ok, thats what i was afraid of, that of course is the harder question to answer...
so heres the deal.
bio balls, create an moist highly oxygenated area, over time aerobic bacteria colonize in this area. these types of bacteria breakdown
nitrite and the byproduct of this is
nitrate.
now that said, were is the problem, this should be a good thing right?
well it is, but as long as your system can handle the
nitrates. the thing about
wet/dry filters are that they have a huge aerobic enviroment. this causes it be able to process large amounts of
nitrites. this is great for a fish only becuase
nitrites are extremely poisonous to fish. and fish can handle a relativley large amount of
nitrates.
the problem comes in when are dealing with a reef tanks, as invertebrates can not handle
nitrates.
so in a reef tank with a
wet/dry, canister, or bio-wheel type filter, you have excess
nitrates. so all that said, here is the isssue.
your tank has to be able to proccess those excess
nitrates.
nitrates are a bi harder to proccess, they are proccessed by a bacteria that lives in a anaerobic enviroment (low oxygen). this is whats found "inside" your
LR and
DSB. so if you haev alot of
LR, a good mature
DSB and lots of curent in your tank, you "might" be able to handle these excess
nitrates. however usually you you cant. so what happens...
what usually happens is may have excess algae, or cynobacteria growing in your tank. you may see areas on the rocks, or powerheads where there is hair algae growing, or you may find that you have to clean off your glass more than a couple times a week. basically what im getting at is that you may have nuisance stuff growing that will consume these excess
nitrates. adn becuase of this your test kits may still read low or no
nitrates, but this doesnt mean you dont have a problem.
so basically, if you have no algae issues, no cyno issues, very healthy corals, experience no loss of livestock, and are experienceing good coral growth with a
wet/dry, should you remove it... probably not.. sometimes peopel can do this, but it may require regular weekly water changes, even in a large tank, to keep the system healthy
but.. if anything i have mentioned rings home, then you might want to look at replacing it.
i hope this help.. and if you hvae more questions, or need furhter clarification on anything i said, just let me know
here are some other resources on the issue
http://www.aquariumhobbyist.com/arti...kVsWetDry.html http://www.wetwebmedia.com/wetdryfaqs.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bioballfaqs.htm
icon under there name and give them Reputation points
Ok, I'm getting really confused now. I keep doing research on the web and I'm getting a lot of conflicting advice. Some say "yes," and some say "absolutely not!" I'm just trying to figure out a way to keep the tank as "pure" as possible.
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