12-26-09
Hi All I am new to this site but not new to the Hobby
Let me start by saying I had a very bad nitrate problem it was over the scale +100 and it was driving me nuts for weeks. I had fallen into laziness with tank maintenance no water changes RODI needed to be changed just plain neglect.
I noticed a problem when I lost my favorite fish of 6 years, my beloved Clown Tang. My other fish were all looking sick as well. I took out my test kits and noticed they were still good so I checked the water everything was fine except for the nitrates and the Phosphates.
Now at this time I was using Bio Balls with just a Skimmer, phosban reactor, Kalkwasser doser and that's it. I would never do water changes and for 2 years it ran fine. I had the same system since 1992 it always ran fine But tragedy struck in 2001 that is another story for another time. Anyway back to my Nitrates and Phosphates, once I lost a fish I started to wake up, I went looking up and down to find the problem. I called a few friends kicked it around a bit and then one said it has to be your Bio Balls!
I looked at him funny but then I looked closely at them and the Bio balls had a tan-ish yellow color and so did my water! So I was told, “Take the Bio Balls out a little at a time as to not spike the water and replace it with live rock”. That is just what I did along with a 60% water change over a 3 week period.
No matter how many water changes I did the nitrates just stayed the same. Then I remembered a long time ago I used Purigen by Seachem. So I went out and ordered a 1 liter bottle and 2 180 micron bags. You need to use a minimum of 180 microns. I had 800 and 300 micron bags in the past and Purigen goes right through them. I also went and got a new RoDI and a new Skimmer. The Skimmer I had was the turboflotor 1000 the RODI I used was a 4 stage. The turboflotor was a replacement of an older Marine Technical Concepts PRO-4500 air stone unit. That was great but the air stones needed to be replaced every 30 days, anyway I picked up a new SMC 200Extreme Protein Skimmer and a7 Stage RO+DI+UV filter.
Now it has been about 6 weeks running the Purigen and only about a week with the skimmer. I did no water changes in 30 days and my nitrates are down to 10 ppm. I have no Bio Balls, that was replaced with live rock and the new skimmer is just starting to take out the smimite. The thing that got my water crystal clear was the Purigen! This stuff removed the nitrates just like I remembered it did 10 years ago! Now in light of all this I have learned a very good lesson do water changes, do water changes, do water changes! I will also never run my tank again without Purigen!! If you suffer from nitrate problems try Purigen first and I guarantee you results after 2 weeks!!!
I hope you all do well in the New Year and I would love to hear your feedback!
Tony
Hi All I am new to this site but not new to the Hobby
Let me start by saying I had a very bad nitrate problem it was over the scale +100 and it was driving me nuts for weeks. I had fallen into laziness with tank maintenance no water changes RODI needed to be changed just plain neglect.
I noticed a problem when I lost my favorite fish of 6 years, my beloved Clown Tang. My other fish were all looking sick as well. I took out my test kits and noticed they were still good so I checked the water everything was fine except for the nitrates and the Phosphates.
Now at this time I was using Bio Balls with just a Skimmer, phosban reactor, Kalkwasser doser and that's it. I would never do water changes and for 2 years it ran fine. I had the same system since 1992 it always ran fine But tragedy struck in 2001 that is another story for another time. Anyway back to my Nitrates and Phosphates, once I lost a fish I started to wake up, I went looking up and down to find the problem. I called a few friends kicked it around a bit and then one said it has to be your Bio Balls!
I looked at him funny but then I looked closely at them and the Bio balls had a tan-ish yellow color and so did my water! So I was told, “Take the Bio Balls out a little at a time as to not spike the water and replace it with live rock”. That is just what I did along with a 60% water change over a 3 week period.
No matter how many water changes I did the nitrates just stayed the same. Then I remembered a long time ago I used Purigen by Seachem. So I went out and ordered a 1 liter bottle and 2 180 micron bags. You need to use a minimum of 180 microns. I had 800 and 300 micron bags in the past and Purigen goes right through them. I also went and got a new RoDI and a new Skimmer. The Skimmer I had was the turboflotor 1000 the RODI I used was a 4 stage. The turboflotor was a replacement of an older Marine Technical Concepts PRO-4500 air stone unit. That was great but the air stones needed to be replaced every 30 days, anyway I picked up a new SMC 200Extreme Protein Skimmer and a7 Stage RO+DI+UV filter.
Now it has been about 6 weeks running the Purigen and only about a week with the skimmer. I did no water changes in 30 days and my nitrates are down to 10 ppm. I have no Bio Balls, that was replaced with live rock and the new skimmer is just starting to take out the smimite. The thing that got my water crystal clear was the Purigen! This stuff removed the nitrates just like I remembered it did 10 years ago! Now in light of all this I have learned a very good lesson do water changes, do water changes, do water changes! I will also never run my tank again without Purigen!! If you suffer from nitrate problems try Purigen first and I guarantee you results after 2 weeks!!!
I hope you all do well in the New Year and I would love to hear your feedback!
Tony
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