jonbear

OK after three months of fighting 80+ Nitrates I am making some changes. This tank (125) was a former fish only saltwater tank and am suffering from the poor maintenance of previous owner. Although i scrubbed the live rock and cleaned half the sand, I kept the bio balls as they were thinking i needed the bacteria for seasoning the tank. Since i am still struggling with Nitrates and have done 5 -25+ gallon water changes 5 weeks in a row time for next action. Upon advice from several sources I am taking the bio balls out and adding a reactor with Bio-pellets. After reading the article on the front page this seems like a good idea even without troubles.

Finally my question is should i replace the bio ball section of my sump (now have more room) with a refug. wanting a long term solution using as much of mother nature as possible this seems like the right path. I am going to run the bio pellets as soon as it comes in the mail. Looking to the veterans to provide guidance.