Removing my balls.

handbanana

handbanana

Member
Yes, I want to remove my bio-balls from my 12 gal nano. :)
I bagan the process about a week ago. I did a water change, removed 6 bio-balls and added some Nitro-max. Then this week, yesterday I did another 1 gallon change and removed 6 more bio-balls and added more Nitro-max.
My parameters are
Ammonia .25
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10 ppm
Ph is 8.3
gravity is 1.025. Or salanity. whichever you want to call it. I know theres a major difference.
My question is when can I remove the rest of the bio-balls and add my chemi-pure? I have about 15 balls left.
Thanks everyone!
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
i can not answer this thread because i still have balls you may want to look to Spanko for advise on this subject
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
Mine are sitting on the mantle ... at least it cured my nitrate problem awhile back.
 
handbanana

handbanana

Member
Like an elastic band around em...Oh hell.
thats Just wrong.
Ok so Ill just keep up the painfully slow process of ball removal.
After theyre gone I can add a chemi-pure sack?
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Im in the process of removing mine slowly also. I am doing same as you but a little more at a time than you.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Seriously, if you want to move the bio balls out you can take out about 1/3 of them then wait a week for the biofilter to catch back up. The next week the 2nd 1/3 and so on.
 
robertmathern

robertmathern

Active Member
With amonia of .25 your tank is still cycling. If thats the case is there anything alive in there if not just remove the balls. There is no point in slow removal. Just take an axe to em.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Originally Posted by robertmathern
http:///forum/post/3273254
With amonia of .25 your tank is still cycling. If thats the case is there anything alive in there if not just remove the balls. There is no point in slow removal. Just take an axe to em.
Hey where you been, haven't seen you around much? I saw the ammonia reading, but also saw the nitrites and nitrates. Those readings made me think that the .25 ammonia was not a true reading. Have seen a lot of people using the API tests that show that stupid .25 all the time.
Hey handbanana how long has this tank been up and running?
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3273259
Have seen a lot of people using the API tests that show that stupid .25 all the time.
I am one of those people. I don't see .25, but it does not show 0....ever...
My LFS also uses API tests and all they can say is "Well, I dunno <scratches head>, its not zero."
I need another type of test kit to cross-reference.
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
I switched to using the Salifert ammonia test kit. The low reading on it is <.25 and not 0.
 
robertmathern

robertmathern

Active Member
Ok I have never used API test kit thats why I had to ask if the tank is cycling. But I do see spanko's point on none of the other params are off. So I would keep on doing what you are doing then
 
handbanana

handbanana

Member
Hey Thanks for all the responses!
Spanko, from what I understand the previous owners had this tank cycled and ready to go for about 3 months, with a few pounds of crushed coral and maybe 10 lbs of coral skeletons. I took out the coral, water and moved it to my house, set everything back up and left it for about a week. When I tested the params before that week they were all 0! Better than my 55 gallon!
After the week they were the same. Then I took out the dead coral and added 9 lbs of new LR and also about 2 lbs of CC from my "fuge".
That was......um...last wednesday the 13th. Since then Ive done 2 water changes and with each change I took out some balls.
I have the critters that come with LR. Brittles, some of those white/grey stars, xenia, mushrooms, Weird halfshelled snails and a tiny crab like thing( looks like a hermit with out a shell.) And what looks like star polyps but now im not sure. everything looks good except the crab.
 
robertmathern

robertmathern

Active Member
I have been around here and there. Life has been crazy lately. I have decided to slow things down now though since my son passed away this weekend. Not the one in my pic but an unborn son. Think I will take it easy for a while spend time with the wife and kid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top