Filter Questions

[gcamp13]

I bought a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium that had been set up for about 4 years and got it moved yesterday. It came with Live Rock/sand, a skimmer, uv filter and a wet/dry type filter with Bio-Balls. I have heard that I need to pull out the Bio-balls. Do I need to do anything besides take them out? Also the filters that the water goes thru before trickling thru the balls look nasty to me. Do I need to replace these or is the nasty some bacteria that I need to keep?
I hate bothering ya'll with newbie questions but I want to learn the best way to do things.

 

[nordy]

Welcome to the forums! Many people say it and I will repeat it-there is no dumb question!
On the bio balls, they should be cleaned as necessary (doesn't have to be done often) if algae and other detritus has built up on them. To clean them, remove about 1/3 of them, rinse/clean them in a bucket of salt water to remove gunk. Don't scrub them as that can remove the beneficial bacteria from their surface. Cleaning all of them at once can disturb/remove too many of the good bacteria and cause problems for your tank.
The foam filters should be cleaned regularlyas needed. Suggest turning off your sump pump before cleaningthose filters so that stuff doesn't make it's way into the wet/dry sump while you are cleaning the filters.
Go ahead and read all the stickies on any board you are interested in-great info there and reading them will help you ask better questions.
Congrats on getting an established tank-that starts you miles ahead of many folks here who begin at, well, the beginning where the learning curve can be pretty steep.

 

[gcamp13]

I appreciate your opinions and the welcome. I had read somewhere about removing the balls and replacing with some kind of algae? Would that be something I need to consider or would you just keeps balls cleaned?