Hello to all and some questions.

I have been doing a lot a research into starting up a reef tank. I am looking at a 65g tall, 35x18x24 with a 30g sump. Tank will be drilled at the bottom so the outlet and return will be inside the tank in the left hand corner. I will be using 50 pounds of LR and am looking to use bio balls in the sump in the first chamber.

I have designed my own sump after doing a lot of research and think I have come up with a sound plan for my needs. I like the fact that I am handy and am not going to spend that kind of money on a sump that I can do my self. One thing I find here as no one really talks about bio balls and using them instead of refugium. The sump will hold the bio balls a filter tray, heater, the skimmer, UV sterilizer, micro bubble filter, and return pump. I plan on running a 6 bank T5 lighting setup with built in timer. In the tank I will be running 2 or 3 power heads. Now all I have to do is convince the wife and I think she is going to crack soon Ha.

Does anyone else have bio balls in a sump?? How do you find they work.
Has anyone tried mangroves in a refugium instead of bio balls. Research is saying that mangroves work very will for filtering nitrates. I will upload a pic of my design for my sump at some point so I can get some feed back on it.

Cheers, From Toronto, Canada.

 

Bio-Balls work if you're using them right. Make sure water will be trickling over them, and they wont be submerged. If they're submerged, that's when they start to not work correctly and create more harm than good. (found this out first hand)

Id go mangroves myself probably if I had room for them. I'm a big fan of the all natural approach to things.

 

I had bioballs for a while until I got enough live rock in my tank to do the work. One the live rock was in place I noticed I was starting to have a nitrate problem. Now being new to this as well I asked around and people told me to remove the bioballs. Once I did, my nitrates dropped and stabilized.

 

hey aidan, welcome to 3reef. good to see another from the area.

 

I have never used Bio balls in my system however I do know that
1. If not cleaned regular they will produce Nitrate into your tank (unwanted stuff)
2. They will compete with your Live Rock for bacteria to naturally filter you tank.

So with enough LR you would not want the bio balls. The mangroves are very good at removing nitrates. I have never grown them myself but everything I have read say they are excellent. I prefer Chaeto, but that's just me.

 

AidanD - Welcome to 3 reef

skimmer, heater, bubble trap, mangroves , return pump, great ideas for the sump/ fuge combo

Bio balls - not a big fan to be honest (high maintenance media IMO

with enough rock and enough water movement. combined with a quality skimmer
you can save yourself the trouble of periodically rinsing those plastic balls which as stated above, if left to get dirty will eventually become a source of elevated nitrates

Steve

 

read this
http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-articles-how-tos/all-about-sumps-filters-fuges-79852.html

 

Thanks for the input on this guys. I am glad I joined this.

See this is good to know. I did not know that about bio balls and that they would compete with LR plus did not know about the hight maintenance as well. I dont mind doing maintenance for this project but dont want to do more than I have to. I would like to know what Chaeto is ? I wonder where I can get mangrove plant from as well. One thing that some one pointed out is that bio balls will only give off nitrate if they are submerged in saltwater but if they are above the water line and get the trickle of water over them from the tank then you are good. You run into problems with them if the balls are submerged. Can anyone shed some more light on this.

 

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home