Water Filtration - No Filters

[dankolle]

Hey guys, I was told to disconnect my canister filter because it was causing nitrate issues. I have live rock, live sand, and a protein skimmer. However, my issue is particulate in the water...how do I get rid of it without running some sort of filter?

The overflow box doesn't seem strong enough to grab up all the little granules that the canister was so good at doing.

 

[little_fish]

You can "polish" your water by putting a bag of activated carbon in the fuge every now and then and let the water run through it for a few days to help clear that stuff out. Then you just toss the carbon and wash the bag. Rinse and repeat!

 

[bjohanson1234]

Or even keep the canister handy and use it to polish the water when needed. Just run the canister for a day, un hook it, clean it out, then store it until you need to polish the water again. The problem with canisters is that when they catch the particulates which are un eaten food and detrious, those then start to break down. This causes the nitrates to raise. So if it isnt cleaned, it leads to bad water quality.

 

[dankolle]

Yeah...I have never gone 2 months before cleaning out my canister...I love doing that! haha That is good advise...run it for one day then kill it until the next disturbance in the force.

 

[sen5241b]

Floss and carbon will get particulates out of the water BUT you want to leave some in for filter feeders to eat!

 

[bjohanson1234]

Make sure you clean in out after you run it though, otherwise all the stuff it picks up will decompose and get back in your tank when you run it again.