Coral Chips and Nitrates, In Sump Tank, NO3 Options

[GoldfisHub]

Hi Guys,

I am in the mist of setting a goldfish tank, for the sump tank, I intend to place lots of coral chips so that I can achieve the effect as in the marine tank and hopefully that can get rid of NO3. However, with lots of coral chips, will it affect the water condition and hence affect the grooming of goldfish, like pH, Calcium not sure what else. Anyone has any experience or thoughts to share?

[goofy1984]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your advise. Loaded coral chips on 1 tray of both of my cannisters, 5 days already and ph stay at 7.5, ammonia & nitrites 0 and nitrate at less than 50mg/l. Also changed both pumps to eheim cos both boyu pumps were running significantly slow even though i dismantled and cleaned them. Thanks.

[gohks]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your advise. Loaded coral chips on 1 tray of both of my cannisters, 5 days already and ph stay at 7.5, ammonia & nitrites 0 and nitrate at less than 50mg/l. Also changed both pumps to eheim cos both boyu pumps were running significantly slow even though i dismantled and cleaned them. Thanks.

Glad to hear that. Keep monitoring the NO3, as you should be able to keep it in check with the right coral chips setup. No chemical or algae means which alot of people don't believe

[desireless]

Glad to hear that. Keep monitoring the NO3, as you should be able to keep it in check with the right coral chips setup. No chemical or algae means which alot of people don't believe

It is not that we don't believe the wonder of coral chips but rather, I do not encourage members to use coral chips to maintain nitrates. The usage of Coral chips as a nitrate/dirt absorber...

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So the bottomline is stilll..... Water change, water change and water change.

This post has been edited by desireless: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 11:08 pm
Reason: I re-read the article and realized that I misunderstood. Thanks gohks for pointing that out

[gohks]

desireless,
Actually is not absorption, but the effect of denitrifying. When the canister filled with corals, water flow is very slow and area passing through is low in oxygen, anaerobic BB grows, these will strip the oxygen off the NO3 in order to survive, leaving only N2 gas. If canister is big with lots of coral, NO3 could even be zero. You could still change water regularly to get rid of other unwanted products, but NO3 problem is behind us. Don't forsee any other side effect if you have enough areation in your tank.
So, instead of using chemical or algae/plant means, this will be a better method if you have a spare canister.