bio ball dilemna please help

[king kole]

tomorrow i'm doing 30% change on my 90 g tank. i've been fighting high [35-40 ppm's nitrate for 2 or three weeks and i' tried to do everything to reduce the number. the one thing i'm attempting is bio ball change for cured live rubble. paying the maintenence guy , a very good lfs, to come and help. the boards[which have been a godsend thnks to all] give varying ideas i like the idea of a total change out but he wants to do like 30%? please give me some feed back i'm pretty sure it's the problem source.

 

[srfisher17]

Bio-balls can be a problem; but if you can come up with a system to rinse about 1/3 of them (I once kept 3 panty-hose feet full of bio balls) with each water change, you probably will be ok, IMO. Are you doing regular water changes? That, to me anyhow, is the key. I'm not keeping a reef right now, so I really don't worry about nitrates unless they get quite a bit higher than what you're experiencing. But, I change 25% monthly and nitrates usually stay well under 40ppm. Regular vaccuming of the substrare (again 1/3 at a time) can help too...if your set up allows it. BTW, I think you have a very rare creature, a good lfs guy; a complete water change can really stress fish...you really have to re-acclimate them to the new water. You can do about 20% a week or so as well, that will also help.

 

[cdangel0]

Check with your LFS guy to see if you understand what he meant. I think he was saying that he only wants to change 30% of the bio-balls at a time, which is the smart thing to do. Removing all of the bio-balls at once will create a sharp decline in denitrifying bacteria and will result in a re-cycle fo your tank.
Changing out 30% this week, and another 30% in a couple more weeks, then the rest a few weeks after is a much much better idea.

 

[king kole]

i'm sorry i guess i didn't comunicate well enough. i'm changing the bio balls out for live rock during a 30% water change. i do a 25% monthly change and a 12 /13 % water change weekly. the 25% includes substrate and sump vacuumings. my question is will a complete change of bios for live rock "shock" the system in any way?

 

[king kole]

sorry i was replying when you posted. how will removing bios disrupt denitrfication if they are being replaced with mature live rock similar to a the refuge principle no?

 

[king kole]

Originally Posted by King Kole
http:///forum/post/2550399
tomorrow i'm doing 30% change on my 90 g tank. i've been fighting high [35-40 ppm's nitrate for 2 or three weeks and i' tried to do everything to reduce the number. the one thing i'm attempting is bio ball change for cured live rubble. paying the maintenence guy , a very good lfs, to come and help. the boards[which have been a godsend thnks to all] give varying ideas i like the idea of a total change out but he wants to do like 30%? please give me some feed back i'm pretty sure it's the problem source.
aquarist in jax florida are lucky indeed. we have one awesome lfs. nowhere near the selection or service SWF has, but compared to horror stories i've read on these boards very very special. all fish are housed in size appropriate tanks with the received date on the tank. the owner prefers not to sell a fish without proper time "in store". all large fish, triggers tangs butterfly etc etc are housed in 30 gallon tanks singularly or twos. and the owner is an obssesive compulsive see neat clean freak! the floor is cleaner than most lfs tanks. what a joy to go into!