Bioload question?

[Fluid]

My tank is fully developed and healthy, and I was wondering what else I might be able to add to it.

I've been shopping around LiveAquaria, but haven't found a great combination, so I'd love some input.

Right now my tank has:
4 Nass Vibex snails
4 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermits
1 Scarlet Hermit
1 (small) four-striped damsel
1 Large Button Polyp Colony
1 Medium Sized Bullseye Mushroom Colony
1 Small Sized Hairy Mushroom Colony

I love inverts, but I'm worrying my bio-load is getting a little large for 12G. I don't have a skimmer on my Nanocube, so I don't want to over-do anything. Looking at my load right now, does it seem high for a 12G, just about right, or could I add a few things to make it average.

I was thinking maybe a few nerite snails, one or two scarlet hermits, and maybe some type of coral? Would that be overdoing it? Any suggestions on other types of fun options would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. I double-posted this into the nano forums, but was hoping for a response before the 9:30am cutoff time at liveaquaria.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Usually coral don't contribute too much towards a bioload and snails are a minimum as well. But to answer your question better... Seeing that you don't have a skimmer what do you have as far as filtration, live rock, how often do you conduct water changes to control nutrient export? because you have such limited realestate in a 12g the hurmits might kill all your snails and really 4 blue legs is pushing it already. My final question is what are your goals of the tank? a mixed reef, softies only, some LPS, SPS?

 

[thegrun]

You really don't have much of a bio-load. One fish and a few crabs will not be an issue (if you plan on adding any other fish, the four stripe is not the best choice in fish, they get very aggressive, even compared to other damsels which are aggressive to begin with. 4 stripes also get big, so eventually you will need to remove him). Corals do not add much of a bio-load (most corals do not need a lot of food and thus do not add much to your load). Add some more coral; perhaps swap the damsel for a wrasse and a fire fish? So many possibilities it boils down to what you like.

 

[Fluid]

The nanocube has three chambers in the back, first is filter floss, bag of carbon, bag of chemi-pure elite. Second chamber has like 5 of those plastic bio balls (tried refugium, but it didn't work out well), pump and heater in last chamber. 10LBS of LR in the tank.

10% water change weekly/bi-weekly.

 

[thegrun]

I would remove the bio-balls; they will trap debris and add to your nitrates. I also use floss but change it out every 3 days. You do not want the floss to go biological on you, so changing it frequently helps prevent the bacteria from colonizing it. I keep four sets of floss so it has plenty of time to dry out between uses. I think if you remove the bio-balls, stay on top of changing your floss and do weekly 15 to 20% water changes you will reduce your nitrates. A skimmer will be a big help if you can afford one.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

+1 on the skimmer.... Did you say you have high nitrates? I'm an advocate for bioballs as long as you maintain them. If you remove them try to see if you can replace it by adding another LR to the display to take up the bio filtration it was providing.

 

[Flipper62]

You really dont have much of a bioload. I would scrap the bioballs & put some live rubble rock in the middle chamber or move your chemi-pure bag to the middle chamber so the water can flow through it. Also down at the bottom of the middle chamber is a false bottom piece of plastic & a sponge....get them both out. The sponge is just going to trap nitranes. You will get better flow without them.

You really dont need a carbon bag & the chemi-pure. IMO...you could add a lot more corals, more rock & you could have up to 3 fish & be just fine. Now in adding the fish, your going to have to do regular 20% water changes every 2 to 3 weeks. If you keep up with the maintance you should be fine.

I have added more corals & things since this last photo, but heres a pic.

 

[jculver]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14836817#post14836817 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sisterlimonpot
+1 on the skimmer.... Did you say you have high nitrates? I'm an advocate for bioballs as long as you maintain them. If you remove them try to see if you can replace it by adding another LR to the display to take up the bio filtration it was providing.

If you do have bio balls how often do you need to take them out and clean them?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

See you’re going to get differing opinions here. The concern with bioballs is that it traps detritus and it eventually becomes nitrates (there’s no debate that part is true). Same thing goes for the LR in your display, but it is easy to take a turkey baster and blow off the LR every week to prevent detritus build up. If you remove the bioballs and replace them with LR rubble you’re going to have the same problem with detritus build up. What I would recommend is to either remove the balls and leave it empty and add more LR to the display or start a routine that allows you to clean the balls without harming the bacteria on them every 3 months or so.

 

[jculver]

And what type of routine do you suggest?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

during a water change rinse them with old tank water. shake them around in there to get everything off. you only have 5 of them so it won't take long.

