Depressed

I am having some issues with my new setup. This hoppy is sometimes more elegant in design than reality. I set up a 65 gal with a 20 gal sump 1.5 wks ago. The specs are Fish Only with minimal live rock, Urchin Pro Skimmer (turned on today), AGA Megaflow, Rio 2500 for Return (using a valve to control otherwise the drain is very loud), Fluidized Bed Filter.

I added 22lbs Fiji Cured Live Rock from liveaquaria.com last Thursday along with Bio Spora. Nitrite spiked and was at zero on Sunday. I added 4 Damsels this Thursday.

Heres the issues:
The bed filter was working for a few hours, but I messed with it briefly and now it wont fill with water - the pump is working perfectly. I tried to empty the thing, but sand got everywhere - I hate it. I want to scrap it, and I dont really beleive that the tank wont be able to handle a large bio load. Doesnt the bacteria form everywhere? I dont know what to do. Not much room for a wet/dry unless i could somehow mount it into the 20. I personally dont like the look of adding 70lbs of live rock, but would add tons of live sand. Please advise on necessary bio filtration.

The tank has tiny bubbles - seems because the Megaflow drain creates them and then they are getting caught in the Rio pump on the other side. How can I help this?

Where in this setup should I place my charcoal and polyfilter? Cant fiqure it out.

My main problem may be that I went with the 20 gal tank as a wide open sump as opposed to something expensive and already constructed. I did this so I can put my skimmer in there and work with plenty of room.

All responses are greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to 3reef Jethoes1!

ok first, when u say bed filter do u mean that there is a filter where the outlet of water is coming up through the sand? if so...im not sure if that is such a good idea since the sand beds can be left alone and dont need to be cleaned like a fresh water tank, also the the bubbles i found that if u put a sponge on the pipe where the water comes out that can get the bubbles away...im trying to figure out what ur problem is with rock and or wet/dry filters can u make it more clear? is it that u dont want rock but alot of sand in ur tank or? lol hope i can help more

 

Jetholes1...welcome!!! Bruce is correct, if you could give us more info on what you mean by bed filter...we could maybe help out. Sounds like you're gonna have a great set-up there! The 20 gal. should make a fine sump...sumps do not need to be fancy!

 

Thanks - I am feeling better now - a rant last night.
The filter is a Lifegueard Fluidised Bed Filter (uses sand as a media). My intention is to use this as biological instead of Live Rock or Wet/Dry. (even though I do have 22lbs of live rock). I will basically try to fix it today unless there is a better suggestion.

I guess my question is: Can 22lbs of live rock and 50lbs of live sand (what I plan to get) carry the bioload for a fish only with aggressive stocking?

 

There are a lot of ways to get ride of the tiny bubbles.
1) put a few Baffles in your sump to force the water to the bottom and then back to the top before is gets to the return. Might be tight in a 20G sump but worth a shot.
2) add a filter sock to the drain. These need to be changed every other day and washed so there is added work
3) add a prefilter to your return pump. again these need to be kept clean
4) try and direct the overflow drain away from the return. This can be done with a simple 45 angle piece of PVC

As for the Bed filter I would continue working on it. It will help with what you want to do

BTW Welcome to 3Reef glad you found us.

Jason

 

Hey Jet, If you want to use a bio filter instead of the fluidized filter, Try a bio wheel emporer or penguin. I used these on my 120g FOWLR until I got my sump going. At first I used a penguin 330 and an Emporer 400 ( both are made by marineland and have 2 bio wheels each). They were so efficient that I removed the bio wheels from the 330 and my nitrites and ammonia were always 0. They are reliable filters and have media baskets for charcoal. They are fairly quiet once the bio wheels get broken in and start right up after a power failure.

 

im not sure is this is just a myth but...isnt it better not to use any bio wheel/ biobail for reef tanks? isnt it because they cause extra nitrates...not that is a problem for a mature reef? im not sure, i have bio wheels in my reef they dont really do anything...ive just heard that somewhere

 

I thought of the bio-wheels, i've had limited success on my freshwater's with them, i always found the bio wheels to stop turning. Anyway, sand filter is back in action, with half the media in it, but I think it will do the trick.

As far as the extra nitrate, I never got that because either way the ammonia to nitrite will turn into nitrate no matter where in the tank it happens. The theory may lie in the fact that live rock has some bacteria that get rid of nitrate, so its best to have all bio occur there.

 

I have used the Emporer 400 which has a spray bar which keeps the bio wheel spinning for 5 years without the wheel getting jammed. The older penguin models had that problem but they have even modified the penguins to reduce that problem. I wouldnt recommend a boiwheel for a reef tank but they work well for fish only tanks.