# Chemical filtration for trophs?



## sneakypete (Mar 7, 2008)

Just wondering if anyone uses any chemical filtration for their trophs.

I've been doing 2* weekly water changes of 33% lately on my 125 and the Nitrate levels still seem to stick around 25ppm; no big deal I realize, but I expected the Nitrates to go down more. I've been looking at chemical additives like Nitra-sorb, Chemi-pure and a few others to add to my Aquaclear 110 to see if I cant cut back to once a week water changes while aiming for Nitrates below 20 ppm.

Anyone have an opinion? Other than charcoal, I've never used these before. Are there any downsides that I should be aware of?

pete


----------



## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

I've never used additives. If you like plants you can put some in your sump if you have one. If you get the right kind and you do it right they will take care of that for you.

That is the way I would do it. That is the way nature does it!


----------



## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

How many fish are in the tank? How much are you feeding? What filtration do you have besides the AC110?

I have never used any products that combat nitrates. If you cannot get the nitrates under control with the current water change schedule you can try upping the percentage of water that is changed each time. Go from the two 33% to one 50% each week and see if that helps.

I personally do not check my nitrate levels. I just perform a 50% weekly water change. My fish seem happy and they breed so my water cannot be that bad. Of course my tank is only a 75g with a wet/dry that holds an additional 15g for a total of 90g+/- depending on evaporation. So the amount of water I change isn't as drastic as some of you guys. But I do however have 20 moliro that are 1.75-2" and 9 duboisi that are 4.5-5.5" plus the fry they produce inside the tank. I am sure my bio-load is quite heavy.


----------



## sneakypete (Mar 7, 2008)

There are about 20 trophs and 20 other mixed africans. Most are juveniles. I feed twice daily, enough food that eaten in about 2 minutes. Food is NLS growth and pure Spurilina flakes. Filtration is the 110, an Eheim 2229 and a Eheim 2260. In other words, the filtration is more than adequate. In terms of plants, I have 3 Anubias, 2 java ferns and some java moss so there is likely some Nitrate uptake happening there.

I guess I'm looking for a way to not have to water change _twice _a week - once should be enough without being a slacker. And I don't want to go beyond changing 40% per sitting if I can help it.

pete


----------



## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I do 50% on my 120's every weekend. You have more filtration on your tank than I do.


----------



## TaNgS_RuLe (Sep 26, 2007)

Tropheus are able to take large water changes with no problems at all, I sometimes do a 60-70%.

Larger waterchanges tend to be more effective at reducing waste than smaller more frequent ones.


----------



## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

It's not uncommon for me to change 70% at one water change, but if I could get the motivation, I would like to change to twice weekly @ 50%, instead of once weekly @ 70%, particularly now since I am growing out a couple of young, 40+ fish colonies.


----------



## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

sneakypete said:


> I guess I'm looking for a way to not have to water change _twice _a week - once should be enough without being a slacker. And I don't want to go beyond changing 40% per sitting if I can help it.


 follow salt keepers instructions for 'rapid nitrate reduction'. remove your 'safe' 40%, dechlorinate and refill only 50% of missing water (leaving your tank 80% filled), then go have a coffee. on return, remove another 'safe' 40% of remaining water, and add to tank 50% of missing water. have another coffee. do this one more time, before filling tank to top, and you will be much more effective at reducing nitrate with a 1 day/week effort. (in the summer, i switch coffee for beer, and the results seem significantly improved) HTH.


----------



## geoff_tropheus (Feb 13, 2003)

beer and waterchanges excellent... :thumb:


----------



## eklikewhoa (Jul 11, 2006)

The only way to dilute the nitrates is through water changes....you could go as far as setting up a denitrifying filter to help but water changes are still needed to replenish nutrients/minerals.

I am doing 2x weekly of 70-100% and nitrates rarely go past 20ppms before each water change....I have 30-40 fish in each tank, feed 3x a day of massive amounts of NLS and keep about 30-40x circulation in the tank.


----------



## daniel4832 (May 8, 2004)

You may also want to test the water coming out of your tap, and see if that may be causing youe problem.
Thanks,
Daniel


----------



## sneakypete (Mar 7, 2008)

Thanks for your responses guys.

eklikewhoa, your situation is somewhat like mine. I have 40 fish in a 125 (20 trophs), I'm feeding twice a day, and my nitrates were rising about 20 ppm per week. My goal is to have them peek at 20ppm and not surpass that number. This required 2*weekly, which is more than I want to do. I'm not a slacker, but I do believe one a week should be enough. The wife was beginning to look at me a little cross eyes thinking I'd become obsessed.

I'm currently trying Purigen to see if that helps a bit. I haven't tested my water parameters yet, but I must say the stuff does help clear up the water. Looking down the tank lengthwise, I've already noticed a big improvment in clarity, and my tank was pretty clear to begin with. I'm going to test tonight to see how the stuff is working on Nitrate levels before a water change. I'm not expecting any miracles here, just looking for something that offers me a little more control. I may also try Boyd's Chemi pure when I do maintenence on my eheim 2260 in a couple of months. That being said, I realize that I will still have to do once weekly water changes of 40 -50% to remove Nitrates, and I'm totally cool with that.

pete


----------



## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

5 options.

1 Reduce feeding.

2 Increase water changes

3 Reduce stock

4 Get a nitrate reactor

5 Use nitrate removing resin

I like 1 and 3 because it reduces cost. :wink:

2 is free.

4 and 5 cost a fortune. 5 is cheaper than 4 if you use the re chargable stuff but 4 is long term the most elegant solution.


----------



## sneakypete (Mar 7, 2008)

Hey 24:

I'm not sure what the prices are like across the pond, but some of the better received chemical additives arn't really all that bad price wise.

The Purigen I'm using cost me under $20 CDN. If it's good for up to six recharges then it should last me about 2 years, or $10 a year - not that bad, really.

If I use Boyd's Chemi pure, I can find that online for $6 a bag. I'd need 2, so that's $12 and that would last me 4 months for a total of $36 a year.

If you have a whole bunch of tanks it would certainly add up though.

FYI, I've been using the Purigen now for about 4 days and it seems to be working the way I wanted it to. The Nitrate levels seem to be rising more slowly between water changes. The acid test will be next week while I'm away on vacation and I'll report some results when I get back.

pete


----------



## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

I have never checked that one out before now.

After a quick check it seems...............

Cost for 100ml here is about Â£10 which will do a 50g in two doses for a year I think.

To try it for my 100gall set up for 6 months would cost about Â£10.

(Yep a lot lot cheaper than the stuff I was looking at!)

Worth a try if I get a nitrate problem. Thanks for that :thumb:


----------



## sneakypete (Mar 7, 2008)

I'm wondering if Geoff might provide an opinion on this stuff.

Geoff, I came across a couple of threads where I think you mentioned you've tried both Chemi-pure and Purigen. Are you still using them? Would you ever use them together at the same time?

BTW, I would have to agree that beer and water changes are an excellent mix. :thumb:

pete


----------



## eklikewhoa (Jul 11, 2006)

I use Purigen in several different cases....for me I only use Purigen for it water polishing abilities which I have seen for myself....as for Nitrates and everything else they say it does I have never tested to see if it did. I have used Purigen in Reef/Planted/Breeding/Trophs and love it!

I am all for Purigen! just got my 3pk for $14 from DrsFosterSmith.com. :thumb:


----------

