Should I take the bio balls outand protien skimmer question

[bbauer]

I just set up my tank about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I have 90 lbs of lalo live rock that are curing in the tank right now. I have a 110 tall with a proclear 150 sump under the cabnet. The proclear came with bioballswhich are in the sump right now but i know that the rock is going to help filter the system. Should I remove the bio balls? I believe the tank is cycled because the nitrogen and the amonia are at zero. so I am about to add the sand and a few small fish. Second question. The proclear 150 came with a built in protien skimmer which I thought was neat. When I first set up the tank it was pulling a lot of stuff out of the water, now 2 1/2 weeks later it has almost stopeed doing anything. I this normal? Do you guys think I would benefit from a different skimmer?? Thanks.

 

[Krish]

I use to have the exact same sump (proclear150)and asked the exact same question...If you plan on not having any nitrates, I'd get rid of those bio-balls. I wondered the same about the skimmer as well, and well, I ended up changing the whole sump as well as the skimmer. Before I did though, I added a baffle to my proclear and turned the bio-ball chamber into a fuge. I liked the outcome and therefore, just rebuilt the same thing and expanded it some. I'll see if I can dig you up a link to what I did with mine. But yeah, bio-balls are nitrate factories as they have no way of ridding the system of nitrates. The LR will do that for you...About the skimmer, it will only "skim" when there is something to be removed. Sometimes my skimmer won't produce anything for days and then walla! Practically normal... I'll try and find that link!

 

[Krish]

Here is a link that may help you with the LR/bio-ball question... I started the thread because of basically the same questions you had and the thread ended up creating a new thread in the Advanced forum called Bio-balls out competing LR. The link to that is at the end of this one.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9443


I can't find the photo of where I added in the baffle, but this was my pro150. Just scroll down to the bottom.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10264&page=7


Here's how my filtration looks now

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12686&page=9

 

[bbauer]

why did you switch out your sump??

 

[Krish]

why did you switch out your sump??

Well...When the sump was shipped here, it came broken and I had to have it repaired. After a while, it started to warp. So I had it re-built almost exactly the same. Infact, I even used bio-balls in the new one. (That's right...Sorry, I never added the baffle in the pro-clear sump only the new one.) Well, anyway, when I decided to ditch the bio-balls, I had a baffle added in so the center chamber could fill and then I added another one and then I added another chamber(LOL) If you go here to the link, you will see that it is the exact same thing as the proclear sump, just a new one and without the proclear venturi skimmer...This how it came out first. I will try and find the link where it was all put together so you can get a better ideahttp://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10264

 

[Krish]

Here is the sump when I added the two baffles. You can see without them (the 2 baffles), it would be the same as the proclear sump...

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10720&page=4

 

[bbauer]

you have got alot of extra gear in their as well what is all of the for?? Sorry for the questions i am somewhat new to this. I have another question for you. Now that my live rock is cured and I want to put in the sand bed, should I take all of the rock out, lay the sand all across the bottom and then stack the rock on top of it or should i lay the sand around the rock?? Also can you glue or screw live rock together to make and aquascape??

 

[bbauer]

or do you have any other suggestions about aquascapinf. I saw you tank and I think you did a really good job with yours. I played around with the rocks a little but it seems tough to aqua scape them because most of the time they don't seem stable.

 

[Krish]

you have got alot of extra gear in their as well what is all of the for?? Sorry for the questions i am somewhat new to this

LOL...That's no problem...Ask away Well, sorry I'm not home to just post a photo and label all, but The sump is just big for extra volume, the skimmer is the black thing to the left, I run a phosban reactor which is the clear reactor with the brown media (which is used to remove phosphates) and then I have a controller for the Tunze, a light over the center chamber of my sump to grow an algae when I get some etc.

Now that my live rock is cured and I want to put in the sand bed, should I take all of the rock out, lay the sand all across the bottom and then stack the rock on top of it or should i lay the sand around the rock??

If you add sand, you should never put the sand down first and then the rock on top. It should be the absolute opposite. Rock first and sand around it. That way, you don't create dead zones

Also can you glue or screw live rock together to make and aquascape??

I just balance my rocks...But most people drill them and use tie straps to attach them or hold them together. You can use glue as well



http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9732