Siporax: Nitrates

[watchguy123]

I added Siporax a few months ago. My nitrates have been between 5-10 ppm checked routinely for a long time. A couple weeks ago, the siporax kicked in and nitrates dropped to .25 ppm checked with Red Sea pro and confirmed by salifert. I have a 180 tank with lots of fish 15-20 ( I haven't counted in a long time) and sps dominant. I feed thee times a day: 1 x flakes, 1 x pellets and 1 x Frozen LRS fish frenzy. I just started adding nitrates: kno3 and glutamic acid and l-aspartic acid. I just managed to raise nitrates to .75 ppm and aiming for 2-5 ppm ultimately. In terms of other nitrate removal methods, I have a protein skimmer 24/7 and chaeto in a refugium.

In terms of complete disclosure, unrelated to my nutrient level, I am currently (today) removing some fish: coral nippers, a file fish, majestic angel, emperor angel and plan to remove magnificent fox face, yellow tang, yellow bellied regal and a powder blue tang. I will then add a baby yellow and powder blue and Achilles tang. I think the tangs observed the Angels to discover this intolerable habit. I am ultimately more interested in polyp extension than a menagerie of beautiful angels

Anyone have experience to share on Siporax

 

[solitude127]

What was the reason for adding siporax?

 

[watchguy123]

Envy!

Actually, I wanted to see what lower nitrates would do to sps colors. I was also hoping that that the bacteria consuming the nitrates would reduce phosphates and I was curious if the phosphate reduction would be significant

 

[KarL]

how much spirox are you using

 

[Circle10]

I run now 10 (10boxes) of siporax mini and have experienced the same as you , I'm down to 1ppm , and also use 24h skimmer and 12h cheato/ calurpa .. I Kickstarted mine using probidio bio digest, and shake them regularly in sump..

 

[solitude127]

Envy!

Actually, I wanted to see what lower nitrates would do to sps colors. I was also hoping that that the bacteria consuming the nitrates would reduce phosphates and I was curious if the phosphate reduction would be significant

Did your PO4 go down as well?

 

[SanClementeEric]

I bought six liters (Pond 25mm) from [MENTION=44]organism[/MENTION] and put it in my sump, like so:

I haven't tested recently though. After my new setup settles a bit, I'll report my findings.

 

[watchguy123]

how much spirox are you using

7 liters (boxes) of 15 mm sitting in sump

Did your PO4 go down as well?

I am not sure. I use Hanna Phosphorous checker and I find my results fluctuate from .03 ppm to .12 ppm of phosphate. Crazy. Currently, my phosphate is at .06 ppm. I am wondering if the nitrate dosing will lead to further phosphate reduction or if I will go back to gfo

 

[watchguy123]

I keep my 15 mm Siporax in its original plastic netting bag. Water goes through 100 micron sock first before it gets to Siporax

 

[Confuse]

What kind of flow do you guys give it? I'm interested in trying it out in my empty fuge.

 

[watchguy123]

Low flow is best I believe to encourage denitrifying bacteria (anaerobic) so an empty fuge would be great. You don't want detritus to collect on it and plug all those tiny pores though. Probably good idea to use sock in sump before water hits Siporax or you will need to rinse it off periodically.

 

[scrapz]

Use about 4L in a 250g system. Mine is in the chamber with my return pump. From what I could tell they work, algae comes in slower and I can feed more..

 

[pinoybruin]

This stuff really does work. Bought 2 lbs worth a month ago and put it in its own section of my sump with very low turnover rate. My nitrates went from ~30ppm to about 5ppm now.

 

[OGFrenchHorn]

Has any one ran this in a zeo reactor?


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[solitude127]

So what's the difference between this type of media and bio-balls?

 

[Bouncingsoul393]

So what's the difference between this type of media and bio-balls?

Bio-balls do not remove nitrate. This stuff does. To elaborate, bio-balls do not have the surface structure and ability to house the type of bacteria that eat nitrate, where-as sintered glass products like Siporax and Eheim Substrat Pro do.

 

[lowbudget]

So what's the difference between this type of media and bio-balls?

lol....

 

[Jerry Williams]

So what's the difference between this type of media and bio-balls?

My thoughts exactly.

 

[theMerchant]

^ more surface area because the material is porous.


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[Circle10]

Has any one ran this in a zeo reactor?


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I'm in the process of it, looking for large enough zeo reactor .mine are siporax MINI ,the cylindrical ones might be difficult to place a large amount inside reactor .. I believe shaking them like (zeolite rocks) might have some bacteria benefits. BE very careful were u purchase Siporax there is a ton of fake stuff , I was told by SERA rep they don't sell on eBay and there aware of fakes....