Bioballs Help Needed

[Amazon4]

Very nice 'cube. We have the same one. We have the bioballs in the middle chamber. (why are they bad??)

Did you change to the LR rubble because of your readings?

Just curious...we've not had any spikes. But no fish in there yet, just CUC and shrimp. We were thinking of a perc and a goby. So maybe things will be different when there's more of a bioload?

Also, I thought LR needed light. I've seen folks add light through the back by scraping off the black paint. Will the LR rubble be OK with out a light source?

Seriously...nice tank...

 

[Trip 22]

Thanks....I did it because of my high nitrates level. I tried everything from cleaning the filters...using RO to top off....weekly water changes and it got higher. I am doing it to see if the bioballs are the reason for the high nitrates. I talked to the guy at the LFS and he said to get rid of them. I don't know about the lights...I crushed up the rock into smaller pieces. I guess we will have to wait and see. This is my first tank...it's about 1 1/2 months old. So its all new to me!

 

[mdisalvo55]

From what I understand, the bio balls just accumulate nitrates in them and cause high nitrates....you can clean them off sometimes to help though. Live rock rubble also does a good job of filtering water as it passes through all the organisms living inside the rock...You don't necessarily need light to keep live rock "live" but it helps for coraline growth and I'm sure theres some other benefit. I know a lot of people who take off some of the back black covering and put a light on also do this so they can turn it into a fuge and grow chaeto with live rock at the same time which is a great wayt o filter the water.