New-bee Filter Q's

[Big_blue]

Good day Ladies and Gents.

I have a 4ft tanks with a Small sump, In the sump I have bio balls and ceramic rings and Crushed coral, I heard that this not a good idea,, Is this True..
If this is true can I put some of the Bio balls and Ceramic rings in my Over flow..
My sump is not big at all, in the first Compartment I have an Aqua-medic Skimmer, The skimmer just fits in that compartment and that is the biggest compartment.. In the second compartment I have all the Bio balls things the water then goes through that and from the bottom it goes to the next compartment which I have active Carbon. which then flows to the Return pimp..

I have a phosphate Reactor as well, with Kent phosphate sponge and ceramic rings.

I have a UV filter as well but not contacted

In my display Tank I have lots of Natural Sea sand as well as crushed shell very Fine which is about 10 cm high. I have about 10 kg of live rock as well..

The Sump cannot be changed for a bigger sump,,If I need a bigger sump I would need to change the stand and whole bottom of the Tank.etc the cost would be to much

Can this be a Successful reef and please advise if I need to change anything

[James404]

you will have to clean the bioballs and ceramic rings very frequently or else they will start to accumulate nitrates. For a reef tank most people will advise against using them.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Agreed. You have no need for the bioballs and ceramic rings. They tend to trap a lot of detritus over time and can lead to elevated nitrates and phosphates. Same goes with the crushed coral.

How long has the tank been up and running?

[phenom5]

I would slowly remove the bio ball & rings over the course of a couple of weeks, then look at converting that section into a refugium with macro algae. All you would need would be the macro algae (Chaetomorpha would be best IME) and a light. You can add sand & live rock as well, but that's optional.

I would also remove the sponge & rings from the reactor and replace that with some granulated ferrric oxide (phosban or BRS GFO are two good choices).

[Big_blue]

My Tank is running for about a month now,

1.. In regards to the Reactor, Should I remove both Phosphate sponge and the ceramic rings..

2.. In regards to My sump, If i remove the bio balls can I add them to the overflow of the tank to suppress the noise?

Thanks for the advise as well

[phenom5]

1. Yes.

2. I wouldn't. There are plenty of ways to quite down the overflow. How is the overflow set up now?

[Big_blue]

1. Yes.

2. I wouldn't. There are plenty of ways to quite down the overflow. How is the overflow set up now?

At the moment the overflow is full of Filter rock,, I will post a pic Tomorrow morning of the filter and Sump