bioballs...

[keitho]

i just removed 1/3 of the biofiltration media in my reef tank. from what everyone told me, it is a good thing to remove the biofiltration media as it is a contribrutor to high nitrates (of course, you wouldn't remove it if you didn't have live rock and a DSB). anyway, i was wondering what everyone's opinion was on removing the remaining 2/3 of the biofiltration media. will it help to further reduce nitrate production, or will the benefit be minimal at best (assuming a slow, consistent removal of the media with respect to time)??

 

[andymi]

Keith,
I would say slowly remove the remaining bio-balls over the course of a couple weeks as to not shock the system. I would then look into getting a refugium, add a DSB to the refugium, some descent lighting and some macroalgae. This quite often helps reduce the number of nitrates in the system and makes it healthier, not to mention it is a good place to harvest the macro's for tangs (if you have any), copepods etc.,
--andy

 

[merman]

About 2 months ago I started a refugium. I used a 10g tank, compact lighting, bioballs, and EcoSystems Wonder Mud. The water siphoned out of my tank, ran through the bioballs, then pushed into the next chamber to the the wonder mud and calupra algae, then again pushed over another chamber and ran through bioballs again, and then up again to my tank. It was a pretty cool setup I spent around $300 or so to build it. But, the thing ruined my tank! My corals all got sick, they hated it. I mean HATED it. So, I finally got tired of waiting for this thing to "kick in" and pulled the plug. If you get a refugium I would like to know if you have a success with it. I really like the idea of raising amphipods and such in a refugium, maybe will try it again someday. BTW I have 29g tank, wet/dry filter, protien skimmer, 20lbs LS, 30lbs LR, and compact lighting

 

[andymi]

I think part of the problem may have been the bio balls. People typically do not use those in a refugium as they are nitrate factories and the whole point of the refugium is to reduce them. In your next trial I would probably go with a sump/refugium combo, minus the bio-balls. Have the water flow from the tank into the sump then over into the refugium, then maybe over into the return champer. Slow moving current through the refugium is a MUST. You also need to make sure you have the right stuff in the refugium to ensure that the copepods and such can thrive as well provide lighting for the caulerpa to grow rapidly. There are only a few ways to make things work properly and a million to make them kills stuff
--Andy

 

[mr . salty]

I agree that the balls were probably the culprit here.They were really defeating the whole pourpose of having the refugium in the first place...Plus,thie whole"mirical Mudd" thing is very over rated(imo)...I have only seen one or two setups where this type of system actually worked.And both of these were MAMOTH setups.The "mud sumps" were both over 100 gallons...That's a 100 gallon SUMP...So it makes sence to me that this"MUD" only works on a LARGE scale...

 

[nm reef]

I have a refugium on my 55 gal reef that has been nothing but positive for my system.
I researched sumps/refugiums and ask tons of questions before ever making a decision on what I wanted to do.....for me I decided that I wanted to achieve several benefits
1)increased water volume(my refugium is approximately 30 gal)
2)non-preditor area for copepods/amphipods for the manderian dragonette I wanted(I've since added one and it is doing great.....tons of pods both in main tank and in refugium)....I might add that I went with a gravity return refugium that IMO has helped to elevate and maintain pod populations
3) low flow area for growing assorted caulpera for nitrate reduction.....sort of a natural filter system......I currently have several types of caulpera and absolutely ZERO nitrates
My refugium was more or less designed to fit the needs and plans for my reef........it is gravity return and low flow(approximately 60-70 gal per hour)......I have approximately 60 lbs of ls and about 20 lbs of rubble from the curing tanks at my LFS............for me its been a extremely positive addition