[jamie1985]

Hey everyone! I have a 29gal biocube and i am going to remove the bioballs as I think they are the problem behind my nitrates...what should I put in that center compartment instead? I have heard live rock rubble and chaeto but I dot really want to get into having another light back there for the chaeto to grow...any suggestions???

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[sig]

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55873

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[jamie1985]

Thanks Sig I know I posted that a little while ago but I was hoping to get more info on what would be best back there? I am currently running a gfo reactor with 50/50 gfo and carbon and I also have a skimmer coming this week. So would I get any additional benefits from chaeto? Or should I just stick with LR?

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[sig]

Nobody can get benefits from very small amount of chaeto.
GFO and Skimmer is your choice. I never used chaeto and never had problems. IMO

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[jamie1985]

Ok great! Good to know...sounds like it will be more hassle than its worth...I will just replace the bioballs with LR...should I take half of the balls out and replace with LR then wait a week or two and do the rest? I dont want to shock the system...

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[Kweli]

I have a solana, similar to biocube (all-in-one)

I didn't go with the cheato either due to size restrictions.

In my 2nd chamber I just have a bunch of live rock and chemi-pure elite.

Live rock (even without light) will have beneficial bacteria that will help breakdown. Theres also different bacteria that will grow in non-lit areas... as all areas of the ocean have life

 

[sig]

.I will just replace the bioballs with LR...should I take half of the balls out and replace with LR then wait a week or two and do the rest? I dont want to shock the system...

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how many times you can ask the same question and expected different answers. do you really believe people has nothing to do?

It was my last attempt to help you, because looks like others are fed with you long time ago

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[jamie1985]

Noone has actually given me a straight answer as to the proper way to remove the bioballs...this must not be the case for you but I dont have a pile of money sitting around to spend on the tank if something happens and I shock the system and everything dies so I was merely wanting assurance that I am about to do the right thing. I appreciate your help but you should have more patience for others, not everyone knows everything like you do.

Thanks for the info Kweli! Did you just put the chemipure media bag loose in the chamber? Do you have a skimmer or any other water purifying filters as well?

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[Kweli]

Well, depending on the size of your bioball collection you have two options...

-If you feel you have a significant amount of bioballs (bacteria) then you should do a quarter every 4-5 days and see how the system reacts. Any sign of trouble means you can stop for a week
-If you dont have many bioballs you can take it out in two different batches.. Give a week between.

The media bag is just loose in the chamber, but it is laying in a way that forces water to pass through it (basically blocking the whole passage)
I also have purigen in there (new addition)

I have a stock solana skimmer which does 'light' skimming compared to most quality skimmers. On a scale from 1 to 10 in skimmer awesomeness, mine would be around a 2-4

 

[jamie1985]

Thanks so much for the helpfull information. The chamber is only about half full of bioballs so I can probably do the half and half method and I guess if I replace them immediately with LR it will help lessen the blow as well...I am running 50/50 gfo and carbon in a reactor and will be getting a half decent skimmer...is there such thing as having too much filtering?

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[Kweli]

Ideally with a small tank you want to balance swings as much as possible. So keep the clean water going... just remember to keep your cleaning "machine's" clean.

If you replace them with LIVE rock then it should balance nicely... otherwise dead rock won't start working for a while

 

[Steel_Wind]

His main DT has a fair bit of LR in it already. He should not need more.

 

[jamie1985]

I have about 30lbs of LR in the DT already but since my system is used to having the bioballs in there I should still probably take some precaution....I dont want to risk anything. ..Kweli where I was going with the too much filtering comment is would it be too much to have a skimmer, gfo reactor, and media bags in the back compartment with the LR? Would it ever start taking good nutrients out of the water that the corals need to grow properly?

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[altcharacter]

All tanks need different levels of nutrients depending on what you have. This is why a dominant tank usually does better than a mixed reef tank. In a mixed reef tank some corals won't like the levels that another might like.

It all depends on what you have in your tank

 

[jamie1985]

I have a black and white clown and an albino tangerine clown (who are paired) and a true perc clown. I also have a sixline wrasse and CUC. As for corals I have two finger leathers, candy cane, hammer, pearl bubble and sun coral...

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[badmedicine]

One thing to remember about putting objects in your sump is that it will develop crud on the bottom and need to be cleaned from time to time. Gt bigger pieces of rock if you can.

 

[jamie1985]

Good to know! I will get larger chunks rather than rubble

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[andy]

You better take the bio balls out slowly step by step when u do your water change. I have 29 bc before but then I changed to a new tank and removed all the bio balls in one time. A week later all my corals are not doing very well but all the fish are ok. Now is been about two weeks and my corals start to getting better. The only coral I lost is a acro colony. I replaced the bio balls with a medium size hang on fuge with cheato and small piece of live rock. I do dosing red sea NO3 PO4 reducer. My bc 29 been running for one and 7 months and also I have 29lbs in the display tank and about 3 lbs small piece of live rock in my hang on fuge.

 

[jamie1985]

Thanks for the advice andy I took half of the balls out a few days ago and I will take the rest out later this week...so far so good...my finger leathers actually opened up today which was nice to see! Gfo must be working already!

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[PACMAN]

if i may ask, what makes live rock rubble better than bioballs in that chamber? won't the bacteria grow on the balls as well?

I havea 29G biocube and i removed the bioballs from the get go and had chaeto. but i found it was too hard to grow in there, so I now just have chemipure in there and filterfloss elevated to act as a filter before water fallsdown into middle chamber. perhaps i should add live rock back there, but I am unclear as to why rubble would be any different from the bio balls