a few thoughts questions

[redseaapples]

been reading about various new (to me anyway) ways of keepin fish an reef ..was reading a study on live rock in aquariums re filtration an it was obvious that the rock itself didnt do anything but the life on the rock was crtical for success or failure so my question is if your advised to take the bioballs out to lower nitrate what if the system cant deal with the rest of the biological process ..if nitites were to rise life on the rock would perish or lessen as would i guess the tank ..am i missin something?
my tank currently has been runnin about 2 years not really a reef tank but i did want a few leather corals ..no corals survived i lost my 3 yr old pair shrimp ..fish always did fine...never had a answer till this week..during a storm a powerhead kicked off refusin to start ..normally id tap it ..it would start ..not this time ..i had to pull it apart ..an when i pulled the impeller out it was just brown rust half a side worn down ..not reef safe at all ..i bought this from a aquarium shop ..big powerful pond pump lots water movement .id say i had low level of copper maybe ? leather corals maybe yet..
my last thought ..just upgraded my lights to vho..who needs coral ..im watchin live rock grow...is it ok to have red kelp growin ?
if you read all this thanks ..rarely post anything ..

[reefergeorge]

What brand was the power head? I always try to use brands that people on RC recommend and use. I hope everything works out with the new reef.

[Lotus99]

If you have enough live rock in your system, removing bioballs shouldn't be a problem. However, you need to remove the bioballs slowly, over the course of a few weeks.

How much live rock do you have, and what are your nitrate readings? You'll need to get your nitrates low before adding corals.