[seamonkey]

tank levels

In the past couple of weeks I have added 15lbs more of lr and now have a more than sufficent amount of filtration and bacteriea considering I also have a bio wheel running. What I am wondering is what I should do about my biowheel now. I now have 67lbs of lr in my 55 and next week will be picking up a 5lb chunk with all sorts of corals, mushrooms and polyps on it. I also beleave that the wheel is part of my nitrite and nitrate problem. So what do yall think I should do?

 

[thefatman]

yes the wheel is adding to your nitrate problem.

with that much live rock you should be safe to go ahead and pull out the wheel.

it's pretty much the same as pulling bio balls out of a wet dry system

 

[seamonkey]

Yeah I realized what I did after I posted it but didn't get around to changing it. Thanks for pointing out the errors of my way jay

 

[Casey]

yank that wheel and monitor the ammonia

 

[seamonkey]

I realy wanna take it off but i'm scared something bad might happen. This is my first sw tank and the previous owner might get upset if everything were to die. I think I need some one to hold my hand on this one.

 

[Buzz_Hog]

I don't think you'll have any major problems... You may as well yank it now while the tank is still in the adjustment stage with the addition of the LR....


I had an Emperor 280 running in my 20 gallon sump on my 30 gallon reef.... I added some more LR and stiopped the filter... I haven't had any negative effects...

The only "filtration" on the the tank now is the sand bed, LR, and my protein skimmer...

 

[beach bum]

If you are going to pull it anyway, you might as well do it now. I personally don't find a problem with the biowheels, my mom uses an emp 400 in addition to 30lbs LR in her 30g reef. Over a year old now, steady as can be.

I am no scientist (duh) but if x amount of ammonia is produced, then only x amount of nitrAte can follow, it does not appear out of the blue or propogate itself. I believe the difference is that LR has some DEnitrifying properties (bacteria) that aren't present in biowheels, bioballs, canisters, etc... hence the lower nitrAte levels without the mechanical filtration.

Solely LR (with or without DSB) based filtration requires heavy water flow - like 20x tank volume or more per hour for optimal effect. PROTEIN SKIMMERS help out with any slack you might have and are practically a necessity, don't go without one, escpecially if you have a decent fish load.

jmo

 

[thefatman]

i was thinking along those lines and going to mention, you may want to keep the filter running, without the biowheel. simply for water flow. it would basically jsut act as another powerhead, and i would think, would also help with gas exchange since the water would be leaving the tank, and then entering again, etc...

but as for pulling, go ahead. jsut grab that puppy with one hand, and rip away.. what have you got to lose :funny: seriously though, i dont think you'll have any problems at all.

 

[Buzz_Hog]

just make sure the spraybar is pointing to the water.....

 

[beach bum]

you might want to keep it running anyway, for use in a quarantine tank if you choose. A single bio-wheel running on your tank will not have any huge impact on your nitrAtes, they are not THAT efficient! It is far more imporatnt (IMHO of course) that you keep the filter pads meticulously clean or yank them altogether.

 

[seamonkey]

My biowheel is run off a carbon, nitrate canister filter. I have 7 fish all together and have been fishing to get rid of 4 damsels so I figure I will wait till I catch the damsels and then yank the wheel. As for water flow I have no problems there. My 55 is cycleing 1300 gallons an hour between the power heads, cansiter and sponge filter. I plan to keep the canister for the carbon and denitrate filter that it does now but I realy am now with everyones response thinking the bio wheel must go.

 

[Buzz_Hog]

not a must, but it's not really a "need to have" for ya....

The only thing you will prob notice in removing it is that there are less microbubbles...