Anyone ever convert their wet/dry bioball into a refugium?

[jamparty]

if so, how'd you do it?!

 

[trigger11]

I converted mine. Originally it was a 20g wet/dry with bio balls. I made a DIY sump out of a trashcan and then that feeds into my now refugium. My wet/dry only had one baffle in it. I took the bio balls out of the section that has the checkered grate. I then put some live rock rubble pieces over the top of the checkered grate. My thinking was that if I did that then I wouldnt get too much dieoff from the macro algae plants falling down through there. In the last section of the wet/dry I have the return pump. I also put some larger live rock rubble pieces in this section to try to help stop the dead plants from making their way over to the return pump and still allow the water to flow. It has been running this way for about 2 months now and has seemed to work out pretty good for me.

 

[rcdude1990]

i was thinking about doin that wit my wet/dry. should i take out teh balls and put lr pieces in it? but the tank isnt goin to b a reef

 

[trigger11]

From the experience I have had and everything I have read about I would not recommend using bio balls ever. They collect a lot of crap on them and have to be cleaned fairly often. And considering the location the wet/dry is usually in this is not an easy task. In my opinion I would take out the bio balls and put in live rock yes. Even if you are not going to have a reef, live rock is the best way to go for a natural filtration.

 

[rcdude1990]

ok but should i break the LR? like i have fairly sized LR, should i leave it that size in the wet/dry or break it up?

 

[reef46]

Cleaning your bio balls every once in awhile isnt a bad idea but as long as you keep a clean filter pad over them you shouldnt have too much of a problem IMO

 

[jamparty]

so you didn't add any acrylic pieces to partition your wet/dry any further?
I was thinking about possibly using epoxy and using some 1/4" acrylic custom cut sheets to partition the wet/dry some more and add a PC light over the middle partition where I would put arogonite sand and macroalgae.
also, did you keep the filter pad or not? i would think it isn't a bad idea even with the LR there correct?

 

[trigger11]

I didnt add any baffles to the wet/dry I had. That doesnt mean you couldnt though. The sky is pretty much the limit. I think it would really just depend on what you wanted to accomplish. The wet/dry I had fit pretty well under my stand so I left it pretty much alone. As long as you get the macro algaes growing that is the main thing. However, in mine I also wanted to have the LR in there to give pods a place to breed without getting eaten. If I can get enough of them I will get a mandarin down the road.
I didnt have a filter pad with the wet/dry but I would also think it would be ok to leave it there.