bio balls or live rock?

my tank is cycled and i have been running my sum on both bio balls and live rock. (and i know people are on both sides on the field on this topic) but i am wondering if i should take the balls out and replace them with lace rock or just leave them in>?< pics of the new fish will be up soon........

 

I think more information is needed to make a better observation and recommendation.
What type of tank..FO, FOWLR or Reef
Size of tank
Is everything new? Sump, skimmer, tank, sand, rock or is it established?
How big of a sump and its dimensions?

Generally if you just cycled your tank I wouldn't take out the bio-balls right now as they are beneficial to the well being of the tank. Once the sand and rock get seeded well then you can generally start taking the bio-balls out in clumps of 1/3 at a time over the course of time so as not to disrupt the chemistry and good bacteria. They say bio-balls are a nitrate factory but in some cases they serve another purpose and that is a bubble defuser. I have an RM300 Refugium Sump and I took all the bio-balls out before I installed it only to have to put them all back to keep the bubbles out of my tank. Let me know the info on your setup and I'll try to help you. I will admit I am not a chemist or anything and you may want to get other opinions.
The first picture below is my old 65 gal tank with standard megaflow sump. I'm taking out bio-balls a little at a time. The second picture is my new 120 gal tank with the RM300. Hidden off to the right is where the overflow reservour is and this where I have it jammed it with bio-balls to keep the bubbles out of the fuge. The fuge acts as my denitrator with cheato, 6" DSB and live rock.

 

I am more a fan of LR rubble than bio balls. Just a personal preference with this one though. I think they are equally effective.

 

From my understanding, bio balls are fine as long as you are willing to do CONSTANT maintenance on them to keep them clear of debris. I would go with the LR just because it would be one less hassle

 

Hmmmmm. I have heard of people leaving them alone for years.....OK an overstatement...BUT NOW I AM CONFUSED. That gets to be a condition at my age. 54.....I mean 45.

 

There are different views from everyone. I've heard that you should clean half the bioballs every couple months. I gues the way to do that would be to partition off the chamber with eggcrate so you don't get them mixed up. Live rock is a better way. In my overflow chamber where I have the bio-balls for my refugium sump it would be really hard to get live rock in there properly and keep the bubbles from appearing. The other thing would be if it didn't work it would be a nightmare to get them out of there.

 

There is no difference between BB and LR, you would/will have to keep both clean. Its a personal pref. Luna

 

From what I have heard they are both as good as each other. But my LFS told me to stick with the bioballs because the rubble can sometimes restrict water flow. Plus its cheaper just to stick with bioballs

 

I say go with a fuge but again this is personal prefrence.

 

there is a lot of opinions I say there is no difference
there really isn't
all you are doing is providing surface area for beneficial bacteria
to break down ammonia into less harmful nitrates right?

so in that case it's no different they will both produce nitrates unless you have something like cheato witch would make it a fuge but thats not part of Lr v. Bioballs
IMHO they are the same unless some other nitrate removing factor is added