Putting a heater in a submerged bioball chamber

[Tarek]

Does anyone have any opinions or experiences with having a heater in a sump chamber filled with bioballs (this chamber is always submerged in water)?

I have an Ecosystem sump, and the first partition of the sump that contains the bioballs seems to be the only place in the sump that I can put the heater. My only alternatives are to put it in the refugium/caulerpa-growing chamber (where it'd probably get covered in algae VERY fast, due to 24/7 lighting), or keep it in the display tank. I personally can't see any harm in putting a heater in a bioball chamber, since it'd be submerged in water, and there'd be plenty of surface area for the heat to dissipate to the water.

What do you think?

Thanks!
-Tarek

[icemark]

bad thing...

I can say from personal experiance that generally it works fine as long as the water is flowing.

But if the heater kicks in at any point while you are servicing something and flow has been slowed or stopped, the heater will melt the bio-balls and make a stinky mess.

[organicreefer]

my question is:why are the bio balls submerged,and if they are,why not just ditch them?

[Tarek]

icemark,
Thanks for the input.

organicreefer,
I guess that's just the recommended way to setup an Ecosystem sump/refugium. The 1st chamber is supposed to contain bio balls that are completely submerged, and the 3rd chamber is supposed to contain bio balls that are to some degree submerged, based upon how topped off the tank is. Here's a pic of how it's supposed to be setup:



I've modified this a tad in my setup, with some filter material at the top of the 1st and 3rd chambers, to minimize detritus getting trapped in the bio balls and at the bottom of the 1st & 3rd chambers, as well as to make for easy cleaning.

I've been thinking about weaning the system of the 1st chamber's bio balls, in the near future. I have a 4" DSB and some LR, as other methods of filtration. However, I'm not sure how effectively my DSB is working, since I've yet to see any noticeable detritivore activity in the the main tank itself. I seeded it and the refugium area with a detritivore kit from Inland Aquatics about 6-8 weeks ago. For all I know, all the bristleworms, etc have all been munched on, or are just keeping a very low profile. Also, I presently don't have all that much LR in the tank. I just recently bought an additional 40 lbs. of "premium" cured Figi LR from Premium Aquatics, but that's being cured in another tank right now.

Do you think I should just get rid of the 1st chamber's bio balls, once I've added the additional LR, even with the "prefilter" at the top of the chamber? Do you have any other suggestions for my setup?

Thanks,
Tarek

[Tarek]

Here's a pic of the main tank itself (minus the Remora skimmer, which I'm using in my curing tank for now)

[organicreefer]

just the sand you already have has WAY more surface area than the bioballs.plus it looks like you have a low bio load on the tank. imo the bioballs are useless.doesnt spasse have a sump like that ?does he keep the first chamber fll of bioballs?
definitely more liverock would help with bio-diversity.also an order from ipsf(the BEST place to get youre detrivores imo)couldnt hurt either;) .nice setup so far

[Tarek]

Great, thanks for the recommendations

Spasse does in fact have a similar sump setup, following the same basic design. I believe that he built his own, whereas I bought a ready-made one. From the pics on his website, it appears that he is using bio balls in the first chamber. I'll have to e-mail him to pick his brain a bit about that..

Other methods of filtration aside, what are generally the drawbacks of using bio balls? I thought I read somewhere that they can become nitrate factories. I assume that this is due to detritus getting trapped in the balls, and is the reason why I used prefilter material in that chamber to keep them relatively detritus-free.

I'll probably do as you suggest, once I've finished adding my LR. That way I'll be able to keep my heater down there, as well small additions, such as activated carbon, etc.

I think one of my next projects will be to modify the Remora skimmer so that I can use it in that last chamber of the sump..

Thanks!
-Tarek

[icemark]

My understanding of the eco system with bio balls submerged in the last chamber was to act simular to a mechanical filter, keeping the caulerpa from leaking into the main tank. The balls form an area of darkness and mechanical fitration, without affecting the amounts of pods and the like being transported to the main tank.

If you want to mount the heaters into the eco system sump why not just place them into the middle section?

[mastaJ]

YA, and the bioballs in the first chamber are for "releasing" of bubbles, so they aren't in the middle part. I would just put it in the middle section.