Wet Or Dry Skimming For Best Nitrate Removal?

[sophos9]

Been reading loads about what the best skimming type is when you need to remove nitrates....

Can someone advise?

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, remember, skimming will not remove nitrates, but it will remove some of the products that break down to create nitrates before they can break down. Wetter skimming removes more waste but also removes more water from the tank.

 

[AK77]

You could run a sulphur reactor in combination with a hydrocarbonate reactor which deals with nitrate removal. These are expensive though and care must be taken with the sulphur acid produced (hence the hydrocarbonate).

However, and I keep harping on about it lol, chaeto is probably the best natural solution to long term nitrate problems. I purchased a small jar (just smaller than a jam jar) of chaetomorpha a few months back. In that time it has grown massively, probably 8 to 10 times or more than I purchased. When it establishes itself, it really hammers nitrates and phosphates.

I cram chaeto at the back of the tank behind rocks as well as in the refugium section in my sump, which also has a 4" DSB in it. IMO it really is the best and cheapest method of water filtration, especially considering it gets more efficient as it grows - purely because there is more of it.

Another benefit of chaetomorpha is that it acts as a physical filter too. Every time I perform a water change, I remove the chaeto and rinse it out. You'd be stunned by the amount of crap that gets held in suspension when you do this.

Admittedly, chaeto isn't the most attractive looking macro algae out there, and I would like to get some interesting varieties to go in the display tank, but if you tuck it out of sight or can weight a ball of it down, it isn't so bad. You can also get it operating on a 24 hour period. When the display tank lights go out, the sump light goes on, so my water is constantly being filtered by algae

 

[sophos9]

Ski, thanks for that - I've been toying with the idea of using top-off water and wet skimming and not doing water changes since I discussed this with Muzzy, this seems to work great!

AK77, I've got a load of chaeto in the filter box, its probably this thats keeping me out of danger at the mo!