Blue Bio Balls
- Thread starter Mike7
- Start date
warrenm107
New member
You are correct, use live rock instead.
Otogi
New member
I was curious about this as well.. I have a 90g FOWLR currently cycling should I replace the bio-balls in my wet/dry with sump and let the water Trickle down over the LR instead?
I just figured the LR would die off if it was not submerged. Will trickling water over them be enough for the LR to stay live?
I just figured the LR would die off if it was not submerged. Will trickling water over them be enough for the LR to stay live?
dileggi
Premium Member
It's actually the nitrate levels that spike. I haven't heard anything about the nitrite levels.
I'm in the process of doing this now on my BC as well.
Beanfish - were you able to do this all at once? Or did you remeove the bio balls a little at a time?
As for the LR to be covered, it does need to be submerged, or it will probably have the same effect as the bio balls. I may have to go with live rock rubble to keep it submerged.
I'm in the process of doing this now on my BC as well.
Beanfish - were you able to do this all at once? Or did you remeove the bio balls a little at a time?
As for the LR to be covered, it does need to be submerged, or it will probably have the same effect as the bio balls. I may have to go with live rock rubble to keep it submerged.
The bacteria on bio-balls, due to the efficiency gained by increased O2, outcompete the live-rock for ammonia and nitrite.
This starves the nitrifying bacteria on the LR and all of the nitrification occurs on the bio-balls.
Additionally, for effecient de-nitrification, the nitrification, must occur in close proximity to the denitrifying bacteria. The de-nitrifying bacteria is deep in the pores of the LR, but not anywhere near the bio-balls. So the nitrification is now occuring far from the denitrification. The denitrifying bacteria, then dies off some and it's effectivness is limited. The end result, is that more nitrification is occuring than denitrification and the nitrate levels rise.
The second issue, is that the bio-balls collect detritus and other junk, and because they are not accessibsle to fish, snails etc, the junk is not consumed. The result is that this stuff decays and realeases further nitrate and other nutrients directly into the water column.
IMO howver, replacing bio-balls with LR is not very effective. This is because the small peices of LR are unlikly deep enought to host a lot on denitrifying bacteria. I would perfer to replace them with cheato, or just get rid of them altogether.
Unless you can fit large pieces of LR in there, it is unlikely that any denitification would occur (i.e. LR rubble will not help with denitrification). Cheato will certainly help remove nutrients - but if you have a separate sump for cheato already then this would be redundant and I'd just remove it altogether.
However, the one benefit LR rubble is that it might provide is a protected breeding ground for pods. This could be useful if you have pod predators, such as a Wrasse in your display tank or a Mandarin etc... Otherwise, this is also of little benefit.
However, the one benefit LR rubble is that it might provide is a protected breeding ground for pods. This could be useful if you have pod predators, such as a Wrasse in your display tank or a Mandarin etc... Otherwise, this is also of little benefit.
customdusty
New member
Maybe a dumb question. Is a wet/dry filter still a wet dry filter once all of the bio-balls or live rock is fully submerged or removed from the trickle area on the sump?
