Help with exchanging wet/dry

[Brody3665]

I just bought a brand new wet/dry and was wondering is it as easy as dumping the established bioballs from the current to the new one. Just don't want to screw it up and start a cycle on the tank...

Thanks

 

[philliptobin]

I really don't see where that would be a problem. The old bio-balls already have the bacteria growing on them so there would really be no cycle. I put a wet/dry/refugium (traded out canister filters) on my established reef tank, I put some of the filter pad from the canister filter over the Bio-balls and never had a cycle, and that was with brand new bio-balls.

 

[Twitterbait]

even better idea. get rid of the bioballs. they are a nitrate and phosphate factory that will trap crap.

 

[tunerX]

Take half the bio-balls and put them in sump. Take the other half and rinse them well. The preferred method is clean them in old SW aquarium water during a change.
if this is your only bio-filtration then you should only do a quarter at a time.

I have so much bio filtration spread out in the different areas of my tank that the bio-balls actually could be removed all together, and the system should fully recover in about 24 hours. But I like my balls, so I spend the 5 minutes every 4 months giving them a good cleaning. I broke the balls into two different sacks. I pull a sack of balls out and wash the whole thing.

 

[Twitterbait]

please tell us about the tank for this wet/dry and we will let you know.