Bio Ball Myth's ?

[joeychitwood]

I just don't understand the need to utilize and defend a modality of filtration which is only partially effective, completely unnecessary and potentially harmful to a tank. Why use Bio-Balls at all? They are not needed in a marine tank with live rock, skimming and good water movement.

 

[seapug]

^^^ exactly.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

if you provide adequate area for denitrifying bacteria (via liverock, deep sand bed, plenum etc.) you should definitely consider removing bioballs from your filter. It's not the crap that accumulates in bioballs that becomes the nitrate factory- it's the bioballs themselves that are the "nitrate factory". They are very efficient at creating an abundance of nitrates and do nothing to rid a system of them. Can people run bioballs in their reef aquarium?
Sure. A lot of reef animals can benefit from measurable nitrates.

IMO bioballs create a big inconvenience: they create a need to do water changes in order to lower nitrates.
Many authors avoid giving an unabashed opinion on bioballs because they know that they are good at what they do. It's not like they're totally useless. If you're the type of person that dumps a half pound of fish food into your overcrowded aquarium full of Puffers and such ilk than bioballs MIGHT be for you because they'll quickly convert the resulting very toxic wastes (ammonia) to less toxic wastes (nitrites) but (IMO) you should still run a skimmer on such a system and plan on doing water changes regularly. I'd add some LR to such a system, too- just because it's so beneficial. I know people that have wet/drys (alone- no LR or LS) for their biological filter and their systems (FO's even!) always look like (quite honestly IMO) crap. They have to perform MASSIVE water changes rugularly in order to keep their fish healthy. It's not my bag.
I'm pretty much done in this thread. Checking out.
I have some bioballs for sale if anyone is interested.

pic of my bioball-less aquarium

 

[Bruno3047]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13218075#post13218075 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
If you're the type of person that dumps a half pound of fish food into your overcrowded aquarium full of Puffers (Angels?) and such ilk than bioballs MIGHT be for you because they'll quickly convert the resulting very toxic wastes (ammonia) to less toxic wastes (nitrites)

Yep. That's me!!! I plan on having a very crowded 60-gallon mixed-reef aquarium with lots and lots of those pretty blue bio-balls that everyone loves to hate.

Of course, I'll also be running an ORP-monitored DeNitrate reactor to deal with the nitrates.

This way, I can have the best of both worlds.

 

[joeychitwood]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13218369#post13218369 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bruno3047
Yep. That's me!!! I plan on having a very crowded 60-gallon mixed-reef aquarium with lots and lots of those pretty blue bio-balls that everyone loves to hate.

Of course, I'll also be running an ORP-monitored DeNitrate reactor to deal with the nitrates.

This way, I can have the best of both worlds.

Don't forget the undergravel filter. Reverse-flow, of course, to be state-of-the-art.

 

[Michael]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13218457#post13218457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by joeychitwood
Don't forget the undergravel filter. Reverse-flow, of course, to be state-of-the-art.

:lol: yep and forget living rock and get some bleached corals, seriously we need to move forward, bio balls were the in thing once and arguments here can confirm this, but theres just no need for them, i think gary had some good points in his post actually, still this is good reef debate

 

[Bruno3047]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13218457#post13218457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by joeychitwood
Don't forget the undergravel filter. Reverse-flow, of course, to be state-of-the-art.

That's so funny, I forgot to laugh.

 

[Bruno3047]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13218478#post13218478 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Michael
i think gary had some good points in his post actually, still this is good reef debate

I like to close these debates with these words:

To each, his own.

 

[tmz]

Thanks for the discussion folks. I have not been on this thread in a while since I was away for a week to the outerbanks,NC. All of my tanks did well on auto pilot ,no losses. It was nice to come back and have several of you agree with my post. Glad it was helpful.

I suppose a system using bioballs and a denitrator could work and would like to hear more about it after a period of time in use. But for most reefers, particularly those new to the hobby, I don't think I would recommend it given the availablility of safer and less complicated alternatives such as live rock .

As for keeping the bioballs clean to eliminate their production of nitrate, this seems to be contrary to their purpose since to do so effectively one would have to process water through them devoid of particulate organic matter. Any partculate organic matter or ammonia that made to the bioballs would process to nitrate. Of course this would necessitate daily cleaning of the mechanical filtration media to take the gunk out of the water before it began to produce ammonia . If, however, only waste free water is processed through the bioballs then what purpose would they serve?

 

[Bruno3047]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13261903#post13261903 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmz
I suppose a system using bioballs and a denitrator could work and would like to hear more about it after a period of time in use.

Here's a link to my build thread. I'll be getting a sulfur denitrator online soon after my cycle is complete. You can keep track of how things go, if you like. In the meantime, I would also appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have for me along the way.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1449401

 

[sunfishh]

So here is a question. Why does everyone have to run the exact same system? I mean there can be more than one way to run a fish tank right? If you look at Tspors system I think it is clear his system is working. After all it is beuatiful and the fish look healthy. So whats wrong about it? If he wants to do a little more maintance than you why is that wrong? As far as reverse flow undergravels it may not work for you, but it has worked for Paul B. I have been on here a while and have never seen another 30 year old system. Is there one? Of course running natural nitrate reduction using sand and rock works too. It is ok to use your favorite husbandry method, but be aware that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[tmz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13262340#post13262340 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sunfishh
So here is a question. Why does everyone have to run the exact same system? I mean there can be more than one way to run a fish tank right? If you look at Tspors system I think it is clear his system is working. After all it is beuatiful and the fish look healthy. So whats wrong about it? If he wants to do a little more maintance than you why is that wrong? As far as reverse flow undergravels it may not work for you, but it has worked for Paul B. I have been on here a while and have never seen another 30 year old system. Is there one? Of course running natural nitrate reduction using sand and rock works too. It is ok to use your favorite husbandry method, but be aware that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

In my opinion there is absolutely nothing wrong with running aquariums with different systems and techniques and sharing the outcomes. We can all learn from this exchange. However, when someone offers methods that vary from the mainstream they can and should expect a strong challenge to test the rigor of their findings or observations.
In these forums aquarists seek information based on the experience and knowlege of others to help them make informed decisions on the direction they may wish to take with their own system. All of us learn from the process which often invovles debate but should never in my opinion become personal. The aquarist seeking information needs to develop and ability to sort the wheat from the chaff since not everyone is disciplined in giving advice to others and may pass on poor information. Debate helps in this regard.
As an example, often posts appear from folks asking about how they can reduce high nitrates in their aquarium. In some of these cases bioballs or some other ammonia and nitrite reducing but nitrate producing media is in play and advice is often given to emphasize how that use is contributing to the nitrate problem about which the aquarist asked. In these cases particularly without a nitrate removal system it is good advice to tell someone removal of the bioballs will help.Other discussions run the gamut of wether or nots and pros and cons regarding refugia, carbon, gfo, plennums, deep sand beds,uv sterlilzers, etc.

 

[tmz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13261961#post13261961 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bruno3047
Here's a link to my build thread. I'll be getting a sulfur denitrator online soon after my cycle is complete. You can keep track of how things go, if you like. In the meantime, I would also appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have for me along the way.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1449401

Thanks for the link. I'll post on it to tag along.