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My Tank Thread
Welcome to r2r !!
Newbie to saltwater
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Paso_Leo
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I have one...I don't remember what it is since it has been so long since actually setting this up... Forgive the salt on the sump...It is a constant battle.
nautical_nathaniel
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Welcome to R2R! 
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Paso_Leo
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What would you recommend in place of them? They are what came with the setup when I bought it.Welcome to R2R and getting great advice already.
At some point, you might want to consider removing the BioBalls.
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Lovemyreef2015
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I know you didn't ask me but we had the same sump years ago and My husband and I used live rock rubble in place of the bio balls. We had ours on a 55 gallon. Much better then bio balls.
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Paso_Leo
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Thank you. I am open to all advice here... could you send me pics of your setup please.... It helps to see what someone else has done with the same thing you have...
I have been reading through all the forums here and I am seeing that the rock can also be a "nitrate factory". How do you go about cleaning things?
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Live rock or live rock rubble or a combo of both.
Captain Quint
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Clean with bleach water solution, I then let them dry completely.
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Lovemyreef2015
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Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as this was quite awhile ago. But it's easy enough to explain. All we did was remove all the bio balls and fill the same chamber the same as if you were putting bio balls back in. We had them sitting on the egg crate too. Cleaning can be a pain as the same with bio balls. Every 6 months on a day we did a water change, on the last bucket filled with old tank water I would save it and use it to take all the rock out of the sump and rinse it in the old tank water. Then of course vacuum the bottom of the sump. Put everything back and you are good to go.
Captain Quint
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I'm sorry. I thought you were asking how to clean the BioBalls.
No, you do not clean the live rock with bleach.
As far as cleaning thing what are you talking about cleaning?
Captain Quint
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@Paso_Leo it took some digging to locate some pics from ~17 years ago on an old AGA 120g with a wet/dry similar to yours. The first part of the wet/dry sump you can see where BioBalls would have been and I have LR in that area and then a little egg crate for a fuge type area.
Hope these help.
Hope these help.
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Paso_Leo
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The bio balls since thats what I have at the moment, but I was looking into the rocks and see that you have to clean them too....maybe I am misunderstanding that though...
I have a feeling that I am going to be tearing my sump apart. lol I am looking at a protein skimmer but I am afraid I don't have room. I don't know. lol Maybe I am overthinking things.
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Welcome to R2R! Tank looks relatively new and perhaps started with dry rock? I'd give it time and let things progress. Are you running your light during the cycle?
Captain Quint
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I personally consider tinkering and tweak tanks and sumps as fun.
If using established LR, you don't need to clean much really. If really dirty it won't hurt to have in a bucket of your tank water (you could use some from a partial water change) and use a dollar scrub brush like you use on dishes and scrub a bit if you like.
The pic of my old wet/dry sump was set up like yours initially and you can put the LR ...LR rubble in the first chamber where the water enters and use the section your BioBalls are in for your protein skimmer.
