Wet Dry Medium

[RothChyld]

I am using live rock instead of bio balls in my wet dry. The tank has been running for 6 years now and I really have not done anything to that liverock in there (bunch of smaller pieces). Should this eventually be swapped out?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AW2EOD]

Definately not, IMO.

The purpose of having the live rock is for the the microbacteria to be breaking down waste flowing into the wet-dry.

When I have ran tanks, with sumps, live rock has always been my media of choice. I tried the whole bio-ball thing, when I first got into the hobby and ALWAYS had a problem with high nitrates.

Even since I switched to live rock, I have almost non-exsistant nitrates and all I keep are large, predatory fish, with big bioloads.

Hope that helps.

 

[RothChyld]

Have you ever had a tank more than 6 years with the same rock in the filter? Im wondering if it needs to be exchanged in small amounts with newer rock as potentially waste is trapped in some of the crevices....

 

[Lorna]

I would think that you wouldn't need to replace the live rock, though if there is a lot of gunk or detritus caught in the rock you should be able to take it out and swish it around in tank water that you remove when you do your water change.....and then replace the same rock, this would preserve the bacteria on the rock and only remove loose debris.

 

[FloridaBoy]

Definately not, IMO.

The purpose of having the live rock is for the the microbacteria to be breaking down waste flowing into the wet-dry.

When I have ran tanks, with sumps, live rock has always been my media of choice. I tried the whole bio-ball thing, when I first got into the hobby and ALWAYS had a problem with high nitrates.

Even since I switched to live rock, I have almost non-exsistant nitrates and all I keep are large, predatory fish, with big bioloads.
Hope that helps.

Interesting... so you are keeping large predators with no nitrate issues... please clarify, are you using live rock as trickle media inside the media tower, seems like that would be pretty heavy is it suspended above the water or just stacked inside a sump like a refugium... any pics?
Can you elaborate on your system more, what size tank, how much live rock are you using and any other filters, skimmers, biomass, etc.

 

[RothChyld]

My wet dry has a white, plastic grate that is able to hold up the liverock. To be honest I am not sure how many lbs. are in there but it holds it all. I think my overall size is probably 1 cubic foot of live rock. I have a bunch of small pieces in there to fill it up versus a few large pieces. I am at work but I can send a pic if needed later on.

Mike

 

[reichebrown]

i am currently make a wet dry filter for my fw tank. IS there an alternative to bio balls like live rock in fw. Also i am making an FBF for it as well anythoughts on those?

 

[dorkfish]

i am currently make a wet dry filter for my fw tank. IS there an alternative to bio balls like live rock in fw.

Lava rock or any other porous rock(keep in mind this will suck up meds and release it later on; use a quarantine).

 

[AW2EOD]

Interesting... so you are keeping large predators with no nitrate issues... please clarify, are you using live rock as trickle media inside the media tower, seems like that would be pretty heavy is it suspended above the water or just stacked inside a sump like a refugium... any pics?
Can you elaborate on your system more, what size tank, how much live rock are you using and any other filters, skimmers, biomass, etc.

Sorry...just got back to the board and didnt even remember this post.

I didnt say "no nitrate issues", I said "almost non-exsistant nitrates".

I've always used live rock in the first chamber of the sump (drain chamber, from display tank). I've also kept the refugium area stocked full of live rock and at time, just had the sump completely packed full of live rock.

I just recently moved over 500 miles away from where I was living and not all of my tanks are back up and going and most of fish went to new homes. At one time, I was running a 300gal, 210gal, 200gal, 90gal, and a few various smaller tanks (40gal. or less). Fish have included Hawaiian Dragon Morays, Whitemouth Moray, 15" Volitan Lion, Blue Throat, Clown, Queen, and Black Durgeon Triggers, Harlequin Tusk, and various large Wrasse species.

I've always ran skimmers, after I saw how much of a great impact they make on tanks...everything from an MRC MR-2 to a Coralife SuperSkimmer, while still keeping up on weekly/bi-weekly 20% water changes.

 

[FloridaBoy]

Sorry...just got back to the board and didnt even remember this post.

I didnt say "no nitrate issues", I said "almost non-exsistant nitrates".

I've always used live rock in the first chamber of the sump (drain chamber, from display tank). I've also kept the refugium area stocked full of live rock and at time, just had the sump completely packed full of live rock.

I just recently moved over 500 miles away from where I was living and not all of my tanks are back up and going and most of fish went to new homes. At one time, I was running a 300gal, 210gal, 200gal, 90gal, and a few various smaller tanks (40gal. or less). Fish have included Hawaiian Dragon Morays, Whitemouth Moray, 15" Volitan Lion, Blue Throat, Clown, Queen, and Black Durgeon Triggers, Harlequin Tusk, and various large Wrasse species.

I've always ran skimmers, after I saw how much of a great impact they make on tanks...everything from an MRC MR-2 to a Coralife SuperSkimmer, while still keeping up on weekly/bi-weekly 20% water changes.

Gotcha... a few more questions; I'm curious because on the forums I am always trying to help folks with nitrates and they can be a real pain in predator tanks as you know, esp. in older systems...
1. what type of substrate were you using, how much substrate in the display,
2. were you using a DSB or algae filter and
3. how long were those tanks set up before you moved?