Starting over with my tank!

You cannot tell by the photo but the rockwork on the right is actually an island. Also, all my critters love their new home. The poor hermits, tank so big i'll have to get them motorized carts to get around. ;-)

Bioballs were all the rage when I first got into the hobby. If it were me I'd yank them out and replace them with as much live rock as you can fit. If I remember correctly the idea behind bioballs is to provide a place for nitrifying bacteria to grow, but in my experience they turn into big nitrate sinks that will give you way too many headaches then they are worth. Live rock on the other hand is a super efficient method of filtration and you won't have anywhere near the problems. Here at work we have a 500 gallon FOWLR that has maybe 150 lbs of live rock in the DT and another 200-250 lbs in a trickle filter under it. This tank has been running like this for close to 10 years. Just for kicks I tested for nitrate the other day and it was below 10 ppm! I wish I could get those numbers in my SPS tank at home lol.

Looks great! I've been watching Craigs list for a 75 set up at a good price myself.

I'd replace the bio balls with an algae scrubber. Mines been running for 2-1/2 weeks now and I'm already seeing improvements in the display.

What kind of VHO's are running in this pic? I like the colours. Are you adding only 2 T5's? If it were me, I would alternate the VHOs and T5's so that you get even coverage if you run actinics only on 1 set at the ends of the lighting cycle.

@ Yiyi, yeah i've read that many times and feel thatt my nitrates would go down. Since i've started this tank my Nitrates have been 10ppm. I couldn't get my 29 gallon to go down to that for nothing.

@ Phil, hey man you must really be enjoying that there daylight up in Alaska! Missed talking to ya. Thanks for the compliment on the tank. lol..I need some more liverock bad but i'm not to worried because as I add zoos and other corals it will fill out. I am thinking about how I can put a scrubber in the bioballs place. Can I use my T-5's I bought for the other tank on the scrubber?

@ Upster, thanks for the compliments on the lighting! I believe they are 110 watts each, not sure though. I have one white and one actinic. I will put the T-5 HO retrofits on the rear of the canopy. They will be 54watts each, one actinic and one white so it will be evenly lit up. I wanted the T-5's in the rear of the canopy because my SPS Acro's will be in rear and high. All my montis grow good with almost any light..heh

The web forum you sent me the link for shows how to convert a trickle down, or bio-ball sump to an algae scrubber. You're t5's should work great, but I think you'd need a larger screen since you'd only have light on one side. Don't really know, I'm still experimenting with my first one after all.

Yeah, I need to go to that forum again to get some info. ;-)

Hey, can't I take the bioballs out and put some cheeto macro algae in there with my light on top and that would decrease nitrates? Wouldn't that work? That area drains on the bottom so I don't think I can make a sand bed in there. ButnI can put some live rock and macro algae in there....hmmm. I believe ghats the way to go.

Sure, that would make a little refugium type area. Can you post a picture of the bio-ball chamber so we can see what you have to work with?

Hey Phil, pic is at top.

OK, that's what I thought. Here's how to convert that area to an Algae scrubber http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/...c.php?f=9&t=36

Just scroll down to see the trickle sump designs.

I'll check it out, thank ya Phil!

More Updates:

In the past week i've been trying to get my retro T-5 lights to put in my canopy, it seems my card has problems running, talked to bank, everything looks good but won't work "sometimes" for online purchases. ;-/. So, I'm going to Petco tonight and buying a light strip from them. ;-). I have an idea on how to hand it in my canopy, but what are some of y'all ideas?

Yesterday afternoon while explaining to my wife the upcoming plans I have for my tank I went to the tank and looked in it, note that I'm blind, are severly "can't see", my tank looked like it had a sand storm happening. Lol! So bad even I could see it! Well, the power head that came with the tank fell down on the sand bed. :-/ I quickly preped my hands and arms to put them safely in the tank and re-secured the powerhead. When the tank finally cleared up it looked like it snowed on everything. I used the powerhead to blow everything off.

Yesterday night I noticed that my blue acro that I had mounted on a rock on top was not on the rock. ;-/. Now, the problem here was the only place it could fall was behind "everything". Again, :-/ This morning I moved the mountain of rocks and found my acro. Needless to say I now positioned my mountain where nothing can fall behind it again. ;-)

one thing good about everything was I finally found two missing frags that wasn't on plugs. Both encrusting montis. :-)

Just a thought. You might want to look into a vortech. If the wet side falls off the pump stops spinning and you won't have the sandstorm problem again.

I'll have to check vortech out, thank ya Mccoy!