Bio Balls

[snake1]

Its been awhile since I have used them and I am going to set up a small 30 gallon soft coral tank that i will change the water on every week and it will have a skimmer that is rated for double the size of the system....Is there any reason i should not use the bio balls i know its not common anymore to use them.....

 

[Rawrsean]

The better question: is there any reason you /should/ use them?

 

[snake1]

small amount of rock ....small sump .....

 

[toddmau5]

Bio block

 

[snake1]

well i have two bags of bio balls and the room for them in the old school style wet dry drip tray over the bio balls....should this be ok for my needs .....i dont have the money for a bio block right now so i figured i would wipe the dust off the old wet dry and bring it back to service

 

[sirrealism]

Bio Balls have taken a bad rap. If you use them right they do there job very well. They just need to be removed and cleaned once a month or so. I have them in my 8g bio cube and clean them once a month and the tank gives me no issues. I do water changes of about 25% about every 10 days. So just a little filter pad then bioballs and a pag of cempure elite. thats it. I have several corals in there and 3 tailless seahorses and a small yellow watchman goby.

 

[janes_mw]

Live Rock in tank? Sump? skimmer I see you have. With rock in tank and cycled, no need for bioballs. If you can cycle with the rock and you get through the cycle, I think your good to go unless when you say small amount of rock you mean a couple pounds. Remember, everything in tank will take on nitrifying bacteria. Sump walls, skimmer walls, rock, overflow, etc. Sand or gravel will also add.