Bioballs gotta go. But how?

[jtemple42000]

I can not get my nitrates down. Everthing else is good. Somy bioballs need to go. How so I take them out.? 5-10 at a time till they are gone?

params:
75 gal with about 100lbs of live rock with ozone injection
ph - 8.1
ammon - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 40ppm
temp - 79.3
salinity - 1.024 (refracto)
redox - 290 and climbing (after my to 5 gallon water changes the last two days.)

5 gallon water changes every week
tank has been running for about 7 months
I do not test anything else....

xenias look good, torch looks good, sebae seems to be affected a little. Its not opening up as big as it use to. Fish are doing good. 2 blue chin triggers (male & female,) mated yellow stripe maroon clowns.

I had read about a refugium? What exactly is it? What does it do? How do I put one together?

Thanks

 

[Robert Patterso]

Bio Balls

Bio Balls

I used to run bioballs, had same problems. I just took them all out at same time. I had no problems at all. Your tank will tank will thank you for it. I noticed you did'nt state you have protien skimmer, if not you should. One of the better investments you can make. Check out My reef creations .com. He builds one of the best skimmers on the market.

A refugium is a partitioned sump with a deep sand bed or substrate such as Miracle Mud ect. The MM is quite expensive though. Works as great natural filter for export of nutrients and your corals and fish will benefit from it also. Again if you don't have skimmer you should look into one.

Hope this helps:beer:

 

[Roland Jacques]

most tanks with a fair amount of live rock in them would not miss a beat if you took all the bioball out at the same time. if you want to be safe or have a low amount of live rock take it out in 1/3 or 1/2 a weak apart

 

[jtemple42000]

I do have a skimmer.....forgot to mention that.

 

[2turtles]

I think Bio balls or wet dry filters have gotten a bad rap. They do a lot of good things in a closed system, not just all bad. When is the last time you have cleaned them or your sump? Do you have areas of detritius that collect in your tank? Everybody is on the bandwagon to throw them out, but if maintained they can be a good thing.
Just my two cents.

 

[jtemple42000]

I have never cleaned them? Should I?
I have good water movement so I do not think I have any dead spots for detritius to collect.

 

[Robert Patterso]

i took mine out and never looked back. have'nt any nitrate prob. since.

 

[2turtles]

Yes you should. Save the water from a water change and rinse them it that. Do not use fresh water. I use a wet/dry vac to suck about half of them out of my sump, this way none of the stuff (crap) that collects on them falls into your sump. Agitate them in your "change waste water" then put them back in. I have no doubt that lots of people will disagree about bio-balls but that is why we call them opinions.

 

[jtemple42000]

I was wondering if I should clean them. The water seemed to be cyrstal clear for the last 6 months then all of a sudden there started to be some stuff floating around in the water, and it appears to be getting worse. I wonder if this would help?

 

[2turtles]

You will not know if you don't try.

 

[PDA]

I took my bio-balls out in 1996 and haven't thought about them since. Use the space in your sump to increase your water volume. I took them all out at once, but like was recommended earlier, if you want to take them out in thirds, that would be fine. It all depends on how mature your system is.