Setting up Uniquarium

[hatessushi]

I have a 90gal uniquarium (translates to about 65gal. usable) I am filling it now with RO/DI water. My plan is to fill, circulate,add salt, circulate, for about a week. Then add about 70lbs LR and 3in.LS. The filtration on this tank is filterpad/charcoal, protein skimmer (Clear for Life Venturi skimmer) that was made for the tank, and then wet /dry. After reading so much in this forum I have a bit of a dilema. It seems that since the bio balls are a nitrate factory and that since I will have the LR then I don't need the bio balls. Is this a correct assumption? Does this mean I can just remove them? Is it true if I leave them in that my nitrates will be higher because of it? If so what do I fill in the space with?
I also plan on a good size cleanup crew, but not to many fish (Fire Angel, Engineer goby, 2 clowns). ***)
Any advice is surely appreciated.

 

[nereef]

bioballs aren't exactly nitrate factories. if not maintained, just like anything else, they can cause problems. live rock rubble is another option.

 

[kalamity]

Uber-stupid question of the year: What is the purpose of the bio-balls? Are they a home for beneficial bacteria? How do you properly maintain bio-balls so they don't create high nitrates? If you clean them, don't you lose the bacteria?

 

[fishguy84]

Yes, the purpose for bio balls is to house bacteria, but if you put lots of LR than you pretty much don't need bio balls. As for rinsing them off, yes it does cause dieoff, but only if you rinse it in the sink with cholrinated fresh water. You could still use bio balls in addition to LR, and rinse them off in a bucket with your siphoned water. As for how often,

I couldn't tell you that since I use LR not bio balls. I would suppose if you don't overstock/overfeed your tank, you shouldn't need to rinse it out too often.

 

[kalamity]

Ok. So, I have a 65 gallon with 60 lbs of live rock and 20 lbs of live sand. I have a wet/dry sump with bio balls. Chances that I will have trouble with nitrates? SInce I have the LR and the LS, should I still be really concerned? Perhaps, in the future, I can remove the bio balls and still be ok?

 

[alyssia]

What is a uniquarium?

 

[vtfishies]

took the words right out of my mouth..what is a uniquarium?

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by kalamity
Ok. So, I have a 65 gallon with 60 lbs of live rock and 20 lbs of live sand. I have a wet/dry sump with bio balls. Chances that I will have trouble with nitrates? SInce I have the LR and the LS, should I still be really concerned? Perhaps, in the future, I can remove the bio balls and still be ok?

YOu would probably be OK with out them, but you are not guaranteed to have nitrate problems with them. Nitrate issues are caused by many factors - overstocking, overfeeding, lack of skimming, lack of water changes, nutrient export (eg refugium), etc.
However, if this was a fish only tank, especially with predators, I would NEVER run it without bioballs. A nitrate problem is far less of an issue than an ammonia problem.

 

[hatessushi]

A Uniquarium is essentially a tank that has the filter integrated. but I wish they didn't provide it with a Rio pump and also another Rio on the skimmer.
UniQuarium 3-in-1 Filtration Systems
No more hoses. No more hanging filters. All the filtration is built into the back of the aquarium. The simplified Wet Dry filter system includes the Rio brand water pump and optional venturi protein skimmer for saltwater hobbyists.
http://www.myfishtank.com/default.as...is&tankdesc=17

 

[hatessushi]

YOu would probably be OK with out them, but you are not guaranteed to have nitrate problems with them. Nitrate issues are caused by many factors - overstocking, overfeeding, lack of skimming, lack of water changes, nutrient export (eg refugium), etc.
So basically I am ok with or without them since the factors you speak of would make nitrates an issue with or without the bios balls. I just want to be sure that if I leave them in that the bio balls won't create and extra nitrate problem by themselves all other factors considered.
So as an example; overfeeding, if I over fed and my nitrates starting spiking because of it would the bio balls make the problem even worse?

 

[mr_bill]

You will be fine without the bioballs as long as you have "enough" LR. I would not put anything in the back, I also have a uniquarium(125) and you are going to want that area as maintenance free as possible.
If your interested I can share how I plumbed in a bulkhead and went for a understand sump approach. The skimmer provided was not doing the job well at all in my case. So I guess I can't really call mine a uniquarium any more can I?

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by HatesSushi
So basically I am ok with or without them since the factors you speak of would make nitrates an issue with or without the bios balls. I just want to be sure that if I leave them in that the bio balls won't create and extra nitrate problem by themselves all other factors considered.
So as an example; overfeeding, if I over fed and my nitrates starting spiking because of it would the bio balls make the problem even worse?

Nitrate issues are definitely complex and worth reviewing a lot of threads. It is widely debated.
Let's take a situation where you are overfeeding the tank:
The immediate concern would be an ammonia problem. For this problem, bioballs are exceedingly efficient. They convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate (via the activity of aerobic bacteria) very very efficiently.
If the bioballs get full of junk - excess food and what not - that will cause a problem. Sponge prefilters and very handy to help here- but must be rinsed often to avoid accumulation of debris.
But let's look at the removal of nitrate from the system. A good skimmer will help remove proteins, lipids, etc before breaking down into ammonia. So that hits nitrates at the front end. The surface of LR and LS - and really any surface in the tank - will grow bacteria that also convert ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate. But in theory these don't get full of rotting gunk because of the clean up crew.
Nitrate levels are reduced via water changes, by macro algae growth and removal (refugium) and various chemical means. It is also removed via that activity of aerobic bacteria deeep in a sand bed or deep within LR. The idea is that this bacteria works preferentially on nitrate produced nearby - in the surface layers- rather than "distantly" in the bioballs. So that is a potential issue in theory.
But again I would rather have the nitrate issue than the ammonia issue. If this will be a FOWLR, then I wouldn't worry excessively about nitrate levels. If this is a coral tank (soft and LPS) then I would keep the levels less than 20. If an SPS reef, then you are looking at frequently exchanging bioload of fish for reduced levels, and have several other mechanisms for nitrate removal.
Regardless, many people use LR and bioball systems with no particular nitrate problem at all.

 

[hatessushi]

Thank you all so much for the information. I can tell you that if I hadn't been reading this board for the last 2 months I would be in a world of hurt right about now with a bunch of dead fish.
I think I will keep the bio balls for now. Since this is to be a FOWLR there will be enough LR/LS and cleanup crew but since the water will go through the filter pads/charcoal then skimmer then wet dry I think I will be fine. The bio balls are situated where I can get to them to clean but I don't expect to do that as often with the prefilters.
As far as plumbing for a under stand sump, that won't really work for me since my tank is sitting on top of a Wine Server cabinet with a home bar. I will post pictures after the first cycle completes. Hey a guy has to have somewhere to go quickly for when things aren't working out.
We turned our dining room and living room into a bar and gameroom since we didn't use those rooms except for holiday dinners. what the hell, I paid for the space so I'm gunna have fun with it.

 

[big_money]

Mr Bill,
Can you share what your (ex-)uniquarium(125) looks like? I just purchased a used uniquarium(125) and would be interested to see what you did with an understand sump.