"Harry Ohanian" wrote in message
news:vPdXa.40763$cF.14835@rwcrnsc53...
I've read that you can keep the bio balls out but can I put something else
in instead?
I want to go with the Jaubert system. That seems the best isn't it?

I've just been doing some reading on a new study, and at least
from these authors, that doesn't seem to be the case.

It's quite interesting and contradicts a lot of "common knowledge",
re - wet/dry and biowheels vs. nitrate level, as is presented in this
group. Surprised the heck out of me and is certainly info for more
research.

The test involved 4 systems of this setup: 284L, temperature
controlled environment, 2 10,000K euro MH, 2 40W actinic,
chiller, 32kg cured Fiji LR, weekly kalkwasser (except Jaubert)
protein skimmer (except Jaubert), salinity = 30ppt.
1) trickle filter - wet/dry
2) tidepool biowheel
3) Berlin
4) Jaubert w/ plenum

The results:
1) for 100 days nitrate/nitrogen and orthosphosphate = no difference
at 114 days the nitrate increased in both Berlin and Jaubert (very,
very large spike from day 114 on in Jaubert) Berlin and biowheel
were lowest but Berlin had decent size spike around day 135.
2) pH, alkalinity & total inorganic carbon = no difference at 100
days, Jaubert had slightly lower pH, slightly greater alk and
carbon values (says insignificant differences)
3) TOC - "The greatest difference in water quality between the
four filtration systems is that the Jaubert filtered aquarium had
a significantly greater concentration of total organic carbon.
The trickle, BioWheel and Berlin systems had TOC values of
less than 1 mg/L-C However, the TOC in the Jaubert system
never dropped below 2 mg/L-C. The water change on day 101
resulted in a temporary drop in the TOC concentration, from
3.4 to 2.4 mg/L-C, but this was short lived and the TOC concentration
was soon back up to 3.5 mg/L-C." Berlin and biowheel were
lowest

Also, "in terms of coral health, the corals in the Jaubert system
did not do well and this may be linked to the increasing TOC
concentration."

The summary is the kicker (from wet/dry, biowheel perspective)
"To be successful, over the long term, one needs a large amount
of live rock, a good lighting system, and an organic carbon
removal system. Having a dedicated biological filter may be
an added plus but it is certainly not a detriment to the goal of
setting up and maintaining a healthy mini-reef aquarium."

Tests performed by Dr. Timothy A. Hovanec.

That should start the wheels of discussion going! (I'm not
proposing 1 system over another, just presented as info)

Cheers,
Dave Johnson