bio balls good or bad??

[daddycadi]

you guys have helped me out with alot so heres another probly dumb question. in my fairly new 50 gal reef setup my live rock hasnt grown a whole lot of cool stuff on it yet, so i was wondering if putting bio balls in filter would be a good idea? i am using carbon bags now and water quality seems good. ive heard bio balls can be bad, but noone has really given a reason. help me out here

 

[jerseyhokie]

We kind of discussed this at George's get together saturday (At least i remember cayenne/landen bringing it up). At one point in time, bioballs were the cutting edge of aquarium technology. They provide a large surface area for nitrifying bacteria to grow on and convert ammonia to nitrate.

The problem most have with the bioballs is they dont have the ability to change the nitrate to nitrogen gas efficiently. This gave them the nickname "nitrate factories". Also if you dont clean the bioballs every once and a while they can be detritus traps as well.
Deep sand beds became the next fad since the lower regions could remove nitrate. Now people are finding sulfur can build and crash a tank.

Maybe george can chime in eventually, but he said one of his systems had 0 nitrate when he ran bioballs, and after removing them the nitrates appeared in trace ammounts.

My advice, have a good skimmer to remove the dissolved organic compound before they become and issue and if theres no problems right now hold off. Water changes are always good for a new tank too. If the growth youre talking about is stuff like coraline, its gonna take a few months.

 

[daddycadi]

good info, thanks!

 

[RUFISHY2]

WARNING!!! Unpopular opinion in the following post.

bio balls have gotten a bad rap. True they can't process nitrate, big woop...neither can live rock, nobody is gonna pull that out of their tank.


That being said they work in mass. A few bio balls in your filter aren't going to make much of a difference at all. Additionally, bio balls work best when they are not submerged. Remember it's aerobic bacteria we're growing (anaerobic is the stuff that can process nitrates), that means they need oxygen, more oxygen=more bacteria.

Bio balls HAVE been called nitrate factories. But of course, that is preposterous. The nitrates in a tank are a direct result of what is put into it. Bio balls don't process nitrate, but it never was their job. Their job is to act as a supplemental bacterial colony to that on your live rock.

Don't be disheartened about your live rock, You'll be noticing new little critters for years to come, but it takes a while. As far as coraline goes those carbon bags are probably sucking out everything it needs to grow.

Side note: You may not want to listen to me, I have no idea what I am talking about. I'm using carbon, and I'm not using bio balls.

 

[J. Montgomery]

The majority of reefers avoid bioballs.

 

[evsalty]

Like RU said bio balls job is to harbor aerobic bacteria which is the bacteria that breaks ammonia down to nitrItes and nitrItes to nitrAtes. From there their job is done. Bad so far? Absolutely not. The main issue with the use of bioballs IMHO is that they will trap uneaten food and fish poop all known as detritus. For our live rock we usually have lots of random flow and plenty of critters that will help to take this up or keep it suspended untill it goes on into the filtration. Where we use the bio balls we usually do not have all these factors to help keep the bio balls clean. Now as the detritus decays it turns into ammonia and the bio balls do there job but now on a much larger scale and thus create even more and more nitrAtes that did not need to be there in the first place. Basically what I am saying is that unless you keep them clean they will add to the problem over time. Much like filter socks. BTW cleaning them will kill the aerobic bacteria. Rock rubble in the sump can do the same but usually you will find critters in with the rubble that will keep this down to a minimum. Since bio balls truely need to be used in a trickle setup, you will not usually find the critters on them.

 

[daddycadi]

good to hear from both sides, thanks for the input

 

[RUFISHY2]

Couple things,

first, bio balls should always be used in conjuction with something like a filter sock, or some other form of mechanical filtration (Pre-bio balls)

second, cleaning them is no biggie, a quick rinse with saltwater...done, no massive bacteria die off.

Third (Yes I know a couple is two.), While no one has sufficiently proven that bio balls are a detriment to the tank, I must concede that as J. Montgomery stated, countless beautiful, thriving reef tanks have proven that they are at best, unnecessary.

 

[daddycadi]

thanks RU. i think i will leave things be for now with carbon and skimming. if i have water deteriation as i add fish i will give them a try.