Bio-balls VS Refugium??

Ah good deal, bc i actually just picked up a SPS frag yesterday b/c my LFS had them buy one get one, so i couldnt pass them up, and im emptying my collection cup once every 2 days at about half full, so its working great now, but before id maybe empty it 1 a week at a quarter full, and it was usually a light brown where now its a thick black/brown color

 

yep the black brown is wonderful too see..it usually smells great too..lol

 

ive got a plan for something like that, the sump i have has an adjustable door that regulates the water level in the 3 chambers, so if i take my skimmer and put it in the very first chamber and then raise the door a little so it comes out slower it would skim before it hit chamber 2, which would be my fuge, and then it would then pour into chamber 3 and get pumped back up already skimmed, and cleaned from the cheato! i will take some pictures when i get this all set up with in the next week or so im going to take it slow and let everything get calmed down a little bit

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/bio-balls-good-bad-35050.html

i would read this thread before doing anything.

 

yea the smell lingers pretty well in my living room from being on the back of my tank lol, when it was closed i had some baking soda in there to absorb the smell, actually worked VERY well, until my son decided it was time to play with the door and knocked it into my tank, lol didnt hurt anything just brought my PH up a little bit lol

 

well it had some good info, the only thing is my ammonia and my nitrites are almost zero, so im not sure where im getting my nitrates from but there most def there and i would like to get rid of them. and ive been hearing from local reefers that its just a nitrate factory thats why i want to go to a fuge

 

i would say that the bio balls are not your main cause on this as if they are maintained correctly they serve there purpose greatly.

i would say that if the rise was not gradual then there is another cause behind the bio balls and removing them will not stop the issue.

this is just my two cents.

 

Because bio balls do not reduce nitrates, they reduce ammonia and nitrites to nitrates. They are doing exactly what they are intended to do and do a fine job. Problem is end result id nitrates and they do not reduce them like live rock does. You have a incomplete bio filter. Read this.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-articles-how-tos/all-about-sumps-filters-fuges-79852.html

 

You need to use "Oolitic" sand if you wand to do a deep sand bed and most wet/drys are not designed to do this. It is very fine and you will have too much flow. You do not want live rock in your sump... it will do the same thing your bio balls are doing right now... collecting waste and producing nitrates in a high oxygenated area. Most W/D are not suitable to be turned into a fuge. Macro algae can grow anywhere with light so if you wanted to grow a ball that would not be very difficult.

As was said... not not just rip your bio balls out... you will most likely kill your fish with an ammonia spike.... take them out slowly over time to give the live rock in the tank time to adjust and build a bacteria colony.

 

what would you suggest to complete my bio filter? i can clean my bioballs again but ive done this and it hasnt brought anything down, how would i be able to reduce my nitrates, if i add more calurpa would that bring my nitrates down then?? i also have about 80 lbs of live rock in the tank itself, i know that it couldnt be something to do with that but other then the bioballs what would cause my nitrates to maintain so high?