SW Tank Instability

[Julie]

That's a good idea, an AC 500 as a fuge on the side to increase volume a bit.  But no filter media, it just collects nitrates.

[JakesRaptor]

Okay. I am going to remove purigen. I will leave in sponges to catch debris, but I will rinse with tank water regularily. I do have 2 small percula clowns in the tank. I have a little live rock in my quarintine tank (not cycled) that I can add. I don't really know what the volume of water would be if I removed the rock, but I don't think it would be too much 8 - 9 gallons I would imagine.

[kennyman]

The media does produce allot of Nitrates because it traps debris. The filter does its job in breaking down ammonia and debris into stuff including Nitrogen which is then dumped back into the water. Lr is different because the interior of the LR is porous enough to allow water to slowly seep into it and by the time the water has gotten there all the O2 is removed. Deep inside the rock where there is water but no O2 anaerobic bacteria convert the N into methane. Thats why a certain amount of LR can support a certain amount of bioload given a good flow to keep that water pushing into the rock.

Some canister filters have low enough flow to create an O2 depleted zone where removal of N can occur as well. But I think this is where skimmers come in handy because they remove organics by trapping them on the surface of bubbles and take them right out of the loop. The only reason I don't use a skimmer is because I am too cheep to buy a good one and I keep my fish load way down to where I get no accumulation of N. I just need to run Carbon between bi-weekly 10% water changes to deal with doc's.
[edit]
If you are going to use a sponge or floss clean it out often Jake. Like every other day kind of often    That will keep the bacteria from breaking the debris down and adding N

[Julie]

lol kenny, I have a nice used cpr bakpak and I'm too cheap to run it to spend the hydro.   I just got a whopping 325$ dollar bill for one month hydro use. 
I may use it on the 55.

[JakesRaptor]

So...

I am removing everything to let the LR do all filtering.

Current flow is with a maxi jet 400 & 600. together 266 gph.

I guess I just need a bigger tank! 

Jason

[Julie]

Do things slowly because you have some filtration in the sponge, atleast a bit left maybe.  Remove carbon, then remove one sponge, then remove sponge 2.
Your uncured rock is of no benefit until it's cured.

[JakesRaptor]

Thanks all for your help.

Jason