I stopped using bio balls years ago and there seems to be a huge difference in the long term stability of the params. I dont even use LR in the sump, the only thing in there is the heater and skimmer with some cheato and a light. All my filtration is done with a good skimmer, a good UV that only runs while the lights are on (not at night so any nocturnal beneficial life wont get zapped) a ball of cheato and the LR and LS and this has been successful for me, what do you use for filtration?????
What do you do for filtration??
- Thread starter P.Olsen
- Start date
Smitty
Premium member
How much live rock and sand do you have in your tank...cause the general rule of thumb is 1-2lbs of live rock per gal. Your bio-balls are what was holding all your bacteria, and taking all your bio-balls out at once is what could have caused unstable conditions. I have over 100lbs of live rock in my 29gal and a HOB protein skimmer as my filtration.
Hope that helps.
Hope that helps.
EyeReef
Active member
I remember 8 years ago, when people would load their tanks up with liverock, but its definitely changing these days. People are going with the less is more look. Open aquascape means means more water volume and more swimming room for fish. So what Im saying is that live rock use to be up there for filtration, but I think a good quality skimmer and weekly water changes is key. But still watch your bioload.
e.g
e.g
mr_z
New member
nice tank man im new to the hobby and i like to have somthing like that one day. but money is so tight right now its so hard. ill post pics as soon as i figure out this forum lol
EyeReef
Active member
No its not my reef. I wish
I was just showing an example of min live rock aquascapingThey were not removed at once, it was done gradually and bio balls also become nitrate factories which is the drawback, unless a portion gets cleaned off reg then eventually bio balls will cause major issues, I personally believe they are the cause to most "old tank syndromes" but that is theory. I am running about 300-350 lbs LR and 200 or so lbs of LS in my 210, I also run a skimmer and it pulls out lots of junk, its a Aqua Euro with 2 - 600 gph pumps, bubble diffuser and so on. Another thing I have learned over the years is there really is no "general rule of thumb". Most of what happens in our tanks is controllable by keeping proper bio loads, performing reg water changes based on the size and bio load of an indv tank not a flat percentage for all tanks, proper feeding, and quality equipment like skimmers and pumps. Just my 2 cents of course, everyone has their opinion....How much live rock and sand do you have in your tank...cause the general rule of thumb is 1-2lbs of live rock per gal. Your bio-balls are what was holding all your bacteria, and taking all your bio-balls out at once is what could have caused unstable conditions. I have over 100lbs of live rock in my 29gal and a HOB protein skimmer as my filtration.
Hope that helps.
Smitty
Premium member
I totally agree with you on that one...every tank is different and will have different needs. As hobbyist, we tend to use each others views, ideas, and examples as our own template, and call it the rule of thumb...same thing can be said about lighting and the "watts per gal" method, when all that is really important is the PAR reading.
jcarlilesiu
Active member
I also don't run anything in my sump except for a couple of heaters and a skimmer.
I do however run water through a filter sock just to polish it. When it gets clogged, I toss it in the washer on a sanitary wash and switch it out with some spares I have laying around.
I don't leave it in too long becuase I don't want it to turn into a nitrate factory.
I do however run water through a filter sock just to polish it. When it gets clogged, I toss it in the washer on a sanitary wash and switch it out with some spares I have laying around.
I don't leave it in too long becuase I don't want it to turn into a nitrate factory.
fastrc
New member
On main display i use sump with large outside mrc1 skimmer,cheato,live rock, duel calcium reactor,phosphate reactor, scrubber reactor and in main tank is around 200 pounds of live rock. On my clown breeders i use a sump with skimmer,chaeto,UV sterilizer and live rock in sump and each cube in the tanks.I never have any fluctuations in parameters except the norm of iodine,strontium,magnesium drops that i adjust weekly.Everyone always has there own idea of a perfect filtration system.