Washed out my media, what will happen?

[Fishman007]

So today i did a 20g wc on my 37g in another desperate atempt to lower my nitrates, ive done a 35g wc earlier and only -30ppm of nitrate. So i decided it must be in the canister filter. I washed out my filter pads, and ceramic media with tap water and swooshed my bioballs with tank water. I have 80lbs of live rock and 30lbs of live sand, tanks been up for about a year.

Am i in big trouble? Or does my sand, rock, and bioballs have enough BB?

Thanks.

 

[tangs27]

You should be ok. I have bio balls, live rock and sand in my 125 and I always just pull the filter media out and put a new one in, my levels stay stable. If anything the issue should be pretty insignificant since there is bb on the rocks, bio balls and sand.

 

[Tkey3425]

Bio balls can cause nitrates but your filters need to be cleaned at least once a week. They debris caught in them will cause nitrates if left for long periods of time. I change my filter socks every 3-4 days.