coast2coast7390
Moved On
that is why WE as aquarius have to do regular water changes
bio balls yes or no?
- Thread starter kevinohio
- Start date
that is why WE as aquarius have to do regular water changes
shuturhole316tx
Premium Member
Well all thanks for the info and I think that I will try and get rid of them and test the water if the facts are corect then it will be a good decision, and if not I can always put them back.
I will keep them in a bucket of SW just in case! LOL
I will keep them in a bucket of SW just in case! LOL
A.T.T.R
Active member
so you replaced a bioball with some sponge.. that is about the worse thing you can do.. reason.. now you have a detrius trap .. unless you clean the sponge.
anyways reason you saw the no3 drop was your tank was still new and the anerobic wasnt functionin yet.
i never clean my balls.
LOL oh how i love saying that
of course tho i prefer a refugium over bio balls. altho at work the tank with the refugium isnt doing as well as the 220 reef with bio balls
and this is my fav thing. would you rather ( in an emergancy) have a very fast nh4 to no2 to no3 conversion or somthing that goes a lil slower. ( even tho i dont think that bioballs are much faster anyways. but since that seems to be the common opinion ill use it.)
and yes my spelling is terriable and if any one tries to attack my opinions based on that you are about as low as they come.
anyways reason you saw the no3 drop was your tank was still new and the anerobic wasnt functionin yet.
i never clean my balls.
LOL oh how i love saying that
of course tho i prefer a refugium over bio balls. altho at work the tank with the refugium isnt doing as well as the 220 reef with bio balls
and this is my fav thing. would you rather ( in an emergancy) have a very fast nh4 to no2 to no3 conversion or somthing that goes a lil slower. ( even tho i dont think that bioballs are much faster anyways. but since that seems to be the common opinion ill use it.)
and yes my spelling is terriable and if any one tries to attack my opinions based on that you are about as low as they come.
A.T.T.R
Active member
btw you wont knotice a diff by taking them out
except maybe temp .. but
quote from an lfs owner " rc makes me sick its a bunch of people repeating somthing because it sounds good till it becomes fact" ( while i dont agree compleatly ) it is clear that the good sounding facts and all of the so called research drowns out the truth.
if you want to actualy help your tank. turn the first chamber in to a fuge. removing the bio balls with out doing somthing better is pointless.
and fwiw
in two of my 1300 gallon fish only tanks. running with bioballs and weekly 200 gallon waterchanges. with no LR and only a shallow sandbed ( litereraly a 1 mil deep if that) no3 is below 10
guess what with out bio balls it would be the same.
except maybe temp .. but
quote from an lfs owner " rc makes me sick its a bunch of people repeating somthing because it sounds good till it becomes fact" ( while i dont agree compleatly ) it is clear that the good sounding facts and all of the so called research drowns out the truth.
if you want to actualy help your tank. turn the first chamber in to a fuge. removing the bio balls with out doing somthing better is pointless.
and fwiw
in two of my 1300 gallon fish only tanks. running with bioballs and weekly 200 gallon waterchanges. with no LR and only a shallow sandbed ( litereraly a 1 mil deep if that) no3 is below 10
guess what with out bio balls it would be the same.
davandwilk
New member
If I remove my bio balls, can I replace the empty space with LR? Or does LR have to be under water with lighting?
coast2coast7390
Moved On
LMAO...thats funny
i also prefer a refugium
Live Rock does the exact same things as bioballs if not submerged
manderx
New member
you can read hundreds of posts where people recognize they have a nitrate problem, and then remove their bioballs, and their nitrates go down. the problem is, they also always do other stuff at the same time (upgrade skimming, reduce feeding, keep things cleaner,...) so it's really hard to say if it's truly the bioballs themselves. they also tend to be newbies with few corals/clams/macros that uptake nitrogenous wastes. i've seen too many fantastic tanks (plenty of TOTMs) with bioballs and 'zero' nitrates to put much stock into the typical 'omg nitrate factory!!!1' kneejerk response to this question. i don't think we truly understand where nitrogen is coming/going in our tanks to make such a statement. many of the 'how live rock does it better' explanations don't really seem to fully hold up to scrutiny in my mind. too many untested assumptions.
besides, i'd rather have nitrate in my water than ammonia. so if the bioballs convert it faster, then maybe it's a good thing even if it does result in slightly elevated nitrates. just because the test kit returns undetectable ammonia, there's still some in there and the difference between barely undetectable and 1/2 that amount might be significant.
i'm gonna add some to my tank when i happen to come across someone getting rid of theirs cheap just to test and play around with. it's not worth it for me to buy some new. i'm also very interested in any better aeration they might give.
besides, i'd rather have nitrate in my water than ammonia. so if the bioballs convert it faster, then maybe it's a good thing even if it does result in slightly elevated nitrates. just because the test kit returns undetectable ammonia, there's still some in there and the difference between barely undetectable and 1/2 that amount might be significant.
i'm gonna add some to my tank when i happen to come across someone getting rid of theirs cheap just to test and play around with. it's not worth it for me to buy some new. i'm also very interested in any better aeration they might give.
coast2coast7390
Moved On
thats true
shuturhole316tx
Premium Member
Ok all I started the test about an hour ago.
Tested the water and eveything was 0 except nitrates they were actully higher than normal (about 30ppm). Dont know how that happened but I did a 10 Gal Water change and thats it. Of course other than taking the balls out. I will keep posting to keep everyone updated.
Tested the water and eveything was 0 except nitrates they were actully higher than normal (about 30ppm). Dont know how that happened but I did a 10 Gal Water change and thats it. Of course other than taking the balls out. I will keep posting to keep everyone updated.
shuturhole316tx
Premium Member
So far so good
shuturhole316tx
Premium Member
End of day one and the nitrates are still a little high. After water change and ball removal
Peter Eichler
New member
Your nitrates aren't going to go anywhere unless you have macroalgae or some sort of anoxic zone in your sandbed. By removing your bioballs mainly what you're doing is allowing your skimmer to do some extra work and remove things that would otherwise be quickly broken down into nitrates within a trickle filter.
One thing that people seem to forget around here is that the problem isn't the bioballs or other filter media designed to grow nitrifying bacteria as much as it's the high oxygen levels in trickle & wet/dry filters. The high oxygen levels in these types of filters makes them VERY efficient at breaking down ammonia and nitrite. This is pure speculation, but that most likely results in smaller bacteria colonies on and within live rock and sandbeds where there may be associated anoxic/anaerobic zones where nitrates could be broken down. However, the nitrate reduction happening from live rock is probably pretty minimal and the protein skimmer is what really aides in keeping nitrates down after removing bioballs from a trickle filter.
In short, if you don't have an efficient protein skimmer the benefits of removing your bioballs are going to be pretty small.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
have you tried a remote deep sand bed ("DSB in a bucket") to knock out nitrates?
You can easily and cheaply aerate water without bioballs. Simply have your water return(s) drilled so they function like a spraybar and let the water drop into your sump like a waterfall.
shuturhole316tx
Premium Member
I have a fuge with microalgie and a deep sand bed. So you are saying that the bio balls are good to keep?
Peter Eichler
New member
Not saying that at all, was mainly just saying that it's going to take some time. You're not going to remove the bioballs and then poof overnight your nitrates are lower.
