need help

[cowboy572]

I am new to this saltwater thing and I have a problem. I believe I have a high nitrate problem. I do regular water changes on my 55 gal once a week. I do about a 20% change or about 12 gallons. My tank and system is about a year old and I use a wet/dry filter system with the bio balls. Is there a period where the bio balls either need to be replaced, cleaned or removed and replaced with live rock? I believe the bio balls are causing me my high nitrate problems cause now it seems like everyone in the tank is stressing. So what do I need to do to my filter system to get everything in check and save evryone else from stress.

[moneytank]

remove the bio balls, but do it slowly. take maybe 1/4 of them out every two weeks, maybe even longer. dont use any type of filterfloss type material, unless you change often.
this is atleast what i would do. some people might say different

[stoneroller]

What are your readings?

[erikharrison]

Are you running a skimmer? Take your water to a store and have them test it. It could just be a bad test kit. If it is reading accurately, try the steps below!


1.)Scrub 3/4 of your bioballs, wait a week, then start replacing it with rock (not necessarily live, but this will liven it up quickly) over the next month.
2.)Take a powerhead or two and "wash" your rocks, you may have some nasty pockets of detritus.
3.) Try and suck as much nasty stuff out of your water column as possible while doing a 40% water change.

[apedroza]

Did you mention the other day taht you had a UV sterilzer??? If your fish have ich then this would help. Erik can confirm this!!!

[alton]

How often are you changing your filter pad out on your wet dry? On the Bio Balls thing I have the same set up on my 200 since 1999 using bio balls and my Nitrates are below 5 with nine fish. In 1991 I use bio bale and then changed out to bio balls when they arrived and to this date not one of my tanks have crashed. One thing you did not mention is how many fish, and how much liverock you have in the tank? And do you use RO water to do water changes? Your tap water could be high in nitrates?

[erikharrison]

update?