29gal Bio Cube / Frag Tank

nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
Originally Posted by jdsr1970
http:///forum/post/2722008
one more question for Spanko.
I see you do not have any bioballs in your design. How does this work?
Once I took the bioballs and replace with rubble lr and was a complete disaster, all levels went off / dead fish. But strangely a mushroom, rose anemone and suncoral survived after reinstalling the bioballs.
My 0.02 on that topic is NEVER replace bio balls with LR , I did that on my 40gal and have never been more sorry!!! I am in the process of replacing the LR with bio balls. The bio balls have gotten a bad wrap , they are widely used here in the Chicago are , they even use them in some tanks at the Chicago Shedd Aquarium!!! Hey if they are good enough for them..... Like ANYTHING swf related there is going to be maintenance. Every 6mos or so , depending on you'r bio load , you remove the bio balls and shake off the debris in some sw and put them back, thats it! no nitrate prob. Google search bio balls and you will get a TON of info. I have a HOB wet/dry and let me tell you taking all that LR out to vacc. about 2inch of debris is NO FUN!! and my nitrates went up to 60 with the LR
It's now down about half and will soon be at zero , so PLEASE DONT PUT LR IN PLACE OF BIO BALLS
JMO

Spanko has a Mini fuge going so I think thats why his works ok ? Is that the deal Spanko?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
You are correct sir.
However my take on the bio balls if I may.
As nwdyr said bio balls are a viable bio filtering media. They need to be maintained. People that say they are a nitrate factory are not using them correctly, IMO. What probably happened with anyones experience of a problem - crash after removing the bioballs is that they did it all at once. This effectively removes a large part of your biofiltration and allows the build up of ammonia until your system catches back up with bacteria elsewhere. A new cycle!
Removing the bio media should be done over the course of a couple of weeks, a handful every three days or so, so that the system can catch up on new bacteria.
Live rock, sand, macro algae are extremely effective as biofiltration. That said in the biocube I chose not to have the bio balls, not to have live rock rubble as I believe in having as much as needed in the displyay for biofiltration purposes, and having the Chaetomorph for nutrient export only.
My reasoning on this is that the amount of rubble that you can put into an AIO chamber is really negligable in the scheme of things. Also you are only able to put small pcs which probably have no anaerobic areas for the bacteria that convert nitrate into nitrogen gas. My feeling is to get the nutrient exported - used as food - by the macro algae before it even becomes ammonia.
Rambling sorry.......
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2722026
You are correct sir.
However my take on the bio balls if I may.
As nwdyr said bio balls are a viable bio filtering media. They need to be maintained. People that say they are a nitrate factory are not using them correctly, IMO. What probably happened with anyones experience of a problem - crash after removing the bioballs is that they did it all at once. This effectively removes a large part of your biofiltration and allows the build up of ammonia until your system catches back up with bacteria elsewhere. A new cycle!
Removing the bio media should be done over the course of a couple of weeks, a handful every three days or so, so that the system can catch up on new bacteria.
Live rock, sand, macro algae are extremely effective as biofiltration. That said in the biocube I chose not to have the bio balls, not to have live rock rubble as I believe in having as much as needed in the displyay for biofiltration purposes, and having the Chaetomorph for nutrient export only.
My reasoning on this is that the amount of rubble that you can put into an AIO chamber is really negligable in the scheme of things. Also you are only able to put small pcs which probably have no anaerobic areas for the bacteria that convert nitrate into nitrogen gas. My feeling is to get the nutrient exported - used as food - by the macro algae before it even becomes ammonia.
Rambling sorry.......
Yea yea what he said!
very well put
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
didn't have time to do all my fraggin today so I thought i would just post a couple pics of the tank as is. these are a few "test fraggs"

just threw a couple pieces of LR in for bio


Hope to have it half filled in the next week
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
LOOKING GREAT BRO, I AM TOTALLY JEALOUSSSS

I wanted to do a tank like that but seems like that would be totally exspensive to have 3 tanks. So i am gonna jus stick with these 2. Looking sweet though and wow you got frags in there awfully quick. AND I SEE You had to add some LR. its gonna be looking like that 40 gal tank of yours in a month and another reef. You will have fish in it by end of next week probably.LOL
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
Originally Posted by Blazin2k6
http:///forum/post/2724025
LOOKING GREAT BRO, I AM TOTALLY JEALOUSSSS

I wanted to do a tank like that but seems like that would be totally exspensive to have 3 tanks. So i am gonna jus stick with these 2. Looking sweet though and wow you got frags in there awfully quick. AND I SEE You had to add some LR. its gonna be looking like that 40 gal tank of yours in a month and another reef. You will have fish in it by end of next week probably.LOL
LOL no way!! can't afford another reef tank
this will be totally FRAGS! thanks for the comment bro , If I had 1 tank that looked like yours I would throw my other 2 out the window
I used water from the other 2 tanks so I dont imagine I will have any cycle or anything
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
What you mean if you had 1 tank that looks like mine ? My tank isnt anything special is it ? BUT THANKSSSSSSSSSSS FOR THE COMMENT. I truly appreciate it and makes me feel like i have a nice looking tank :) But your tanks look awesome too.
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
Originally Posted by Blazin2k6
http:///forum/post/2724087
What you mean if you had 1 tank that looks like mine ? My tank isnt anything special is it ? BUT THANKSSSSSSSSSSS FOR THE COMMENT. I truly appreciate it and makes me feel like i have a nice looking tank :) But your tanks look awesome too.
Thats what I mean! In the last month or so your tank went from just another tank to THE TANK! really you have added some awesome stuff and the way you feed and care for all your stuff is really inspirational

thanks Subi! I am going to go get updated on your tank right now
 
blazin2k6

blazin2k6

Active Member
tHANKS again nwdyr for those comments. Stuff like that is what makes me want to go out and BUYYYY MORE cool corals :) HEHEHE. Matter of fact i think i'ma go get another acan lord right now just for you saying that. HEHE.
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
Originally Posted by Blazin2k6
http:///forum/post/2724573
tHANKS again nwdyr for those comments. Stuff like that is what makes me want to go out and BUYYYY MORE cool corals :) HEHEHE. Matter of fact i think i'ma go get another acan lord right now just for you saying that. HEHE.
go get em!!! just came back from my fav. LFS,,,they got allot of acans but again NOTHING under 200.00!!! sucks I really want some but cant do that. I will have to look at yours when I need a good acan fix
 
nwdyr

nwdyr

Active Member
Originally Posted by rebelprettyboy
http:///forum/post/2724609
Go and get u another one!!!
Nice frags that are in there already NWDYR... Just amatter of time before its a reef!
STOP THAT!!!
NOOOOOO reef in here!!! I just re-arranged my 40 and took out all the eggcrate , so now it is a reg reef tank. I will be moving the frags I have left in there into this tank little by little.
 
iyachtuxivm

iyachtuxivm

Member
Hey man just found this thread cool Frag tank just picked up something for a frag tank myself trying to work it all out now. Yours looks great though!
 
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