Help needed regarding skimmer.

Mc

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Hi All

Im putting this question under this section because it regarding my Boyu TL550.
I am having a bit of a problem with high nitrates, that are building up to 40ppm by the time I do a water change, which is once a week 10%. I have been experimenting with a few things to try and get them down with a slight reduction but not enough. So far I have tried adding purigen, rinsing the back sponge, replacing the filter floss twice a week and feeding a bit less. I am still using the standard skimmer that came with the tank which doesn't seem to help that much although it does get a bit dirty after a week. I have been looking at some new skimmers at a local LFS called Skimz HS1, it seems to be quite a new product and I am unable to find anyone who has actually used it but I have measured and it actually fits.
I know the skimmer won't remove the nitrate but will it remove enough of the excess nutrients that cause the nitrates to justify the R1800 that it costs?
With the skimmer being positioned after the filter floss and sponge doesn't that sort of defeat the point of it, or am I missing something here?
Does anyone actually have the experience of upgrading there skimmer and getting lower nitrate levels?
 
You might want to see if you can do this MOD on the TL-550...it was for the TL-450...
how to upgrade tl 450 skimmer for belindamotion - Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Could be mistaken, but I think some guys installed the Hydor...I was 1 cm short..so if memory serves me right...it got used by some in the TL-550...but I do stand corrected...
Tsr nano tanks special - Marine Aquariums of South Africa


Some other Upgrades...I think...
maybe upgrade for buyo skimmer? - Marine Aquariums of South Africa
Options for a internal nano skimmer? - Marine Aquariums of South Africa
 
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What are you feeding?

I've got no experience with that particular skimmer but the Skimz are good skimmers, maybe do a search on reefcentral, someone there must have one.
 
I've got no experience with that particular skimmer but the Skimz are good skimmers, maybe do a search on reefcentral, someone there must have one.
But do you think the skimmer would make much of a difference?
Im feeding frozen brine, mysis and cyclopeze twice a week, well rinsed, and bottled zooplankton every other day with a few drops of reef snow. I have a few NPS.
 
But do you think the skimmer would make much of a difference?
Well.....difficult question, I'm running a 120l nano with 2 anemones, a big plating montipora, zoa's, rics and about 10 small kenya trees, no skimmer. But, good quality skimmers have huge benefits, my water quality is, shall we say, "on the edge", but it's kind of an experiment I'm doing for myself so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Having said that, there are loads and loads of nano tanks out there that do not run skimmers, but they do regular water changes and keep on top of their parameters.

But your tank is different, you're having problems with high nitrates which is more than likely due to the feeding of the NPS corals in your tank. Things like Reef Snow are nitrates in a bottle, nothing wrong with it, it's needed for NPS but then you need to realise that it will cause high Nitrates and Phosphates in your tank so you you need to have an efficient method of removing the excessive Nitrates, either by maybe running NP pellets or a good skimmer or a de-nitrator or by bigger/more frequent water changes. Trying to accommodate a few NPS corals in a normal reeftank with other corals is a fairly big task and will require a lot more work and attention to detail unfortunately, especially in a nano. An NPS tank needs high nutrients.

So is the skimmer worth it? It probably is, combine the better skimmer with a reduction in NPS feeding (if you can, although not recommended as NPS corals need to be constantly fed) and bigger water changes and you will more than likely combat the high nitrates. Maybe an NP reactor would solve your problems, but I've never used one so can't advise on it. But to start off I would increase the 10% water changes to maybe 20 or 25%, see if that helps.
 
Thank Viper the info is really helpful. I think Im gonna get the skimmer and also do larger water changes.
 
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