What to pack the bio ball chamber with?
- Thread starter whusband
- Start date
Just added an Amiracle wet/dry to my 29 gal. mini-reef. The tank was actually doing fine w/out a drip but I had the itch. I have one soft and three hard corals that are doing excellent as well as 2 clowns and a royal gramma. I don't want to put bio balls in the drip. I have added a few pounds of live rock to the bio ball area, only about two inches worth. What do you all recommend for a reef? I don't plan on adding anymore fish, only a few nore corals.
Slacker,
All sorts of good things you could do with it,now that it's more a sump than a "filter." You could add even more liverock, esp. if you're trying to dampen the noise! Or, depending on the size and arrangement of the former wet/dry, you might consider an additional sandbed. Additionally, you could also place macroalgae in it under lights for additional nutrient removal as you harvest the algae. Just some thoughts.
regards,
-rw
All sorts of good things you could do with it,now that it's more a sump than a "filter." You could add even more liverock, esp. if you're trying to dampen the noise! Or, depending on the size and arrangement of the former wet/dry, you might consider an additional sandbed. Additionally, you could also place macroalgae in it under lights for additional nutrient removal as you harvest the algae. Just some thoughts.
regards,
-rw
Slacker,
If you haven't done so yet, you can put your heater in the wetdry. For many, many years following my LFS's advice I kept my heater in the main tank. After reading this board, a number of folks suggested putting the heater in the sump, wet/dry, BakPak skimmer, etc. Maybe you could do the same.
HTH
If you haven't done so yet, you can put your heater in the wetdry. For many, many years following my LFS's advice I kept my heater in the main tank. After reading this board, a number of folks suggested putting the heater in the sump, wet/dry, BakPak skimmer, etc. Maybe you could do the same.
HTH
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by huz:
now if i can just figure out how to set up an auto-topoff system with limited space to work with and no option to put in plumbing...<hr></blockquote>
A simple one I have used that takes up limited space uses a 5 gallon container, I used one from the LFS but a 5 gallon plastic gas can may be used all the same, an air pump, and a float switch from aquadevices. Set the float switch where you want the maximum water level to be. Plum some rigid airline tubing just below the top of the contianer (this would be the intake) and more more rigid airline tubing from the topp to the bottom of the container and run normal airline tubing in between and hook an air pump up to the outlet on the float switch.
With my setup, when the water level drops too low the air pump pumps airr into the RO/DI resivior (container)through the outlet created. The pressure created forces water out of the outlet and then tops off the system until the water level for the float switch is reached at which time it cuts off power to the air pump. I even put a Neilsen reactor inline with this system so I wouldn't have to worry about dripping Kalk anymore. The whole thing, icludiing plumbing parts, the float switch and the pump to mix the kalk in the reactor cost me less than $100.
Here is simple diagram of the system.
Top Off System
[ April 27, 2002: Message edited by: SKBok ]</p>
now if i can just figure out how to set up an auto-topoff system with limited space to work with and no option to put in plumbing...<hr></blockquote>
A simple one I have used that takes up limited space uses a 5 gallon container, I used one from the LFS but a 5 gallon plastic gas can may be used all the same, an air pump, and a float switch from aquadevices. Set the float switch where you want the maximum water level to be. Plum some rigid airline tubing just below the top of the contianer (this would be the intake) and more more rigid airline tubing from the topp to the bottom of the container and run normal airline tubing in between and hook an air pump up to the outlet on the float switch.
With my setup, when the water level drops too low the air pump pumps airr into the RO/DI resivior (container)through the outlet created. The pressure created forces water out of the outlet and then tops off the system until the water level for the float switch is reached at which time it cuts off power to the air pump. I even put a Neilsen reactor inline with this system so I wouldn't have to worry about dripping Kalk anymore. The whole thing, icludiing plumbing parts, the float switch and the pump to mix the kalk in the reactor cost me less than $100.
Here is simple diagram of the system.
Top Off System
[ April 27, 2002: Message edited by: SKBok ]</p>
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