Hello, I have been checking the post on here and can't find exactly what I want to know. I have a jbj 28 gallon aquarium and I have alot of left over very small broken rock and worm rock that could easily fit into the rear center bottom chamber of my aquarium. I do not want to put any chaeto or anything else in there I just wanted to know if it would be a good or bad idea to put the rubble in the back chamber on the bottom.
live rock in chambers?
- Thread starter BradHall
- Start date
Illuminati
Premium Member
Bad idea, detrius will get stuck between the rock causing elevated nitrates. Might as well put bioballs back there (They do the same).
hppd432
New member
You will get two different point of views on this. 1 yes it is good and 2 it is bad.
My opinion is that if you can keep it where if you need to take it out to clean it and you keep up with your testing of parameters then it would probably be fine.
I put chaeto in the mid chaber in a homemade basket with no rubble and things have definately gotten better. Hair algae is gone. Dealing with a little cyno but that was from overfeeding while I was out of state.
My opinion is that if you can keep it where if you need to take it out to clean it and you keep up with your testing of parameters then it would probably be fine.
I put chaeto in the mid chaber in a homemade basket with no rubble and things have definately gotten better. Hair algae is gone. Dealing with a little cyno but that was from overfeeding while I was out of state.
Last edited:
SarasotaDiver
Premium Member
???
???
I got LR rubble and cheato in my 8 gal cube. All I can say it's great! But a question to those who took the LR and the Bio-balls out, what did you do after? What do you use there instead of those? Just running empty or what???
???
I got LR rubble and cheato in my 8 gal cube. All I can say it's great! But a question to those who took the LR and the Bio-balls out, what did you do after? What do you use there instead of those? Just running empty or what???
StevieTdrill
In Memoriam
Live rock and bio balls in chambers is pontless. Not only will it trap detritus and risk nitrates, the live rock in your display will provide all biofiltration you need.
If you do run rubble, make sure you cleaning it often.
If you do run rubble, make sure you cleaning it often.
StevieTdrill
In Memoriam
Re: ???
Re: ???
Chaeto
Filter floss
Chemical medias such as Chemi pure and or purigen
Re: ???
Chaeto
Filter floss
Chemical medias such as Chemi pure and or purigen
dball711
New member
If live rock in the display is good then how can it be bad in the filter chamber??? Bio balls and rock rubble only contribute nitrates if they are used as wet/dry media, more dissolved oxygen promotes a faster nitrogen cycle meaning wast is converted to nitrate before it can be used as a building block for plant matter. Both methods will work.
StevieTdrill
In Memoriam
They are worse in the chambers of AIO tanks becuase there is less space and lower flow. The chamber areas love to trap just about everything and it has no where to escape or break down. Again, it only works if you clean the area often, which most don't.
StevieTdrill
In Memoriam
More info here:
There are differing opinions, and yes, LR and bioballs both do the same thing for converting ammonia to nitrate.
The difference is that LR has anoxic zones where different bacteria grow, and convert nitrate to nitrogen gas. Unfortunately, these bacteria are limited by their carbon source, so not all nitrate is converted to nitrogen and nitrates still build up in our water.
Bioballs, and other bio media, were designed to optimize aerobic conditions for denitrification in sewage and wastewater systems, where they work quite well. However, in a reef tank, they do not have the anoxic zones that LR has, and so ALL of the nitrates produced enter the water column, and none of it is converted to nitrogen.
By adding bioballs to the tank, it removes some of the aerobic denitrification from the LR and now puts it in the bioballs. By doing so, the nitrates produced in the biomedia must now travel through the water column to the LR so that it can be converted to nitrogen. This can result in a small increase in nitrate concentrations in the water column.
My personal opinion is that so long as the biomedia does not house a large portion of the denitrifying bacteria, or if you are not dosing a carbon source (advanced only), then it is questionable whether you would actually see a measurable difference.
However, why take the risk? The LR does the job, and the biomedia is unnecessary and can trap detritus. If you want to use rings, balls, or even LR rubble, it is recommended to put it in a filter sock for easy removal and rinse it with every water change to remove any accumulations.
There are differing opinions, and yes, LR and bioballs both do the same thing for converting ammonia to nitrate.
The difference is that LR has anoxic zones where different bacteria grow, and convert nitrate to nitrogen gas. Unfortunately, these bacteria are limited by their carbon source, so not all nitrate is converted to nitrogen and nitrates still build up in our water.
Bioballs, and other bio media, were designed to optimize aerobic conditions for denitrification in sewage and wastewater systems, where they work quite well. However, in a reef tank, they do not have the anoxic zones that LR has, and so ALL of the nitrates produced enter the water column, and none of it is converted to nitrogen.
By adding bioballs to the tank, it removes some of the aerobic denitrification from the LR and now puts it in the bioballs. By doing so, the nitrates produced in the biomedia must now travel through the water column to the LR so that it can be converted to nitrogen. This can result in a small increase in nitrate concentrations in the water column.
My personal opinion is that so long as the biomedia does not house a large portion of the denitrifying bacteria, or if you are not dosing a carbon source (advanced only), then it is questionable whether you would actually see a measurable difference.
However, why take the risk? The LR does the job, and the biomedia is unnecessary and can trap detritus. If you want to use rings, balls, or even LR rubble, it is recommended to put it in a filter sock for easy removal and rinse it with every water change to remove any accumulations.
The other problem with rock rubble is that it usually doesn't have cavities deep enough in the rock (because the rock is so small) to provide that anoxic zone. So essentially, it's generally only good for ammonia and nitrite conversion. Now my question to all of you who use rock rubble as a filter is, "do you really think you would have an ammonia or nitrate problem without the rock rubble?" I may be missing something, but I just don't see how it's really any benefit. In other words, I agree completely with StevieTdrill.
I agree with both of you. I removed my bio balls and went to LR, (still not wanting to give up that little filtration) and now I run the chamber with chaeto and a bag of chemi pure nothing else. I am far more happy with the results this way(I ran the chemi pure before) and my water is way more clear. I also removed the sponge, and when I do a water change I don't get the cloudy water from cleaning the LR and siphoning out the chamber, and with chaeto my fish get a special treat with the pod population.
StevieTdrill
In Memoriam
Chemi pure or chemi pure elite is pure win
Plus it cures cancer so we have that going for us
Plus it cures cancer so we have that going for us
I'm laughing right now, because I think I know the thread on Nano-Reef that you're alluding to (Did the sun burn out? It's ok if you have 'chemi-pure'!). That was by far one of the funniest threads I'd read in a long time. I sent a link to my Reef Club, but most of them didn't seem to find it nearly as funny as I did.
Edit:
OK, I just discovered RC has a neat little trick. If you try posting a link to another forum (like Nano-Reef.com), it replaces it with a link back to Reef Central. So, I guess I can't let everyone else in on the joke.
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