Changing Filtration in established tank.

Hey Glenn,
Are the elevated Nitrates causing any problems? If your tank is
looking good and everything is thriving I would leave it as it is.
Doing 20-30 gallon per month water change is not that usual, I read
and personally do 25% water change per month and you are doing 25-30%.
From experience if you turn your undergravel off you will want to
remove it as soon as you can. You will not believe the crap that is
under it. When I removed mine (55gal hex) I took out all the rock and
live stock. Next I saved as much of the tank water as possible and
threw out everything else. After taking the UG filter I cleaned the
entire tank, carefully added the new live sand, rocks and original
water I had saved. It was a lot of work but it was worth it and the
tank looked much better.
But like i said if everything is looking good, and the nitrates are
not causing any problems you may want to hold off on the hassle.

Ken D


Glenn Serpas wrote in message om...
I've been thinking of changing the filtration in my 75 gallon FOWLR tank to
the Berlin method. Water tests indicate my tank has 0 ppm ammonia and
nitrite. However, Nitrate hovers around 40 ppm. To maintain nitrates at
that level requires I change 20 - 30 gallons of water per month.

Currently I use Under Gravel Filtration as the primary biological filter. A
medium sized canister filter is also used, but is used for chemical (active
carbon) filtration only. In an effort to reduce nitrates, I installed a
Aqua C Remora protein skimmer. However, it only produces 1/4 inch of waste
in the collection cup every 2 - 3 days. I think this is due to the
efficiency of my UnderGravel filter.

Given my setup (live stock is listed below), should I switch to the Berlin
method? If so, what is the best way to switch over to the Berlin Method? I
was thinking about turning the UG filter off. The protein skimmer and live
rock/sand would be the primary source of water filtration. The protein
skimmer might skim enough waste from the water along with the live rock
filtration, to support my live stock. I would then remove the UG filter,
replace the crushed coral with 1" of live sand(For the Wrasse). If
necessary, I could add some more live or base rock.

Live Stock:
1 - Dragon Wrasse
1 - Yellow Tang
1 - Coral Beauty
1 - Bi-Color Damsel
1 - Yellow Tail Blue Damsel
6 - Hermit Crabs
85 lbs of live rock. ( 1/2 of it was originally Base rock a year ago)
Many Baby Sand Sifter Star Fish.
Many Tube Worms
Some Sponges Growing on the Live Rock.

Thanks,
Glenn