Ok, is this a weird idea?

[ncjetskier]

My son found a perfectly good 75 gal aquarium with acrylic sump at the dump and brought it home. Leak tested both, and are good. The aquarium has a corner overflow with a stand pipe and drilled at the bottom overflow.

I am a big believer in bio balls (I understand this may be outdated technology). Due to limited space in the sump, I was thinking about putting the bio balls in the overflow and making a "drip" lid for the top. This way, the water will filter through the bio balls before reaching the sump and will free up space in the sump.

Does anybody have feedback whether this is a smart thing to do? Thanks for any help.

[marinemanohio]

You will probably not get much positive feedback from this question. Anything involving bio balls is immediately going to come back with something along the lines of "nutrient trap", with good cause.

However, if you are totally set on the idea of using bio balls, I would build a bio ball tower for the sump long before I would use the corner overflow. It's a known fact that bio balls get funky and cause nutrient issues if they aren't cleaned regularly. If nothing else, a bio ball tower would allow for easier cleaning. Rooting all of those things out of a corner overflow would suck which probably means it won't happen, whcih also means you will be farming nutrients much more than beneficial bacteria, or anything else for that matter.

Personally, I'd make the nicest fuge out of what sump space I have available. :-)

[shesacharmer]

I found a 25 gallon Octagon tank at the dump the exact day I needed it for a QT. Put these things out into the universe people and it will respond!

[RocketEngineer]

Why use bio-balls at all? With enough LR and proper husbandry of the system they aren't needed in a SW setup. There are better was of accomplishing the same thing. My RDSB in a bucket totally eliminated my nitrates which is something bio-balls never could do.

Finding the tank in the dump is awesome.

Good Luck,

[Bryopsis]

Over the years I've seen arguments for and against bio balls. I specifically am not a fan of the plastic ones. Seachem makes a bio-ball-like rock called Matrix. There's also a few others that are similar that offer exponentially more surface area than the plastic 'classics'.

In my own experiences, anything can be a nutrient factory. Skimmers, socks, overflow, live rock, reactors... Anything can accumulate detritus or organics and become a more energized bank of nutrients that will affect the tank. Thus it's not the media that is the problem, but application of.(lazy reefers; I think we all know what it is to forget to do something or have an unforeseen situation come up and interrupt our lives and the lives in the tank)

Now, as to your proposal, I would find that as a decent idea, but you want to rinse the media at least once a week with the water you removed from the tank during a water change. To do this, you might want to make a small platform with eggcrate that fits in the overflow, and then attach a acrylic rod to the platform, and then create with perhaps window screen or pantyhose, a net to put the platform and rod into. Then you could fill it with the biomedia, lower it down in and pull it back out of the overflow EASILY.
You'll be able to rinse even while siphoning with the hose pretty fast.

[ncjetskier]

Thanks for the help. I tried a natural refugium (sorry my spelling sucks), and it turned into a nightmare. Water quality was poor, algae everywhere - just not good. I had (and still do) use RODI water and putting the bio balls back in and removing the deep bed of sand in the sump corrected everything.

I currently have a 75 up and running with bio balls in the sump, a good size skimmer, a ATO and the return pump. Aquarium is doing well with saebae anemone, tang, flame angel and soft corrals. The tank has about 25 lbs of live rock, as I like a more open aquarium. I have Chinese LEDs (2 165 watt full spectrum lights).

The sump that I found at the dump is from US Aquarium and looks dated. It has the intake located in the middle of the sump that overflows to a small bio ball area and both sides on either side of the middle are open. The problem is the middle portion screws up the area available. So, I am thinking of taking a drummel and cutting it out. Still, it is only 20 inches long and about a foot wide. I have a 6 inch Reef Octopus skimmer (which will take about one foot of the sump), and just about enough room for the return pump.

I am definitely behind the times as I have had a salt water aquarium for over twenty years. But, working three jobs, kind of limits my time to keep up with technology.

[DSMpunk]

Bioballs do a fantastic job at converting Ammonia to Nitrate. Unfortunately that's where they stop.

Bio balls fail to provide anaerobic zones that are required for the bacteria that consumes Nitrates. DSBs and live rock provide these zones which is why we (mostly) dont use bio balls in saltwater these days.

[DSMpunk]

You can always ditch the sump and go buy a cheap 20g long for a sump (or whatever fits)