhaps we can help you nip the source of the nitrate and fix the problem that way.

Jenn
 
#4 ·
Jenn, my tank specs are at the bottom of each post I place on the website, you can click on it to access the info. I do not have a DSB at this point, but I have about a 4" substrate of crushed coral. I already suspect what is causing my high nitrates, which when tested are about 100. Too much feeding and my tank is not overstocked. But I do have two big puffers that make a mess, if you know what I mean, and they certainly aren't helping any. When I do a bi-weekly 20% water change with RO/DI water, I do vacuum the substrate. I've also been watching my wet/dry filter built into the aquarium and keeping the filters clean not gunked up. I cut back to feeding the fish every other day now. They fed no flake food. I cut up frozen squid for them and all the fish eat that, even my yellow tang. I do place some lettuce in there a couple of times a week for the tang. Ever since my magnum 350 broke, which is a sore topic for me - see my product review on this webiste, my nitrates have been higher. The mag 350 helped with keeping that level down and I ran carbon in it. I have no carbon now and my only filtration is the wet/dry. I know I need to get another canister filter, I'm thinking fluval 404. I'm not ready to take the full jump into reef at this time, otherwise I would buy a refugium, MH lighting, skimmer and all the other stuff I need. Thanks for your help.
 
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