Bio Balls!

[reefez]

Does anyone still use them? I had a 75gal. bare bottom reef a few years back in 1997. Anyway I never had a problem with Nitrates in that tank the entire time I had it over 2 years. I was running Bio Balls in the trickle filter and my nitrates we're always undetectable.
Now years later it seems all have abandond the use of them. My current 125gal. Bare bottom reef with 175lbs. Lr has an issue with nitrates in the 10-20ppm range. I am seriously considering running some Bio Balls again fed by my skimmer output to see if I can get the levels to drop. I have also been entertaining the idea of setting up a RSB. Who still uses bio balls? Advice please. I have tried vigorus water changes and decreased feeding to every other day which has really ticked my 8 fish off.

 

[billsreef]

Nitrates only get reduced by bacterial activity in anaerobic or anoxic conditions. Something that won't happen with the bioballs in the typical oxygenated set up.

 

[bassettmd]

I am still using them for the time being on my 65 gallon reef (soft corals, SFE, tang, maroon clown, blenny, gigas, derasa) and have yet to have any problems with them. however i will most likely be replacing them soon with live rock due to all of the horror stories that i have heard around on this forum (super high nitrates for no apparent reason). To be completely honest however, i think if i were to do it again i would simply use a filter sock and a large refugium set up with live rock in it instead of a basic sump.

 

[bassettmd]

Oh and I would advise you setting up a remote sand bed, unless you have some money to spend on a larger skimmer and/or live rock

 

[Henry Bowman]

The RSB will help ! The Bio balls MAY be a quick fix but you'd be back in the same situation after a while.

IMHO

 

[elegance coral]

Bio balls do not remove nitrate. They produce nitrate. they will not help your problem only add to it.

 

[fishmanbrent]

bio balls are nitrate bombs. a good skimmer and live rock with plenty of oxygenation.

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

The reason why bioballs are "nitrate factories" has to do with how nitrate is typically denitrified. It seems that the most effective denitrification happens right next to where nitrification occurs. When comparing bioballs vs. live rock, you have this fundamental difference:
-live rock has anaerobic regions right below where nitrification occurs, thereby facilitating denitrification
-bioballs lack anaerobic regions, which means that they nitrify the ammonia/nitrite but don't denitrify it
When you have a system with bioballs and live rock the nitrification that occurs on the bioballs is competing with the nitrification/denitrification on the live rock. The net effect is that free Nitrate is being created and will build up. You're better off with no bioballs at all. This goes the same for sponges/floss/other fibrous surfaces that are not regularly clean.

Honestly, bioballs are a complete waste of money even if you were not worried about nitrates. I don't think I've heard anyone have a problem with nitrification in a cycled tank. The fishload to warrant supplementary nitrification is well beyond what anyone should ethically have in an aquarium.

 

[phish-phan]

I am also using Bio- Balls in my 29 gal bio-cube, its only a month old. (40 lbs live cariba-sea sand )(about30 lbs of live pompeii rock) Lots of people have been hating on the balls but are they seem useful for a beginner like me. What is ---->"filter sock and a large refugium set up with live rock in it instead of a basic sump."

 

[Twitterbait]

Bio balls are great for throwing at people... otherwise they are usually only good in large commercial setups when they don't want to use a fluidized sand filter (bad mojo). In the common reef hobbiest tank they are really no good.

Big skimmer is best IMO

 

[Tankgeeks]

so if youre running a wet dry with bio balls, its best to switch out the bioballs w/ live rock pieces??

 

[Henry Bowman]

Over a 2-3 week period exchange the balls with the rock. I am assuming that the balls are submerged.

 

[billsreef]

tankgeeks,

How much LR do you already have in your tank? It's primarily the rock in the tank doing the work, not the small amount you could fit in a filter

 

[Tankgeeks]

yea i have approx. 200 lbs of LR in a 150 gallon reef. dont have many bio balls in the filter as it is....everything is doing great, but i was reading this post about the bio balls being a nitrate time bomb, so didnt know if i should be pro-active and remove them slowly now, or let them be since everything is doing so well.

 

[billsreef]

You've got more than enough LR to do without bio balls or adding any rock to the filter in their place That said, if things are working now, don't fix what isn't broke.

 

[odin5738]

I'm going to get rid of my bio-balls and making sump into a refugium and running the lights on it when the lights are off my tank. I've heard this will stablize the ph at night. Also I'm going to add a 3" bed of live sand in the refugium. My tank is a 90 gal. with a 20 gal. sump and protien skimmer. Any suggestions?