By By Bio Balls

[gordonzoo]

Finally got my 65w Fluorex off e-bay. Removed the Bio balls, upped the water level a bit and replaced sump with a couple of Live rocks from the main tank (for now) along with a hand full of Cheato. I'm a little worried about removing the entire 4 gallons of balls but I'm also running a EHIM canister with a skimmer and 140lbs of LR in the main 90g tank. That should be plenty for the bio load (I hope). The bio balls were only trapping nitrates anyway. With Over a year of use, I've never cleaned the Bioballs. They looked OK visually. I decided to go ahead and boil them before storing. Looked like vegetable soup after it was done. My son came down saying he was hungry looking in the pot
What smaller media is best for the underneath sump? I understand there is a mud that some people use. Is there an advantage over southdown or a crushed coral or LR? any opinions?
Rich

 

[denvig]

Don't worry with 140 lbs of rock you'll be fine. P.S. dump the EHIM to, unless you are only running charcoal in it.

 

[Moe_K]

I agree w/ Dennis.
Sounds like you don't need any filtration in the sump.

 

[gordonzoo]

I pack the canister with a cup or two of charcoal every other week. It also has two tiers of rock and screens I have wash every time I replace. It keeps the water crisp.

 

[denvig]

If you have a fuge section in your sump then go ahead and use the sand or mud along with some rubble rock for pods. But don't put sand, mud or gravel in the other sections of your sump. And I wouldn't use crushed coral it will just trap crap and do what your bio balls were doing. I use 2" of Fiji mud in my fuge and my nitrates have been zero from the begining. http://www.reefermadness.us/RM-FijiGold.htm

 

[Swim74]

I hope you did not feed the little one any of the "soup"!