 

[Flipper62]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14837027#post14837027 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sisterlimonpot
See you’re going to get differing opinions here. The concern with bioballs is that it traps detritus and it eventually becomes nitrates (there’s no debate that part is true). Same thing goes for the LR in your display, but it is easy to take a turkey baster and blow off the LR every week to prevent detritus build up. If you remove the bioballs and replace them with LR rubble you’re going to have the same problem with detritus build up. What I would recommend is to either remove the balls and leave it empty and add more LR to the display or start a routine that allows you to clean the balls without harming the bacteria on them every 3 months or so.

Sisterlimonpot.....I ran the live rubble rock in the middle chamber for 2 years without a problem. ( scrapped the BioBalls The first day ) I forgot to mention that 6 months ago I took out the rubble & moved my Pura-Complete bag to the middle chamber. That was the only place that there was room for it without cramming it in. Plus I got better water movement through it. The Pura-complete is like carbon, but you only need to change it every 3 months with a heavy bio Load

But I never had any problems with the rubble rock......However I also do 20% water changes every 2 to 3 weeks.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Flipper62,
By my rationale if you didn't have any problems with LR rubble than you wouldn't have had any problem with the bioballs. I'm not saying it's better than LR in the display tank because I like the ease of just blowing off my LR weekly than having to toy with removing the balls or rock from the sump. But to replace the balls with LR rubble is the same thing.

 

[Flipper62]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14837137#post14837137 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sisterlimonpot
Flipper62,
By my rationale if you didn't have any problems with LR rubble than you wouldn't have had any problem with the bioballs. I'm not saying it's better than LR in the display tank because I like the ease of just blowing off my LR weekly than having to toy with removing the balls or rock from the sump. But to replace the balls with LR rubble is the same thing.

My theory over the years is that there are no plastic bioballs for filtration in the ocean, but there is live rock. I just like to stay as natural as possible. Every 3 or 4 water changes I would take the 8 to 10 pieces of rubble out & vacuum the botton of the chamber....no big deal, it took an extra 5 minutes.

 

[Whys]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14837266#post14837266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Flipper62
I just like to stay as natural as possible.

+1 to that.

Nature doesn't have a clue what it's doing (kind of like reef-keepers), but after 5 billion years, it's figured a few things out. Lets hope the rest of us can keep up.

 

[Fluid]

the 12 G nanocube has a false bottom middle chamber? Wow I never even noticed that. I know mine had three sponges in the first chamber originally, didn't know there was a fourth. Yes, currently I still have the bio-balls in the second chamber, don't really know why I kept them, I guess cause I didn't have any more spare rock to put back there. I'm basically holding out on the sapphire skimmer that supposedly will fit into the back of the NC 12, although I think there is quite a wait for it right now.

Thanks for the tips, I'm going to return the damsel and go with a clown goby citrinis. Everyone seems to hate those damsels!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14837266#post14837266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Flipper62
My theory over the years is that there are no plastic bioballs for filtration in the ocean, but there is live rock. I just like to stay as natural as possible. Every 3 or 4 water changes I would take the 8 to 10 pieces of rubble out & vacuum the botton of the chamber....no big deal, it took an extra 5 minutes.

Right I see your point; however we're not talking about mimicking the ocean to the tee we're trying to determine if the use of bioballs is different than using live rock rubble in its place. If someone was going to remove their balls just to replace them with rock rubble than it's a waste of time and money. Someone might add that you get more bio-diversity if you do that. But, if you have LR in the display than you already have diversity. Removing the balls and leaving it empty and use LR in the display for biological filtration coupled with a good skimmer is the best possibility. LR rubble will be better off in a pile in the refugium as a sanctuary for pods. The ocean doesn’t use a skimmer to remove DOC’s but it’s sacrilegious to run a tank without one. A skimmer mimics the ocean as best as possible at removing DOC’s and same goes for using bioballs in a tank for biological filtration(though it’s not the best way and neither is LR rubble in its place).

V/R, Jimmy

 

[Whys]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14837789#post14837789 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sisterlimonpot
...someone was going to remove their balls just to replace them with rock...

+1

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

LMAO

ahh man you guys can spot anything from a mile away.

 

[Fluid]

So I finally ended up catching the damsel and replaced him with a Citron Clown Goby. I understand some of the importance of adding clownfish in pairs, but I'm afraid this puts me over the limit. Opinions on if two clownfish would be over-doing it?

(That would put me at 3 small fish in a 12Gallon, if I were to add a pair of clowns)

Would it be fine to just add a single clown?