What lifeforms cleanse the water?

[Ironsheikh]

I was curious in trying some animals to polish the water --

I read sea cucmbers are good? what if you have aragonite reef sand, still good?

what about feather dusters and xenia for phosphates and stuff?

I heard sponges cleanse the water to?

any of these things worth trying out?


snails and hermits, emerald crabs I have already of course

[bubbaOPPD]

I have a 12gal nanocube and I use xenia in the tank for nutrient export, my nitrates are <5ppm and no phosphates in the tank. I do 4gal water change on the tank once a month and I check chemistry twice a week and it stays constant but I do have to remove half the xenia every 2 weeks. I now have zoo's that are taking over the nanocube with the xenia in the tank my maintenance on the tank has reduced by over 3/4. I would never have thought a 12gal tank would be so easy to take care of...xenia, I like em....

[Sk8r]

xenia, amphipods, copepods, sponges [live], featherdusters, bristleworms, and the like. The live-er your tank, the better, though algae removal by the natural method produces a lot of poo with all these critters at work. The bristleworms break it down and the sand bacteria turn it to nitrogen gas.

[garvin90]

The white sponge that naturally(atleast in my tank) is a good export, especially if it is in a main thoroughfare of the tank. It will attach to glass as well so a option would be to place it in a partioned sump anywhere before the return but not in the algae of a refuge. Other "ornamental" nonphotosynthetic sponge work as well if not better since in unlit conditions the will have no chance for algae overgrowth. Mini feather duster worms work great too. My system is all about biological filtration(no skimmer here) and i do fine with top offs and bi weekly water changes. If you were to be creative, you could constuct a clear runway box for xenia to live in and make as part of the filtration line so that it can cleanse the water of phosphates. The same only no clear for sponge and or feather dusters as well.

[Ironsheikh]

promising ---so I have a 18w UV turbotwist and planned on adding ozone --will this make the water too steril to feed these animals too? I dont want to keep investing in phyto and stuff like that --

right now I have an intank refuge

[Amphiprion]

What kind of 'cleansing' are you looking for? Dissolved matter or particulate matter (or both)?

[garvin90]

UV units IMO are a waste in a reef system. Great for FO though but with some of the stuff that doesnt need to be zapped in our reef aquaria i feel they can be detrimental.

Now what type of water polishing are you alluding to exactly? Are you trying to keep more sensitive sps corals or have you had some tank issues?

Can you please post your tank parameters so we might better assist you.

[Ironsheikh]

just saying - I want a healthy tank w/ lifeforms etc

I noticed my pod pop cut way down once I put in the UV -- I was going to try Ozone next and see what happens.

my tank hasnt had any issues except some red slime on the bottom

[garvin90]

How long has the tank been established?

And what about the tank parameters? Such as Phosphate, nitrite, nitrate, ph.... etc.

[Angel*Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8067579#post8067579 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
xenia, amphipods, copepods, sponges [live], featherdusters, bristleworms, and the like. The live-er your tank, the better, though algae removal by the natural method produces a lot of poo with all these critters at work. The bristleworms break it down and the sand bacteria turn it to nitrogen gas. And the way to have this stuff is to avoid animals/fish that eat them