Filtering confusion

Hi Everyone. I have a 75 gallon reef tank that is about a year and a half old. Just recently have had a problem with cyano. I have a wet/dry filter (bio balls). I have recently been told that this is typical for bio balls. I have the cyano under control but I have been having to do a 15 gallon water changes every week. I am thinking about changing over to a refuguim. I have looked at a local company called bashsea. Is this a good idea? How do I convert over so I do not crash my tank? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks.

 

If you get a picture up of your sump, wet dry etc, that would be useful

but typically, the best method of removing part of a biological filtration system is slowly

removal of 25% per week over a 4 week period , gives time for the bacteria thats being removed to be replaced by bacteria that will develop in other areas (rockwork and sand etc)

monitor for Ammonia and Nitrite in the mean time, and have some Amquel or Prime on hand in case you do get a reading ( I doubt you will as the bacteria will reproduce quickly to compensate for that which is removed)

Steve

 

Thanks for the quick response Steve. I believe that I probably need to switch to a refugium set-up. The tank has been doing fine up to this point. Is it typical for a wet dry set-up to have issues after a year or so? Here is a picture.

 

You can have issues, depending on the maintainance being done on them
those balls get coated in sediment which becomes the source of Nitrates etc
and thats when you can get issues with cyno and/ or algae etc

its does not seem overly dirty in there, but I do see a lot of accumulated detritus on the base of the sump, so it might be safe for me to assume the bioballs are also a little dirty

IMHO - you dont need them anyway, providing you have enough LR in the tank

also what are you like for flow in the DT? as cyno often (not always I admit) tends to do well in areas of little water movement, because the nutrients stay there for a bit longer giving the cyno time to utilise them

which is why many people with fuges, have cyno in the fuge but not in the DT

Steve

 

Thanks again. I did experiment a bit with the flow. My wife also has a very heavy hand when feeding them. I really like the idea of a fuge. I am sure when I am ready to get started I will have many additional questions. Cyano is ok in the fuge isnt it?

 

Welcome

yes Cyno uses up nutrients in the same way as Macro algaes do
so having some in the fuge is no bad thing, and keeping out of the DT is the aim

you may need to periodically rinse any Chaeto etc you have in the fuge to prevent the cyno overgrowing it and depriving it of light and nutrients
but other than that, there is no reason to worry about it in a fuge

Steve