coral keeper
Active Member
Whear can i put my chaeto algae? Can i just tank out the bio balls and replace it with chaeto algae? My bio cube is 4 1/2 months old.
Whear can i put my chaeto algae?
- Thread starter coral keeper
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coral keeper
Active Member
Can anyone help?
shrimpi
Active Member
I beleive cheato needs to be submerged, your bioballs arent submerged they just get dripped on.
I guess you could do something along the lines of the soapdish- in house fuge like this:
or if you have a sump or a compartment in your w/d filter, you can put it in there, but it needs good flow and also Light.
I kept mine in the open compartment of my w/d (where the water gets pumped back up to the DT. I put a strip light above it and it did fine.
I guess you could do something along the lines of the soapdish- in house fuge like this:
or if you have a sump or a compartment in your w/d filter, you can put it in there, but it needs good flow and also Light.
I kept mine in the open compartment of my w/d (where the water gets pumped back up to the DT. I put a strip light above it and it did fine.
coral keeper
Active Member
Can i take out the bio balls and insted of the bio balls put chaeto algae and put a light on it? Can i do that?
coral keeper
Active Member
Can i put chaeto algae instead of the filter cartridge?
azfishgal
Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
Can i put chaeto algae instead of the filter cartridge?
No, Cheato is not a filter, it just helps keep your nitrates down. You will still need some type of filter. But like I said, many replace the bio-balls with live rock rubble, because if you don't clean out the bio-balls they themselves can build up your nitrates, and you don't want that. Your filter pad can also build up nitrates so even though you'll need one, you will need to clean it out weekly (with the saltwater that you take out to do your water changes).
Can i put chaeto algae instead of the filter cartridge?
No, Cheato is not a filter, it just helps keep your nitrates down. You will still need some type of filter. But like I said, many replace the bio-balls with live rock rubble, because if you don't clean out the bio-balls they themselves can build up your nitrates, and you don't want that. Your filter pad can also build up nitrates so even though you'll need one, you will need to clean it out weekly (with the saltwater that you take out to do your water changes).
coral keeper
Active Member
Originally Posted by azfishgal
No, Cheato is not a filter, it just helps keep your nitrates down. You will still need some type of filter. But like I said, many replace the bio-balls with live rock rubble, because if you don't clean out the bio-balls they themselves can build up your nitrates, and you don't want that. Your filter pad can also build up nitrates so even though you'll need one, you will need to clean it out weekly (with the saltwater that you take out to do your water changes).
Why cant i clean out the filter pad with fresh water? I have to wash out the bio balls? I didnt wash the bio balls for 4 1/2 months.
No, Cheato is not a filter, it just helps keep your nitrates down. You will still need some type of filter. But like I said, many replace the bio-balls with live rock rubble, because if you don't clean out the bio-balls they themselves can build up your nitrates, and you don't want that. Your filter pad can also build up nitrates so even though you'll need one, you will need to clean it out weekly (with the saltwater that you take out to do your water changes).
Why cant i clean out the filter pad with fresh water? I have to wash out the bio balls? I didnt wash the bio balls for 4 1/2 months.
coral keeper
Active Member
So the only way for me to keep chaeto algae is to put it in a soapdish like shrimpi has or put it in a sump (if you have one). So how am i going to breed copepods? Will they breed in the soapdish with the chaeto inside, or in the live rocks that is going to be inside the place whear the bio balls are?
azfishgal
Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
Why cant i clean out the filter pad with fresh water? I have to wash out the bio balls? I didnt wash the bio balls for 4 1/2 months.
Most people typically wash the filter with the saltwater so not to kill any of the good bacteria, but you still wash all the dirt (food, poop, etc) off. The best thing to do is just keep a watch on your water parameters. If you tests keep showing up good then you don't have anything to worry about. But if you see the #s start to go up you know you need to take action. I usually like to keep things at bay before they go up, this way everything in the tank stays happy. For me, now that my tank has plenty of good bacteria I just toss the filter pad and put in a new one. Call me lazy, but I just figure it won't build up any nitrates at all by doing it that way.
Pods will bread in your cheato if it's in the soap dish as well as in your tank, where ever they can stay away from fish that might eat them.
Why cant i clean out the filter pad with fresh water? I have to wash out the bio balls? I didnt wash the bio balls for 4 1/2 months.
Most people typically wash the filter with the saltwater so not to kill any of the good bacteria, but you still wash all the dirt (food, poop, etc) off. The best thing to do is just keep a watch on your water parameters. If you tests keep showing up good then you don't have anything to worry about. But if you see the #s start to go up you know you need to take action. I usually like to keep things at bay before they go up, this way everything in the tank stays happy. For me, now that my tank has plenty of good bacteria I just toss the filter pad and put in a new one. Call me lazy, but I just figure it won't build up any nitrates at all by doing it that way.
Pods will bread in your cheato if it's in the soap dish as well as in your tank, where ever they can stay away from fish that might eat them.
coral keeper
Active Member
Originally Posted by azfishgal
Most people typically wash the filter with the saltwater so not to kill any of the good bacteria, but you still wash all the dirt (food, poop, etc) off. The best thing to do is just keep a watch on your water parameters. If you tests keep showing up good then you don't have anything to worry about. But if you see the #s start to go up you know you need to take action. I usually like to keep things at bay before they go up, this way everything in the tank stays happy. For me, now that my tank has plenty of good bacteria I just toss the filter pad and put in a new one. Call me lazy, but I just figure it won't build up any nitrates at all by doing it that way.
Pods will bread in your cheato if it's in the soap dish as well as in your tank, where ever they can stay away from fish that might eat them.
Ok. Ill go wash out the bio balls with saltwater today. Thanks for the info azfishgal!! How much are thos soap dishes and where do i get them? The soap dish that shrimpi has. When i replace the bio balls with live rock will i need to wash the live rock with saltwater too?
Most people typically wash the filter with the saltwater so not to kill any of the good bacteria, but you still wash all the dirt (food, poop, etc) off. The best thing to do is just keep a watch on your water parameters. If you tests keep showing up good then you don't have anything to worry about. But if you see the #s start to go up you know you need to take action. I usually like to keep things at bay before they go up, this way everything in the tank stays happy. For me, now that my tank has plenty of good bacteria I just toss the filter pad and put in a new one. Call me lazy, but I just figure it won't build up any nitrates at all by doing it that way.
Pods will bread in your cheato if it's in the soap dish as well as in your tank, where ever they can stay away from fish that might eat them.
Ok. Ill go wash out the bio balls with saltwater today. Thanks for the info azfishgal!! How much are thos soap dishes and where do i get them? The soap dish that shrimpi has. When i replace the bio balls with live rock will i need to wash the live rock with saltwater too?
coral keeper
Active Member
Can anyone answer my questions?
azfishgal
Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
Ok. Ill go wash out the bio balls with saltwater today. Thanks for the info azfishgal!! How much are thos soap dishes and where do i get them? The soap dish that shrimpi has. When i replace the bio balls with live rock will i need to wash the live rock with saltwater too?
No, you don't need to wash the live rock, which is a bonus and why many people switch to it. The soap dish you can buy at WalMart, very cheap. Just look for something you can hang on your tank or use a suction cup.
Ok. Ill go wash out the bio balls with saltwater today. Thanks for the info azfishgal!! How much are thos soap dishes and where do i get them? The soap dish that shrimpi has. When i replace the bio balls with live rock will i need to wash the live rock with saltwater too?
No, you don't need to wash the live rock, which is a bonus and why many people switch to it. The soap dish you can buy at WalMart, very cheap. Just look for something you can hang on your tank or use a suction cup.
reefkprz
Active Member
not to contradict you AZ but actually you should periodically rinse out the rubble because it will acumulate detritus just like bioballs will, not as fast due to the microfauna and such living in the rock, consuming some of it but you should still hose the rubble out with a powerhead and tube every month or two.
coral keeper
Active Member
I called up my LFS and they said NOT to rinse out the bio balls or the live rock.
reefkprz
Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
I called up my LFS and they said NOT to rinse out the bio balls or the live rock.
well they are dumb. if you dont rinse the bioballs or rubble you WILL build up detritus and cause excessive nitrates. but go ahead believe them if you want, everything that dies they get to sell you another. whatever. do some research, heck google bioball maintinence or something. think for yourself.
I called up my LFS and they said NOT to rinse out the bio balls or the live rock.
well they are dumb. if you dont rinse the bioballs or rubble you WILL build up detritus and cause excessive nitrates. but go ahead believe them if you want, everything that dies they get to sell you another. whatever. do some research, heck google bioball maintinence or something. think for yourself.
coral keeper
Active Member
Ok. What should i rinse the bio balls with fresh or saltwater?
coral keeper
Active Member
So just get some water from the bio cube and put the bio balls in the bowl with the saltwater then just shake the bio balls so that the crap can fall off of it? Every how often should i rinse the bio balls?
reefkprz
Active Member
when I ran bioballs I did it everytwo weeks, basicly though if you see stuff building up thats when you rinse them, If you have a low bioload and almost no detritus there is no need to do it every two weeks. I would just do it everytime I did a waterchange so i could use the old tank water to rinse them in. worked out for me never had any nitrate issues that way.