bio balls

my sump has bio balls. keep'em or get rid of them?whats everyones opinion?

 

Get rid of the nitrate balls...

 

It depends what kind of stocking plan you have. FO, FOWLR or reef?

 

actually i'm still running through the cycle it's a new tank and new sump. never had bio balls though. i just really have mixxed opinions from everyone. but no one really has a "yes" or "no" answer with facts to back them up from what i've been reading.
i plan on doing fish and coral once i'm ready.

 

Ok in that case here are some details about bio-balls for you. Bio-balls house bacteria that can process ammonia at nitrite and amazing speed. They will not however do anything for nitrates. The major downside to bio-balls is that they also act as mechanical filtration. By filtering detritus out of the water they hold in and allow it to decompose turning into nitrates. This is why most people do not like bio-balls. They can be used successfully if you keep up on maintenance. I rinse the ones in my FW system once a week to be sure they stay clean and don't produce nitrates.

In either a FO or FOWLR system some nitrates are not a big deal, because fish can still thrive in it. In a reef system like you're planning though, nitrates can be toxic to coral making success for hard.

IMO take them out and do it fast. You will save yourself trouble down the road by not having them. By having them in during the cycle you are allowing the bio-load handling bacteria to colonize in your bio-balls instead of in the live rock where you need it.

Most sumps with bio-balls are pretty easily converted to house a fuge instead. Post some pictures and I bet we can help get your fuge going for you.

 

Agreed, and how much live rock do you have?

 

I tossed mine that I've had for like 11 months, a few weeks ago and saw my nitrates vanish. I won't mess with them again

 

I would dump them....if you have enough live rock, you don't need em...and they can trqap debris, and spike nitrates

 

Ive had my bioballs for 10+ years FO setup.. now after 8+ months of reef and 60+ nitrates.. I just tookout 70% of them, and 2 of my foam filters.. (1 round strainer foam, and 1 main sump block foam) still left the drip tray foam filter though. I clean that out every couple days. I did raise my bioball tray/egg crate 4" higher so the balls arent in the water all the time like before.. hopefully this will help my nitrate problem. I'll probly keep 10%-20% of original quanitiy though just because I feel I need more live rock established before pulling them all out..

 

i was a die hard advocate of traditional filtration like bioballs for a long time, even when i decided to dump em i would go 2 weeks...panic! and set the filters back up.
three months ago i finally dumped the bioballs and waited it out.
i can't believe it and really dont understand it at all but my tank has never looked better/happier and i haven't had to scrape anything but corraline algage in quite a while,so yes, once you're comforatable with the husbandry etc etc dump'em