Bioball/filter question

I know that I am going to get many different opinions and answers for my following questions, but all advice is appreciated. I know this is long-winded, but I know how you guys/girls like complete information.

I have a 75 gallon, with a 30 gallon sump. The tank was established in March. I have a wet/dry, and am using 200mg of Purigen and carbon. I have a protein skimmer, but it is crap and I am not currently using it. I have approximately 100 bioballs, 90 lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand. I do regular, bi-monthly water changes of approximately 10-20% at a time. Coralline algae is blooming nicely on the rock and sand.

Tank is stocked with 3 firefish, 4 green chromis, 2 Percula clownfish, an awesome Blastomussa wellsei, a chalice frag, leather coral (which is not too happy and never has been), a very nice mushroom rock (where one actually detached from the rock and colonized a piece of live rock on the other side of the tank, VERY COOL!), zoos (one frag, which has never opened), ricordea, a trumpet coral frag, a favia ultra frag, a beautiful plate coral, and some turbo snails who are dying at about 1 a week.

Ammonia and Nitrite= 0
Nitrate= 20-40 GRRRR!!!!!
PH= 8.2
KH= 11-12
Calcium= 420
Salinity= 1.023-1.024

I know my nitrates are too high and I don't want to keep overdosing Prime to try to bring them down. Water changes aren't helping that much and are a short term fix as well.

Ok, now for my question; my bioballs are dirty and I have never cleaned them. They are not caked, but definitely have brown crud on them. Do I clean them, if so, how many at a time; 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, all? I know to just rinse them well in old tank water. I don't want to destroy my bacterial filter and start a mini-cycle in my tank. With the amount of live rock and sand that I have, do I even need the bioballs? I have no problem cleaning them or dumping them, and with the exception of the turbo snails, everybody is really happy and I don't want to inadvertently cause any of them harm.

As always, thanks for all help and advice,

Jim

 

Just get rid of them. I think they work fine for what their job is, but they are not needed. You have plenty of live rock. Take a few out every week. Get a skimmer.

 

Thanks Powerman.

 

The bio balls can be causing problems for your nitrates... but might not be the only problem. Take a powerhead to all your rock work and see what comes out. I'm a firm believer in proper flow through your rock work. I put my returns down the back of the tank. Clean out your sump. Don't over feed. Remove say 20% of your bioballs every week...or a few every day....but not too much at once cause you need the to give time for the live rock to catch up and increase bacteria to keep up.

After you get your problems straightened out... run a fuge or get some Warner Marine EcoBak to soak up the rest. Bio pellets show a lot of potential for our hobby.

 

Powerman - Note please. I am using NP pellets and find if difficult to keep my PH at anything over 8.0

 

Odd... I have not noticed anf Ph problems. It has been off and on cold and hot here.... so windows are open shut all the time.My Ph track perfectly with the house being open or closed.... 8-8.3. So I know that part, but have not noticed any other ph differencec with and with out the pellets. Mine have been running for 5 weeks now.

 

Again, Bio balls are one of the most efficient forms of filtration. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. Bio balls can not and do not create nitrate. Detritus collecting on the Bio balls or rock rubble will/can cause nitrate from the decay. Using a drip tray with filter media will prevent any accumilation of said detritus.

 

What I did on my tank was I made a small eggcrate box for my display tank and put mangroves and chaeto in it. My nitrates have never gone above 0 and I do very little skimming.

 

Very true... but what they do do is separate the nitrates produced from the nitrate reducing bacteria found deeper in the live rock and puts those nitrates in the water column instead of in the live rock for them to be processed. W/D filter are indeed very good at what they do, but that is only one part of the cycle and not complete like live rock.

 

I would agree if you allow the bio balls to collect detritus. In mine they don't collect any at all and thus no nitrates what-so-ever.