Replacing Bio-Balls W/ LR

[sedonawrx]

Hey guys i think i read somewhere that you guys recommend replacing bio-balls with LR in our filters? Whats the purpose of doing so? I currently have a 75 gal wet-dry so can i just crush up some LR and replace them with bio-balls or do i have to keep them submerged in water all the time? Thanks alot guys....

Adam

 

[melosu58]

Yes. I am getting ready to do it in my refuge. I`m replacing the bio balls with LR rubble. and they do need to be submerged. The reason is that the LR will provide more biological filtration and the wet dry`s are notorious for being nitrate factories. I think it will be an excellent idea for your tank.

 

[sedonawrx]

Thanks... how much rock should i use?

 

[melosu58]

Whatever can be submerged.

 

[sedonawrx]

so does mean that the LR that is already in display tanks also considered a biological filter?

 

[melosu58]

Yes it sure does. Any LR in your system is excellent biological filtration.

 

[Ziggy953]

I have the same type of filter on my tank and i took it a step further...I only use it for the protein skimmer and additional water volume. I added a 20g glass tank with a 6" sand bed, live rock and lots of Macro algae. I kind of have a 3 stage sump fuge setup. I upgraded to a dual overflow (1200gph) and have one dump into the skimmer and the other at about 1/2 flow go into the 20g fuge. From there they both dump into a 10g return with my heaters and return pumps. The short of this novel is get rid of those bio-balls, your tank will thank you!

 

[sedonawrx]

hey ziggy do you have any pictures of your filtration system? I cant add ALOT of LR rubble because when power goes out the water level on my sump already fills up twice as much from running level. If i were to increase my water level to be able to have a decent amount of lr rubble i think it would overflow with power-outage.

 

[Ziggy953]

I will take some pictures of it later today and have them posted in this forum. I statred out with the 75g wet/dry and then added to it a 10g glass tank from walmart for $10 and then added a 20g tall tank to house my fuge. I'll post some pics of it later today. Maybe it can help you out, this set up has worked well for me and will work until I finish building my new sump/fuge.

The first pic is of my 20g fuge. I have recently removed a lot of macro to allow for new growth. The second pic shows the 2 drain lines, one going into the skimmer zone and the other dumping into the fuge. I only run about 300gph through my fuge. The last pic shows the 2 drain lines coming from the tank and shows the overflow coming out of the fuge. The pipe that is not labled behind the overflow is the drain line coming out of the skimmer zone and going into the 10g return zone. I have 2 660gph return pumps. I'm going to be upgrading that to a Mag12 or Mag18 I haven't decided yet. Hope the pics help.

 

[sedonawrx]

thanks ziggy having those pictures helps alot

 

[Ziggy953]

I'm glad I can help. Other then the rock and sand that I put in the fuge this really didn't cost much. $10 for the 10g and I think the 20H was $25 or so. I had upgraded my overflow some time before doing this so I had an extra overflow. I think I'm going to drill the 20g and have a bulkhead come right through the side were you see the overflow. one less thing to have to worry about. Sometimes I have to restart the overflow because of bubbles building up in the U-tube. Anyway Im glad that I could be of some help! Good luck and if you need more help with your project let me know. I'm no expert but I will gladly offer my help!