New Sump and removing Bio Balls

[kank]

I recently purchased a Eshopps RS100 Sump for my 65 gallon reef tank. I have been fighting algae problems and I believe some of this is being caused from my current sump with built in Protein Skimmer(ProClear75). My thinking is excess nutrients are not all getting skimmed out by my skimmer and its poor design. Therefore junk is ending up in the bio balls. I also purchased a protein skimmer hoping that doing all this will help my tank out in the long run.
What I am wondering is over how long of a period of time do I need to remove the Bio Balls out of my current sump?

 

[snakeblitz33]

You can remove the bioballs out of the sump 1/3 at a time - removing them over the course of a few weeks. You don't want to shock the system. Bioballs do have their place in saltwater tanks. When you do water changes, you could remove the top bioballs and rinse them in old saltwater to remove some of the built up detritus on them. Better yet is if you can install some type of mechanical filtration before the water gets to the bioballs...

The purpose of the bioballs is to break down ammonia and nitrite into nitrate by means of colonizing bacteria. In established aquariums with live rock, this is done in the rocks, sand, and even the mechanical filter.

Sometimes it isn't the bioballs that is causing the problem - check your top off water to make sure it doesn't have ammonia in it... and check for total dissolved solids (TDS) with a TDS meter. If it's above 0, there's a chance you found your problem.

If bad top off water isn't the problem, then figure out if you are feeding too much. If there is too much leftover food after a feeding, then it's doing no good.

Occasionally, depending on the type of algae - there is a specific cure... so if you wouldn't mind, please post a picture of the problem so that we can properly ID it and set an action plan.

 

[kank]

My current sump has the protein skimmer section and then flows onto filter pad then trickels down through the bio balls. Bio Balls are not ever submerged. Problem with current sump is the first chamber is so small it does not allow me to put a better skimmer into place. Sump space is an issue with the current sump.
I purchased the new sump so I can have a better protein skimmer and also have more room in my sump. I am also running a Phosphate reactor on the tank and I am seeing a huge difference in the tank during the time I have been running it. The algae I am fighting is green hair algae. This stuff makes me want to pull my hair out. I am pretty sure overfeeding is not the issue. I am also thinking my bio load in my tank is not the issue.

 

[kank]

I do understand that Bio Balls do have there place and it seems there is about 100000 different opinions on using them. I truly believe with everything I am using my tank can survive without them. I have about 50 Lbs of live rock in my tank and live sand.

 

[snakeblitz33]

could you post a pic to make sure it's not bryopsis?

 

[snakeblitz33]

If you need more room, then sure, take em' out and get a bigger skimmer. Nothing wrong with a biopellet reactor either. All pieces of equipment have their place - you just have to find one that fits your tanks situation.

Check your top off water TDS and for ammonia to see if it has any... ammonia converts into nitrate, which is what hair algae uses in addition to phosphates.

What type of lighting are you using and how long is your photoperiod?

 

[kank]

Wish I could but I am at work at the moment. I also do not know how to get photos onto this site.

 

[kank]

I am getting my top off water from my LFS and all their tanks look fantastic but I can test my water. I using the reefbreeders lights. I ramp my blues up to a max of 50 and my whites to a max of 30. Full light for 4 hours ramp up 4 hours and down 4 hours.

 

[kank]

If this algae is bryopsis what else can I do?
Am I making a mistake removing the Bio Balls?

 

[snakeblitz33]

A LFS that closed down not long ago in my area was selling top off water with a TDS of 101. ... that's 101ppm more then what it should have been. Basically, he was selling tap water. Make sure you test your LFS's water's TDS reading to make sure you are buying clean, pure, freshwater. Test it for ammonia if you can.

I don't think your lighting has anything to do with it. You're keeping your lights on an appropriate amount of time and not exceeding the maximums to start the light cycle off with...

If the algae is bryopsis, then you would have reoccuring algae in the same spots on a few various rocks. Phosphates are leaching out of the rocks and the algae is using the phosphate within the rock to grow... so it wouldn't be your water quality or your top off water quality or feeding or lighting that would be causing it. Usually, you can take the offending rocks and turn them over and put the algae in the dark. If that doesn't work, you can set a non-offending rock on top of it to smother it out. Bryopsis looks just a tad different from hair algae - to someone with a trained eye, it's pretty easy to distinguish between the two.

Are you making a mistake? I don't honestly know. There are many aquariums out there that DO use bioballs still - successfully and without algae. There's a problem somewhere in your system - your top off water, your feeding habits, your husbandry habits... something, somewhere is causing a build up of nitrate and phosphate that is being used by the hair algae (maybe) to grow. I don't think it really matters if you go ball-less.

What are you feeding and how much?

 

[kank]

Feeding frozen brine shrimp daily to 2 clowns, 1 blenny, and a wrasse. Usually a cube lasts me a week or so.

 

[mr llimpid]

Brine is not that nutritious switch over to mysis and hikari or spectrum marine pellets. Feeding a variety is healthier for our fish