Sump Help

[palcaidinho]

I have a 55 gallon tank with a fluval canisterfilter and i had a skilter unit too. I just took out the skilter filter due to the lack of filtering ability and noise and oh yeah the lack of skimming the built in skimmer provides. i have live rock and sand and a couple of triggerfishes. I replaced the skimmer for a 10 gallon sump with bioballs which i and a friend had made up with a protein skimmer my question is will this new sump cause a nitrate spike? and if so how long will it take to clear? please help Pat

 

[ReefLion]

My guess is you won't spike if you are just basically removing that skimmer.

The bioballs will do nothing for you, assuming you have sufficient rock and sand (and it sounds like you do). They will tend to cause nitrate problems and should be removed. If you just added the bioballs, just remove them and use the sump for added water volume. If the bioballs have been in a while, then remove a few per day until they are gone.

The canister will likewise probably hurt in the long run. Again, assuming you have sufficient rock and sand, it should be removed.

Tim