What filter media for 3g pico?

[manowar669]

It needs to be small. I have purigen in there now, but I'd like to get a phosphate remover, since I'm told phosguard will leach aluminum. I think the smallest bag of chemi-pure is 11oz, and the website says not to cut open the bags as the media is not evenly distributed. Something else altogether? I have LR rubble in the filter also, so there's not a lot of room for a bag of media. I wanted to go with a large AC HOB converted to a 'fuge, but the fiancee killed that idea, since it would "look ugly" and this is a desktop deco aquarium. The whole setup needs to be "clean", so I made a plastic baffle for the stock HOB (80gph), put the small bag of purigen in the back (first) chamber, and LR rubble in the next chamber. The flow goes through there pretty fast, so I'm not sure if it will do any good, but the tests for nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia are good so far.

I have a slight growth of purple hair algae (reason for the post). Maybe I just need more snails? I have a margarita and a bumblebee in there now. I'm told the margarita will die at warm temps, but he's been in there for months, and feeds actively. The bumblebee doesn't seem to do much. Should I just yank them, and go with a better cleanup crew? I don't think I can have hermits as the tank is populated by a pistol shrimp/goby pair, and I think the pistol will kill the hermits. I might try anyway (they're cheap).

Other ideas?

 

[joander123]

purigen imo is very good.

Another thing you could possibly look into is phosban, which is also very good. If you could find a fine mesh bag, or maybe make on out of pantyhose or something, you have a very good phosphate remover in there as well. I plan to run phosban on my reef tank that im setting up atm, but im also going to run a phosban reactor in my sump, which will hold a lot, and also makes it more affective, by making more water run through it.

To be honest in your situation, if you just use good water, and do WC's often (easy on a 3 gallon pico tank) then your phosphate should be fine, and i doubt you will even need any chemical media. I would simply pack the little HOB with all LR rubble.

hope this helps,
Jay

 

[Amphiprion]

The way I always ran/run nano and smaller reefs is by using a good quality activated carbon and a small amount of granular ferric oxide hydroxide (phosphate remover) in a little power filter. I also perform frequent, weekly water changes (more often if I had the opportunity an the water on hand).