Anemone Help

HA ! lol go ball less :) :)

yote said:

The way I clean the bio-balls in my system,is put them in a 5 gallon bucket and take the water hose to em.That way I know theres nothing left on em.
But yeah,live rock can replace the bio-balls as long as they can stay completely submerged.

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yote you just helped me resolve a two week dilema... I've done 6 water changes the past two weeks and I could not get my nitrates below 30-40ppm, I didn't even think of my bio-balls.

I just did a hard rinse of my balls in some RODI water, did another water changes and replaced the filter and now nitrates are down to 15ppm - finally.

I didn't realize my balls could get so dirty, especially considering their past the filter - I'd assume the media would catch all that...

I don't think I can use live-rock rubble in a biocube because the chamber doesn't really fill with all that much water - I'd be worries of killing the live rock by not always having it submerged completely.

I guess I'll just need to resign to keeping my balls clean and on a consistent schedule.

the entire back area should always be full of water. Can you see the picture that is attached, does your look like this?

winyfrog said:

the entire back area should always be full of water. Can you see the picture that is attached, does your look like this?

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Not quite - mine is reversed (Oceanic BioCube) and the protein skimmer isn't part of the backplate assembly.

I have the primary pump (rio 6) in the far left (if you're looking at the tank from the front) of the three chambers which of course pumps the water out, the filter in-take area is on the far right with the filter being placed perpendicular to the back wall.

The water level in the back is always half or less than half what the water level is 'out front' - the pressure from the display case causing the water to push through the filter and fill the gas-exchange/bio-ball area and then respectively into the sump area. When I shut the power down, of course, everything evens out, but while everything is running there is insufficient water level to house liverock without having a lot of exposed surface.

gotcha, looks like you get to keep your balls clean :)

dcantucson said:

So yote you're saying all us guys with balls need to get rid of them.

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Thats entirely up to you David.
But I'm keepin my balls:mrgreen:

Jason. I see that you have cleaner shrimp. Have you noticed them hanging around the Anemones?
If so you will need to feed them first to keep them busy while your Anemones eat.
They can and will pick food right out of the mouths of Anemones.
Also as was stated, get rid of the bioballs, they are really not a good idea for reef tanks and are a thing of the past.
Also, what is the flow that you have, I don't see any powerheads in your tank.
Anemones need lots of water motion to survive, still water is a killer for all Anemones.
Karen

OmegaOmega said:

I didn't realize my balls could get so dirty, especially considering their past the filter - I'd assume the media would catch all that...

I don't think I can use live-rock rubble in a biocube because the chamber doesn't really fill with all that much water - I'd be worries of killing the live rock by not always having it submerged completely.

I guess I'll just need to resign to keeping my balls clean and on a consistent schedule.

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HAhahahahaha :toothy12:

okay, there. SO, I have a biocube and the first thing I did when I took it out of the box was throw those stupid bio-balls away. Then, I reached into the middle chamber in the back and took out the little black plastic tray-- just pops right out. Then, I filled the chamber (which is actually quite spacious) with live rock rubble. Had basically no nitrate problems since. Well, I also threw some chaeto in that back area, and a grow light, so that's probably part of it too. :) Also, I personally always fill my cube so the back chambers are fuller than the recommended fill lines... 'cause otherwise, evaporation causes the pumps to pull air before I get home from work. but that's just me.

Okay so the lesson learned here is that if you have balls, keep then clean. Clean them at least once a week, but preferably more. Clean balls equal healthy balls. :shock:

Oh and Tanked it's good you threw your balls away. It's just not appropriate for a women to have those. :mrgreen:

It looks to me like the tank is way dark. Even though it looks like you have a lot of bulbs but maybe not the correct wattage???
Do you have clowns in this tank? Maroons will bite the end of the tentacles and destroy them.
So let us know on the livestock that you have.
Also the skimmer looks to clean to be working. So it needs to be turned on if it is off.
If your bulbs are not 4 watts per gallon you are way under watts for your tank.
And if they are over a year old, they need to be changed out.
I also see that you have a large number of cleaner shrimp, These little beasties are really bad for stealing food from anemones.
They will even dig into the mouth to drag the food out. So unless they are fed first they will be stealing the anemones food, leaving it to starve. So always feed them first, I feed mine a silverside head to keep it busy while the anemones eat.

OK I would like to play the devils advocate on the bio ball scene. Yes, in your case it looks like you have a ton of rock in the display tank so you probably do not need them. However Bio balls are not a thing of the past. they definitely serve a very good purpose for some tanks. Any tank that you can not put enough liverock in will benefit from the bio media. Example tanks would be a tank with a bamboo shark or a blue spotted ray. Large open areas are required usually keeping your rock to a minimum. This does not mean you must get rid of them, but id definitely does mean you need to periodically take them out and clean them and you should be just fine. Im really glad you got your nitrates down. they were getting really high. I would be extremely worried if nitrates were over 10, though some people (biff) have taken nitrate experiments to the extreme :mrgreen:

Alexander said:

I would be extremely worried if nitrates were over 10, though some people (biff) have taken nitrate experiments to the extreme :mrgreen:

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Haha! I can't be the only person in this hobby that has had a successful reef tank with nitrates at 150+? (or maybe I can...)