Bioballs?????

[rich19020]

I have a 14 gallon BioCube. Recently my only chemical levels which have been out of order is my nitrate as high as 20. My local fish store said because I have about 22 pounds of live rock I should remove the bioballs which is becoming a breeding ground for nitrate.

Is he crazy or should I really start to slowing remove them? He also said I wouldn't need to replace the bioballs with anything just leave the section empty of the biocube. Does everybody agree or should I keep doing my water changes and feed less and hope that the levels will go back down to zero.

 

[sponger0]

That is correct. Also you would remove them a little at a time. Do you have any livestock in it now? How long has it been an established tank?

 

[JAustin]

Yeah, remove a portion of the bio balls a day at a time. They are not needed and will only cause problems.

 

[rich19020]

I have had the tank for about 3 months now and have two small fish and some corals. I also did put in a protein skimmer.

Would it make sense to put small pieces of live rock in where the bio balls were or not worth it since have plenty in the main tank?

 

[sponger0]

No. If you put live rock back there, your basically doing the same thing. Giving a place for detritus to collects and give you nitrate problems in your tank. Look into getting a media basket if you really feel the need to put something in there. You can use some chemical filtration, such as Purigen or Chemi-pure

 

[rich19020]

Not to sound stupid what is and what does a media basket do?

 

[sporto0]

Well I am always in the minority on this subject, but there is no way in just 3 months time, that your bio-balls are so gunked up that they are producing higher nitrates, heres the deal, they are outdated, they work very, very well at their intended purpose, converting nitrites into nitrates, live rock allows for a small amount of nitrates to be converted into nitrogen gas, something bio-balls if they are not submerged, won't do. bottom line, take them out slowly & see if you notice a difference, my guess is that you won't, a 14 gallon tank leaves you almost no room at all for overfeeding, detritus buildup or overstocking in general, which does not seem to be the case for you, point is you will have to walk a fine line to keep nitrates at about 5ppm in that tank, no matter what your filter type is.

 

[sponger0]

Go to mediabaskets.com. It basically is a way to house different types of filtration and allow the water to flow through it. Go to the website and youll understand

 

[rich19020]

Does everybody agree that a media basket makes sense?

 

[sporto0]

Does everybody agree that a media basket makes sense?

Yes if your intention is to run a chemical type filtration system, i.e. purigen, carbon, chemi clean etc.

 

[rich19020]

Thanks everybody for your help.

 

[sponger0]

Also you can make your own media basket out of eggcrate from home depot and some zipties.

 

[SLASHPLAYER]

I WOULD LEAVE SLOT EMPTY...A SPONGE/FILTER FLOSS FOR MECHANICAL FILTRATION AT THE MOST...YOUR LIVE ROCK WILL HANDLE ALL BIO-FILTER NEEDS. BIO BALLS ARE GOOD FOR FISH-ONLY TANKS (FISH AND MAN-MADE DECOR THAT IS) AND ARE OVERKILL (PUN INTENDED) FOR REEF/LIVE ROCK TANKS.:deadhorse: