Bioballs filter media

[taikss]

Please have a look at the picture and comment if you have any ideas as to how fix the problem.

My tank is about 1,5y with me, an inherited one, vast changes taking place after i got it, so one could say it's 1,5y old.

I've got quite a lot of livesand and liverock. I've now got a steadily growing caulerpa fuge and a tunze dc9410 workhorse skimmer.

But the problem remaining is still nutrients. Nitrates are 10-11ppm and phosphates also tend to be elevated, in last 2 weeks they seem to have gone up from 0,07 to 0,2.

I've read about the bioballs being a nitrate factories and that most of the cases the sand and the rocks are not able to produce enough nitrogen gas in comparison to how efficiently the bioballs produce it.

On other hand i'm thinking that i've had a good skimmer and a functioning fuge (took off after adjusting the flow and the lights). Also the mass of the liverock and the sand is pretty decent. Parameters been steady and hence i assume the anaerobic bacteria is there doing their thing.

So what should i do with the wet-dry?

 

[taikss]

anyone at all?

 

[Mandelstam]

Do you keep your bioballs clean? Prefilter? From what I've read the biggest concern with bioballs in a reef tank is trapping detritus.

Next thing I wonder is if you really need them? If you have enough rock and sand along with a working fuge it seems like you are only adding additional and substantial maintenance with the bioballs.

 

[taikss]

Do you keep your bioballs clean? Prefilter? From what I've read the biggest concern with bioballs in a reef tank is trapping detritus.

Next thing I wonder is if you really need them? If you have enough rock and sand along with a working fuge it seems like you are only adding additional and substantial maintenance with the bioballs.

1st row: i have a filter sock and clean it once-twice a week. hell yeah, i bet there's a gunk full of funk getting stuck into that medium. when i had trouble with cyano on the SB, i syphoned the sand and that stuff literally filled the sump.

2nd row: that's exactly my question mate I'd like opinions from people who have had experience with either bioballs or removing them. As i mentioned in the main thread, my phosphates seem to climb. Let's say that the skimmer takes care of the ammonia and the nitrites, but what's going to take care of the phosphates. Currently there's a surplus of both NO3 and PO4, but i can't see the fuge taking care of it.

 

[Fin]

I have always believed the same as what you stated initially. Massive surface area for aerobic bacteria, but not an environment for anaerobic bacteria that helps remove the nitrates. I had a 200 gallon FO system decades ago with a very large bio-ball filter. I think 20 gallons worth (many of them still in my attic). Always had a great crop of hair algae. They can accumulate trash, but they are easily rinsed in salt water to remove that. Mine were always clean, because of the pre-filter I had. Didn't really test for nitrates 30+ years ago, but I bet they were through the roof.

I would simply begin removing them a little at a time.

 

[taikss]

I have always believed the same as what you stated initially. Massive surface area for aerobic bacteria, but not an environment for anaerobic bacteria that helps remove the nitrates. I had a 200 gallon FO system decades ago with a very large bio-ball filter. I think 20 gallons worth (many of them still in my attic). Always had a great crop of hair algae. They can accumulate trash, but they are easily rinsed in salt water to remove that. Mine were always clean, because of the pre-filter I had. Didn't really test for nitrates 30+ years ago, but I bet they were through the roof.

I would simply begin removing them a little at a time.

i read that 2-3 balls every other day is a good idea.

BUT

what about the phosphates? My skimmer is producing 1 litre of skimmate per week, i don't get how the PO's are able to rise...