Can You Over Clean your tank???

[alton]

Ok I am not an expert at saltwater aquariums, corals or fish, but I have been in the saltwater hobby since 1991 when I walked into Texas Tropical and started my second try at keeping a saltwater tank. The first was in 1982 which didn’t last long because of complaining from my mother because of salt creep on her walls. In 1991 I purchased a wet dry system “Made by Dan” maybe some of you know him? Filled with it up with at that time was Bio Bale and then a few years later switched to bio balls. Sixteen years later that wet dry is still being used as a filter system for a 58 gallon with the same bio balls that are over ten years old. My current setups are as follows 200 gallon with 48” wet dry with bio balls since 1999 and a 24” fuge half full of Chaeto for about a year now. Ammonia “0”, Nitrites “0”, and Nitrates undetectable which is causing problems right now because my corals are suffering for a lack of, so I am going to find a way to raise my nitrates. I do a 30 to 40 gallon water changes on this tank every other month. Second tank is a 158 gallon setup since 2003? (Oceanic didn’t put a sticker in it so I can’t remember the exact year. Once again 48” wet dry “Made by Dan”, filled with bio balls but without a fuge. Once again nothing is detectable but nitrate and it is barely on the scale so I am guessing below 5 mg/l? My 200 has 10 fish and my 158 has 4. It would take me 50 pounds of live rock to fill my wet dry, and I would rather look at that in my tank. I am not here to criticize but if you have your tank is set up with bio balls leave it, if it you want to change it out down the road then do so, if you want to add a fuge then do. I believe that bio balls are not the culprit they are made to be by having high amounts of nitrates in people’s tanks. Poor water change practices, over feeding and stocking of fish are I believe are the reason for high nitrates. Also there are plenty of low light corals out there that love to eat fish waste and clean your tank so go buy them and put them in. There is no reason to have a fish with live rock only tank any more. Xenia, Mushrooms, and GSP come to mind as easy to grow and do not require a lot of light. In closing after being in the hobby for 17 years straight and never having any of my tanks crash I believe that wet drys with bio balls are not as bad as some make them out to be.
P. S. in time your deep six like most plastic salinity checkers will become a liar so look to purchasing a hydrometer in the near future.

[ismvel]

Wow Maelv good articles. I heard that some of the Board members here at Maast are smart enough to build a Protein Skimmer or Sump. You don't happen to be one, or know one of them? Cause I think it should be cheaper that way, instead of buying one at the store. By the way, based on the number of Inhabitants I have in my tank do you think that's something I should consider ASAP or just in the near future?
Thanx

You know, alot of this hobby is a matter of opinion...Alton just provided you with proof of that by stating that many believe Bio Balls are evil, yet he has been using them since '99. I personally could not attest to that, as I have never used a wet dry, trickle filter, or bio balls. I currently run skimmerless on a 29 gallon, and on my 220, I will run skimmerless for a while also (mainly during the cycle) while I get other items I need for the tank. But when the time comes to start stocking up, I will have a skimmer. There are soooo many ways to set up tank properly (and improperly as well). All I can suggest is that you really start going through different forums and do research and figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it; then run with it. What works for me, may not work for you.

When I am ready to stock, I will be running a 40 gallon fuge, with a deep sand bed, some LR, and a skimmer. That is a basic set up I think for a large reef. Others may have less, others will have more. It really is a matter of opinion on what will work.

As far as your question, Hobogato (Ace) makes both sumps and skimmers, and with your stocking list, I would recommend you get a skimmer at some point, however Alton stated you could get by with some low light corals that can help with the fish detritus.....as I said, I am fairly new in the hobby (about a year and a half, so I am still learning, always....learning)

[junkstang]

I agree with ALTON my tank is doing just great with bio-balls, 20% water changes every 2 months. If you want some xenia, gsp, or shrooms I have a few chunks to sell.

[Bill S]

For skimmers, sumps, etc., ask Ace (aka hobogato).

[erikharrison]

I do agree that bioballs are not necessarily the culprit of becoming famed nitrate factories. The only problem is that they are a pain in the wazoo to clean out when they get packed with detritus. To me, I found it much easier to clean a wet/dry with live rock in it than one with bioballs.
Ishmael(sp?) you can get epdm or marine grade at HD or Lowes, goodiebag, aka Brad from Aquarium Design has them in his sump, I personally don't have any baffles, I have live rocked packed in every square inch of water that is my sump.
Another good place to read up on sumps is www.melevsreef.com
I personally would wait on adding any other fish until you get a bigger, better skimmer, especially if you want to add corals. Granted softies are somewhat more tolerant of poorer water quality, but I do not promote poor water quality by any stretch of the means. Especially with a hippo tang in there.
I have a 29 gallon tank as my wannabe sump. I just took the hose from the overflow box and put it in the 29. It just hangs in there. I put a EuroReef skimmer in there, about 60 lbs of sand, and about 50 pounds of rock to occupy the rest of the space. I buried my mag5 return in the rocks to keep microbubbles from the skimmer from getting in it. I also took the inside of some swim trunks and covered all inlets of my pumps to prevent any of my clean up crew getting stuck in either of those pumps.
I have my heater in there as well, but it only turns on at 75 degrees. My water pretty much stays at 76 constant, so the ebo-jager only turns on to prevent a catastrophe.
Keep an eye on your nitrates, and keep doing about 15-20% water changes to air on the side of caution. If you do a search, there is plenty of info about skimmers on this website. If you want an inexpensive skimmer that is worth it's weight in gold, try an Octopus Skimmer. Aquarium Designs sells them. One for your setup will run you roughly 100 dollars, but you'll need a simple sump like mine for it. You can come by and check mine out if you'd like, just let me know!

[erikharrison]

For skimmers, sumps, etc., ask Ace (aka hobogato).

Ace can build ANYTHING that you will need.

[copperband]

ya i did get my screen name from the fish im not sure if im going to get one though

[papijames]

I agree with ALTON my tank is doing just great with bio-balls, 20% water changes every 2 months. If you want some xenia, gsp, or shrooms I have a few chunks to sell.

I would like that. But do I need to upgrade my Skimmer first before getting any Corals?

[Richard]

and Nitrates undetectable which is causing problems right now because my corals are suffering for a lack of, so I am going to find a way to raise my nitrates.

Hey Alton, I have the same problem on one tank. Nitrates are zero, like true zero which is not good. To keep things happy I dose a little "Flourish Nitrogen" made by Seachem every day or two. Just make sure it's "Flourish Nitrogen" and not regular "Flourish", that has phosphate and a bunch of other stuff you wouldn't want.