Wet Dry killing corals?

[FxdupCobra]

Currently, I have a wet dry filtration system. When doing my water tests I notice that my Nitrates are out of control. My bubbles have not opened up in 3 weeks and now my yoyo’s (type of flowerpot) is slowly loosing its polyps from the bottom up. Someone told me to empty out the bio balls and to siphon out all of the powder/sand looking stuff (nitrification) that has been built up by my bio balls on the floor of the wet dry. Would this be ok? Should I take out the bio balls in segments week by week? Should I try to take out the sand looking stuff at the bottom immediately?

My goal is to take out the bio balls and put in live rock instead. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[McCrary]

I would definitely start removing your bioballs bit by bit over the next couple weeks. They are a nitrate factory.

 

[pledosophy]

Bioballs themselves do not have the capabilty of producing nitrates. Lazy keepers who don't clean them properly and often enough cause detritus build up as well as other problems that results in nitrates.

I would clean out the bioballs by rinsing them off very good in salt water so you do not disturb the beneficial bacteria.

Personally i like to use rubble liverock in place of the bioballs, but if your gonna stick with the bioballs I found that keeping them in a mesh bag made weekly cleaning much easier.

HTH

 

[gh0st]

I've got to agree with Pledosophy, Bio balls in and of themselves are not the problem.

If you don't overfeed and keep your prefilters, filterpads, and if neccessary, the bioballs themselves clean, there shouldn't be a problem. The same goes for liverock rubble. If you don't clean your filter pads, etc, ditritious will build up, and you'll see higher Nitrate levels either way.

There has to be an over abundance of nutrient to begin with. The Bioballs aren't going to magically create Nitrate out of thin air.

 

[samson78945]

def take out the bio balls

 

[McCrary]

pledosophy/ gh0st- Aerobic bacteria convert nitrite to nitrate which then stays in the aquarium until converted to nitrogen gas by anaerobic bacteria. Bio balls contain a multitude of area for aerobic bacteria, which is what causes the excess of nitrates. The rapid production of aerobic bacteria by medias that have a large surface area and are exposed to high levels of oxygen and water will cause nitrates. Nutrient levels can also be low in tanks that have high nitrates as many have low nutrient tanks with nitrate problems.

 

[Peter Eichler]

As Turbosnail pointed out, the problem with bioballs is not them getting dirty. The problem is how efficient they are at converting ammonia and nitrite into nitrates while being useless when it comes to removing those nitrates.

To the OP, remove half you bioballs, then wait a week or two and remove half of what remains. After that you can keep cutting down a couple more times or remove them all and you should be alright. I'd consider ditching the trickle filter altogether in favor of a sump with an area to grow Chaetomorpha sp. algae. If it's large enough you might be able to rig up your current filter with a chamber to grow algae as well. That algae will help you lower nitrates and keep them low as long as you're not overfeeding heavily and doing regular maintenance.