Bio Balls

[dallascwbyz]

Good or bad? I've been getting conficting information. I have them currently in my Americle sump. Thoughts? hnx

 

[bertoni]

They work well at converting ammonia to nitrate, but they don't seem to be able to convert nitrate to nitrogen gas. So, in some tanks, they lead to higher nitrate levels. That was my experience with the similar "Bio-Bale" in my BakPak skimmer. They also are a bit of a maintenance nuisance, since you'll need to clean debris off them.

So they can be good, bad, or irrelevant, depending on what animals you want to keep and what the rest of the system contains.

 

[dallascwbyz]

well I have not had any debris to speak of on them. They look clean anyway. I have under a dozen fish, and around 9 different corals. My nitrate is kinda high now, but I havent been using the best water :-( until now. I just made my first batch of ro/di. Will it hurt to remove them? ie spike the system with nitrates?
thnx ~Shawn

 

[bertoni]

If you want to remove them, you should do so slowly, or you might see an ammonia spike. How much live rock is present in the system? Is there a macroalgae refugium? I assume this is the 90g system?

 

[dallascwbyz]

Yes this is my 90. I have turned my sump into a refugium/sump or as I like to call it my resumpium I have about a 100-110 lbs of LR in the main tank, and huge amount of macro in the sump.

 

[mg426]

I removed mine about 15 % per week everytime I did a water change. Had no problems at all. Nitrates dropped from 20 ppm to around 2 ppm.

 

[bertoni]

Is the macro growing strongly? How often do you harvest it?

Depending on the size and type of fish you have, I would think you should be able to remove the bio-balls slowly, as suggested.

 

[dallascwbyz]

yes the macro is growing very fast, I keep light on it 24/7, I pull handful out evryother week or so for my tang in the main tank.

 

[bertoni]

Okay, if you harvest the macroalgae more aggressively, it will work as a nitrate remover for the system. That might do a lot to help the nitrate problem, if you're interested in that approach.

 

[REEFKEEPA]

Bio Balls=Maintenance.