bio-balls or no bio-balls!

my goal is to keep a soft coral tank, but i hear and read use bio balls don't use bio-balls, whats the deal. some people say use live rock instead. what is the best option for me? keep bio-balls or replace with live rock.

 

If you have live rock that is all you need for your filter. I wouldn't use bio balls or live rock in the sump. Debris gets stuck and causes your nitrates to rise.

 

Go the live rock route. Bio balls are nothing but dirt traps.

 

IMO ditch the bio balls and use live rock either in your dt or fuge (if you have a fuge). If you already cycled with the balls only remove them a little at a time.

 

Agreed they are nitrate traps, I would ditch the bioballs and go with just live rock. The maintenance alone makes bio-balls a pain.

 

fwiw ... bio-balls... pitched em as soon as they arrived with my sump. then later built a new, larger sump, and yet again did not use bio-balls. the 25lbs of live rock i placed with my ~70lbs of base rock seeded it well and is doing its job detrifying. later added a fuge with chaeto to combat the <5/ppm nitrates... so no bio-balls arent necessary if you do have other methods of filtration. had chaeto in for 3 weeks now and its doing good, and the nitrates are registering 0 now when i test so i believe its doing its intended job. plus theres hardly any maintenance with chaeto compared to bio-balls.

edit: ive never used bio-balls in a saltwater setup. i have past experience with them in cichlid tank setups and it was horrible. i later pitched the bio-balls there as well.

 

i have not cycled the tank yet i will fill this Saturday. so i hope i got this right so just replace the bio-balls with live rock or can i use something else?

 

Are you talking about LR in your display tank, or in your sump? If you use LR rubble in your sump and you're not careful it can trap detritus just like bio balls would.

You could use some sort of foam pre-filter, but you'd have to make sure to clean in off every day or two.

The main thing you can do to prevent nitrate problems is NOT overfeed. You tank can't generate excess nitrates if you aren't putting excess nutrients in there to begin with.

 

i was thinking of putting it in my sump in fairly large piece. if i keep bio balls how do you clean or maintain?

 

No bio-balls, they aren't necessary when using live rock( which you should have).