my 6 month progress

[Ryan seymore]

Hi everyone! so ive been working hard and being very patient with my 55g Reef and its going very well.
Ive finished my DIY 10g sump with a 3 gallon refugium and im ready to add macro algae but my questions
are.. what is best for this setup? and how should i go about adding copepods and other little critters like
these to the refugium? here are some pics and also the bioballs will be removed i was not aware in the
when i got them that they were for wet/dry filters. also my protein skimmer is in the mail and 2 1300gph
wave makers and i got a timer for my lighting and lcd probe thermomiter.

anyways check it out!

[Reefing Madness]

Tank looks GREAT! Sump looks.....YIKES...Are those Bio-Balls??? I smell trouble. Hope you don't have issues with Trates in a few months.
As for the pods, just throw em in the sump.

[Ryan seymore]

The bio balls wont be there much longer i had posted up above that they will be removed i was not aware of them being for wet/dry filters so i added live sand and live rock and threw them in the return till i figure out what to do. does the sump look that bad?

[Original Fin]

You're all good with the sump when you remove the bioballs.

How long have they been in there? If longer than a few weeks, you should take them out only a little at a time so as not to crash the biofilter.

Looking good!


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[Ryan seymore]

Thanks fin! they have been in there for about 3 months roughly but i just added 10 pounds of live rock into the refugium area yesterday so i think it would be safe to remove them asap being that i replaced the beneficial bacteria that would be coming out of the system by adding the live rock if im correct..?

[Original Fin]

Hmmm... Not necessarily. The new LR needs time to assimilate the dominant strain of beneficial bacteria in your tank. Although it's coming with BB of it's own, you don't know how much in relation to your bioballs. Neither can you count on the new LR bacteria not crashing itself in a new environment.

I would definately remove a small handful of the bioballs once a week till gone....to be on the safe side.


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[Ryan seymore]

Great advice fin i didnt think of that. i appreciate the help and ill take a hand full out once a week hopefuly this will work.
thanks!