Nitrate level after death of fish

Question
QUESTION: I have a 90 Gallon Reef tank. I have lots of coral, 200 lbs or live rock and 100 lbs of live sand. It is about 4 years old.  I had recently moved it. I saved all rocks, water, sand. The fish were stressed but after a day or so, they seem happy again.  Water tests are great. no Nitrites or Ammonia. Lots of coralline Algae.  My 4 inch Flame Angel who has been in the tank for 4 years did not come out to eat(4 days now). I am sure it is being eaten up by crabs, snails and such.  My question is when a fish dies, does it create waste such as nitrites, nitrates?  I do weekly 10% water changes.  Should I do more since there was a death in the water?  thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Vu. The amount of nitrates put off by a dead fish in your tank is all going to depend on how good of a clean up crew you have. You may notice a slight spike in your nitrates after a few days of noticing a missing fish but in a tank as big as yours it may not be enough to cause any stress to your inhabitants. If you have a very good and active clean up crew like snails, hermits, crabs, shrimps and even bristle worm(these are the most efficient scavengers) they may have gotten to the dead fish before it had a chance to decay and give off any ammonia. If you are concerned test your levels every day for the next four to five days. Chances are you won't even notice a difference in your levels. It is very common when you move a tank despite your best efforts to lose a fish. Some fish can not handle the stress of moving house as well as others. Just keep an eye on your levels. If you notice your nitrates going up, simply do a partial water change to bring it down. You may want to keep an eye on your levels for the next few months. Moving a tank can sometimes upset the stability of an established tank and strange things can happen even if you did everything correct. I had to move my tank from one(which was leaking) to another sitting right next to it and I lost a fish in the process and it took two months to restabilize. I went through some very strange algae blooms! Try not to worry so much. That is what they make test kits for to ease your concerns!

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QUESTION: Thanks.  Okay, now I am having weird Algae blooms.  1st it was reddish brown, I
did some water changes, but still some are on my sand and glass. now a little
bit of green algae.   I have about 10 snails and 10 crabs, should I get more?  I
think some of the cleaning crew died during the move.  (move only 30 minute by
car)  The cleaning crew is pretty old and pretty huge.  do I need more and what
do you recommend?

ANSWER: Hello again. You are going to see some strange algae in your tank after a move and the only thing you can really do is a little more frequent partial water changes and wait for your tank to stabilize itself again. You can always add more clean up crew to your tank. Some good cleaners are most of your small hermit crabs like your blue leg and a few scarlets although they don't always do a good job and can grow a little larger. Snails are always good and you may want to try to keep a good diversity of them in there. Some good snails are turbos, astrea, nassarius,ceriths and nerites. Try to keep a few of each of these in your tank. Although they all seem to have the same eating habits the smallest differences in this habit is what helps keep your tank cleaner. If you are seeing some slime algae in your tank(normal after a move) try to combat it by siphoning it off of whatever it is growing on, keep you water flow good and make sure your protein skimmer is working good. Like I said if your tank was doing good and healthy before the move it will get there again. It just may take some time to fully stabilize again. I went through this in April and it took until June to look the same as it had before!

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QUESTION: Jennifer, What is the deal with Canister filter? are they good.  I am planning on getting better at this reefkeeping thing and get a 200+ gallon tank.  I am planning it right now. Should I consider a Canister filter? pros and cons of Canisters? I was thinking about running a Canister into a Refugium sump for my system. would that work, is it overkill?  i am a believer in overkill, just as long it does not hinder performance. Thanks again.  Vu

Answer
Hello there! I wouldn't say that adding a canister filter is overkill it is just unnecessary. I have dealt with every kind of filter imaginable and I would have to say that I hate canister filters! They can be a pain to take apart and clean and I have had more problems with them either leaking or just not running. While you are into overkill I am into simplicity! A large refugium with a deep sand bed and a plenum would be ten times more efficient then a canister filter. Canister filters make very good biological filters but they do nothing in the form of helping to remove nitrates that they help to produce. Live rock is a much better alternative for biological filtration and needs no maintenance. All this is just my opinion and I would prefer even a regular hang on the back type filter over a canister. You have to remember that I maintain a fishroom for a living and we used to have many canister filters and they were always the biggest waste of time to maintain. Why should anyone want to turn a filter off, unplug it, take the whole thing apart, change the media then have to put it all back together again when you can simply take the lid off of a hang on filter take the media out and put new ones in? Anyway, get a very large protein skimmer for your refugium and have very good water flow. You may want to consider adding a denitrator onto your system. I have one and I love it. It maintains my water at zero nitrates at all times. I have one that actually uses anaerobic bacteria over sulfur media and it works great. Sorry I went off a little on the whole canister filter thing. I just really can't stand them. Some people swear by them. I am not one of those people! It is late and I don't even know what I am typing anymore!