bio-balls "OUT OF HERE"

O.k. in the next week I will be getting the CPR SR3 skimmer and putting it in the middle chamber of my 29 gallon bio-cube (following sound advice from 3 reef members) . My question is do I remove all the bio-balls at once with all the benefical bacteria I have in their. Any help is appreciated since I do not have a clue how to make this change with out hurting my loved ones bob, bob jr (clowns), logan jr (yellow tang), and snowflake (snowflake eel). thanksssssssssss

 

sorry about the run on sentence. ouch!!!!!!!!!!!

 

how much live rock do you have and is it well cultured?
I would not take out all of the bioballs at once. i would take out only a few percent at a time over a month or two time.

 

+1 even if you have plenty of live rock I would not take more than 25% per week while doing your regular maintenance.

 

I removed mine. I did 1/3 a week, with absolutely no changes in readings. That was about a year ago.

 

I agree taking out too much of your biological filtration can cause some pretty nasty side effects. Better to follow the above suggestions and remove 25% each week.

 

So I will remove 25% everyweek, no problem but I wont beable to put the skimmer in until it is all gone so will this cause any problems. thanks for the good advice and kudo to Kelly 11 I am taking your advice and removing the bio-balls and replacing it with the skimmer you recommended. ;D

 

Not having a skimmer for 3-4 weeks shouldn't be a problem, it's really more of a long-term benefit to have one running.

 

agreed. and to lesson the impact of not having a skimmer you can do 1-2 wc over the time where there is no skimmer and maybe decrease the feeding a little as well.

 

will do