Bio Balls or Macro Algae for Sump Design???

I still have not purchased my new sump and I need some more convincing from the genius panel of the 3 Reef forum to help me make my mind up on wether to go with the Bio Balls which I've never used and the Macro Algae which I have seen success. I have my eye on the ADHI Refugium but one dealer offers 2 x 32W compact flourescent lights over fuge area and one the other dealer offers the Mini Bio Balls and bubble trap without the light. They are both the same price for the Model 45 design. Please let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks.

 

My thought is if the compartment sizing is the same go with the cheaper unit. You can easily rig up your own fuge light. They only require 2700K-6500K lighting. In my case I picked up a used 12" wide mini-fixture that has two 12000K PC bulbs in it at a garage sale for $20. Check craigslist or ebay for a fixture to compare pricing, or goto your local big-box hardware store and pickup a clip on fixture with a 6500K flood light.

I too am having a debate on the use of the bio-balls they sent me with my initial sump/fuge setup. I have yet to put them in there because I feel with the amount of porous rock I have there is plenty of room for de-nitrifcation to occur. So I left the bio-balls out of the equation. Its one more thing you have to maintain weekly and very carefully. (NEVER WASH EM ALL AT ONCE).

I started the tank up with a 100micron filter sock in place on the sump inlet, some of that filter-floss in the baffle to the return chamber because i had to reduce microbubbles, and within a month ive already removed the filter sock because its capturing copepods and such which is no good to me.

I personally wont be using the bio-balls even in the larger 40gal long sump build im in the midst of. I used to use them in my freshwater applications for my cichlid tanks and its a friggin headache to deal with. They have pros/cons, but honestly my tanks are doing just fine without them. As long as you have the biomass to handle the denitrification elsewhere in the tank, I dont believe you need bioballs to become a nitrate factory.

my .2cents

 

Most people avoid the bio balls these days as a potential nitrate factory as the trap detrious and excess food - and are a PITA to clean on a regular basis to avoid the buildup.
As for the system coming with a light over the fuge dont sweat the fixture, get a $5 clip on reflector from HD and add a CF 6500k bulb and your set for about $10

 

read ^^ and then /thread.

 

Anyone ever used a model 45 ADHI design or similar?? The refugium is in the center, the inlets are on the left, and the outlet is on the right. Just don't want to blow 400 on something worthless????

 

if you are looking to blow that kind of money, try a rubbermaid stock tank refugium....for $70 you can add on 110 gallons and they are built for commercial farm use. (sturdier than you will ever need, you can kick it and everything)

i believe ocean'sparadise was running one before, I am not sure if he stills is I know he had some issues unrelated to the stock tank.

 

I have seen the Rubbermaid deal in action and this is nice; however I am limited to just the space under my DT which is 180G. I just wish I could find someone here at the Reef that has used the ADHI package to share their expirience.

 

well bio-balls are pretty useless in a reef. they tend to be more trouble than they are worth. If you clean them in SW very often they can be useful, other than that they will likely be a source of nitrates rather than a source of export as they get clogged with detritus. Since nitrate removal is probably a major factor in getting the refugium, I would go with the one that grows macro algae.

good luck with the search!

 

For that kind of cash buy a 40 gallon breeder and some .225" acrylic to make a few baffles.... more room than you need and costs less than $100.

see the bottom of my 90 gal build thread for pics

 

hey surferdude, what dimensions do you have under the tank to work with?