<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Howie:
<strong>I recently set up a reef tank, after a 5 year layoff in which I keep a 90 gallon fish only system. I finally got sick watching the same fish over and over again. Anyway I'm back to a 90 gallon reef tank. My question is a friend of mine, also a reet enthusiast told me he read somewhere that you should get rid of the sump pump or, at least get rid of the bio balls in the sump. He said that the bio balls do not help in the removal of "NITRATES' in the tank. Actually it slows the process down, if you have live rock in the tank. Please let me know if this is so or not. Also I have a Emperor Bio Wheel filter where I have two extra media slots, I used the two extra media slots and filled it with ceramic rings, to also provide similar biological filtration as the bio balls. Should I also remove the ceramic rings from my filter???
Any help, reply, and sugestions will be greatly appreciated. P.S. I have 180 lbs of live rock in a 90 gallon tank, and running a Berlin skimmer.
Howie.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Howie,
I wouldn't get rid of the sump. You can grow macro algae in it, or just use it to hold carbon. BUT, get rid of the bioballs, not because they don't work, but because they are too efficient at converting animal waste products (ammonia in particular)into nitrates. In a reef tank, you want the live rock and protein skimmer to do the filtration. If you don't load the system with too many animals -- especially fish -- that imput too much waste then the live rock and skimmer will maintain a balance between the imput and export of nutrients. If you use bioballs to convert waste into nitrates, then the nutrient level will build up to a point where problematic algae flourishes, something you don't want in a reef tank.
Terry Siegel
<strong>I recently set up a reef tank, after a 5 year layoff in which I keep a 90 gallon fish only system. I finally got sick watching the same fish over and over again. Anyway I'm back to a 90 gallon reef tank. My question is a friend of mine, also a reet enthusiast told me he read somewhere that you should get rid of the sump pump or, at least get rid of the bio balls in the sump. He said that the bio balls do not help in the removal of "NITRATES' in the tank. Actually it slows the process down, if you have live rock in the tank. Please let me know if this is so or not. Also I have a Emperor Bio Wheel filter where I have two extra media slots, I used the two extra media slots and filled it with ceramic rings, to also provide similar biological filtration as the bio balls. Should I also remove the ceramic rings from my filter???
Any help, reply, and sugestions will be greatly appreciated. P.S. I have 180 lbs of live rock in a 90 gallon tank, and running a Berlin skimmer.
Howie.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Howie,
I wouldn't get rid of the sump. You can grow macro algae in it, or just use it to hold carbon. BUT, get rid of the bioballs, not because they don't work, but because they are too efficient at converting animal waste products (ammonia in particular)into nitrates. In a reef tank, you want the live rock and protein skimmer to do the filtration. If you don't load the system with too many animals -- especially fish -- that imput too much waste then the live rock and skimmer will maintain a balance between the imput and export of nutrients. If you use bioballs to convert waste into nitrates, then the nutrient level will build up to a point where problematic algae flourishes, something you don't want in a reef tank.
Terry Siegel
