neon_hybrid
Aquarium Advice Regular
I have asked about this once before, and after advice from a few people, I did a few things to try and bring the nitrate down, but its still not at an acceptable level. Ok, so here is what i have
55 gallon tank with about 50 lbs of live rock
wet/dry sump with bio balls
I have an aquaC HOT protein skimmer,
Crushed coral
I have 2 cleaner shrimp, and about 10 small crabs.
2 damsels, 1 angel fish, 1 tang, and 1 clown fish
Since i initially posted, I have added 1 cleaner shrimp, and the crabs, and I also added the protein skimmer. Before I made any of the changes suggested earlier, I decided I needed to get things working correctly in my tank. The protein skimmer is pulling waste from the tank, and it seems to be a pretty good amount.
The nitrate seems to be arround 80-100 ppm. I have been doing a 10-12 gallon water change weekly, with almost no change. It was suggested that I clean my bio balls. When I did my water change a couple weeks ago, I took all the bio balls out of my sump, and cleaned them in dirty saltwater by swishing them arround in the bucket with dirty saltwater, and put them back in the sump. A good ammount of algae and other gunk came off the balls. After the cleaning, my amonia level went up slightly, but has sustained and is 0 now. My nitrite is also 0. It was also suggested that I remove my bio balls and replace it with live rubble. I have been reading alot about the bio balls, and everything I read says they are a good thing, but they are to efficient and drive the nitrate up. I want to get my nitrate to 0 so i can add coral, but I also am skeptical about just removing the bio balls.
If i replace the bio balls with live rock rubble, what is the process? Should I pull the bio balls out, then add some live rubble, then add my bio balls back, and then weekly keep doing the same thing until all the bio balls are gone? When I do that, do i still keep the water level below the live rubble so the water trickles over the rubble instead of the bio balls, or do I fill my sump up with water?
55 gallon tank with about 50 lbs of live rock
wet/dry sump with bio balls
I have an aquaC HOT protein skimmer,
Crushed coral
I have 2 cleaner shrimp, and about 10 small crabs.
2 damsels, 1 angel fish, 1 tang, and 1 clown fish
Since i initially posted, I have added 1 cleaner shrimp, and the crabs, and I also added the protein skimmer. Before I made any of the changes suggested earlier, I decided I needed to get things working correctly in my tank. The protein skimmer is pulling waste from the tank, and it seems to be a pretty good amount.
The nitrate seems to be arround 80-100 ppm. I have been doing a 10-12 gallon water change weekly, with almost no change. It was suggested that I clean my bio balls. When I did my water change a couple weeks ago, I took all the bio balls out of my sump, and cleaned them in dirty saltwater by swishing them arround in the bucket with dirty saltwater, and put them back in the sump. A good ammount of algae and other gunk came off the balls. After the cleaning, my amonia level went up slightly, but has sustained and is 0 now. My nitrite is also 0. It was also suggested that I remove my bio balls and replace it with live rubble. I have been reading alot about the bio balls, and everything I read says they are a good thing, but they are to efficient and drive the nitrate up. I want to get my nitrate to 0 so i can add coral, but I also am skeptical about just removing the bio balls.
If i replace the bio balls with live rock rubble, what is the process? Should I pull the bio balls out, then add some live rubble, then add my bio balls back, and then weekly keep doing the same thing until all the bio balls are gone? When I do that, do i still keep the water level below the live rubble so the water trickles over the rubble instead of the bio balls, or do I fill my sump up with water?