Biowheel?

[dward]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum, subscribed to others, and have found it to be very helpful. Thanks!

My question: I am about 17 days into my cycle. I have a 55 gal, a couple of lbs of live rock, about 50 lbs of lava rock. I am using 3 damsels to cycle the tank. Ammo and Ni is escalating and I am getting small traces of Na. I am running an Emporer 400 with carbon and bio wheel. Should I keep the filter the way it is when the tank is done cycling? I have kept FW tanks but, I am new to SW. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[michealprater]

Well first off welcome to AA. You should rely more on you live rock and sand to do the filtration than mechanical filtration. Biological (liverock and sand) is the hands down best form of filtration. I would remove the biowheel once you get more live rock in your tank. Ideally you would like to end up with 2 lbs of live rock per gallon. I would add more live rock and keep in mind that your lava rock will seed and become live rock itself with time. In the long run the biowheel will just be a nitrate factory. I would leave it in for now seeings how your bioload is low right now. Also, do you have a sand bed, if so , what type of substrate are you using and how deep?

 

[Anemoneman]

about 50 lbs of lava rock.

Be careful using lava rock in a SW tank. Many times lava rock can contain metal and other minerals that you don't want in your tank. If it were me, I'd remove it now instead of taking a chance of poisoning the tank with heavy metals or other toxins from the lava rock. I suggest you use only LR or other "dead' rocks specifically suited for a marine tank.

 

[michealprater]

Good point Mark.

 

[aimeovaldi]

WOW, that is something I never even thought of, excellent point. I love this forum.

 

[michealprater]

WOW, that is something I never even thought of, excellent point. I love this forum.

What point are you refering to.

 

[dward]

Thanks for the info. I never thought that this type of rock could contain metallic substances that could cause damage to the tank environment. I only have about an inch of black sand in the tank mixed with some crushed coral and shell. I was told by my lfs that lava rock and the sand I selected would be fine in the tank. But, now I'm not so sure. I really wish that I would have registered to this type of forum before I purchased what the lfs suggested. I'm about halfway into my cycle and don't really want to change the tank. However, if changing the sand or simply adding more sand will help, I will certainly do it. I have a few pounds of lr but will definetely replace the lava rock with some lr so I don't cause any problems. Thanks.

 

[aimeovaldi]

The point that lava rock might contain metals, I never even considered that.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Do you add the LR to the tank immediately when starting the cycle? Is there any sort of preparation that is neccesary?

 

[Anemoneman]

Put the LR in at the start. The curing process will cycle the tank. You may want to swish the new rock around in a bucket of SW to dislodge the larger chunks of dead or dying organic matter. Some people even take a toothbrush to it.