bio balls?

I was reading that bio balls are not needed in a sump for a coral tank just a skimmer. something about it helping allege grow in display tank. you guys with a lot of expertise fled this.

 

that was a very confusing post to read, but usually you want to stay away from them because they can cause harmful bacteria to build up.

 

bioballs are not needed if you are using other forms of filtration that will remove the nutrients such as live rock, deep sand bed, protein skimmer, etc. bioballs break down nutrients into nitrate very quickly and can do it fast enough to overwhelm the rest of your system from processing it further. This leads to high nitrates in many systems.

There are those who still believe in them, such as Leng Sy. His miracle mud system uses bioballs to produce nitrates that the mud refugium then removes. He claims in his system light skimming or no skimming is recommended.

There are many ways to run a reef tank, and few are wrong.

I run a large refugium, large sump, lots of live rock, deep sand bed, a high end protein skimmer, carbon, and rowaphos constantly. I also do weekly water changes with high quality salt. My corals look great and my nitrates and phosphates are at 0.

 

I'm not awesome at this kinda stuff, but I think i'll take a stab:

I believe it is not necessary to add bio fill into your reef tank as the live rock should be adequate beneficial bacteria to keep your tank happy. I think having bio fill as an extra will just cause your tank to spike in nitrates? You can use that sump space to drop in a skimmer. Or if you like, you can section it off and make into a pseudo refugium!

I'm sure someone will fill in all my gaps, I just felt the need to answer a question right now

 

Masses

there is a school of thought that believes
as Bio balls offer a great surface area, they provide an ideal home for oxygen loving bacteria, oxygen loving bacteria species are ones that convert waste to Ammonia and ammonia to nitrite and Nitrite to Nitrate

but the final stage, processing the resulting nitrates is done by non oxygen requiring bacteria species and these species dont have enough real estate in bio balls

so some people believe that a tank that relies on Bio balls can eventually experience problems with high nitrates

there is an opposing school of thought that says - provided you ensure your bio balls stay clean, get rinsed every so often or there is a prefilter to prevent bio balls getting covered in waste, they do an excellent job and nitrate conversion occurs in the rock in your tank or in the DSB in the fuge etc - so Bio balls are not the problem, tank management is the problem

algea is fueled by nutrients - Nitrate is one, phosphate is another - if you can control these 2 nutrients, right from the start , then algae does not have to be a major problem

research the " Berlin system" of reef keeping - plenty of live rock and a good skimmer is the basis of that method.

hope the above helps

Steve

 

Plus intense lighting as part of the berlin method.

 

As mentioned bioballs do a good job at providing an excellent environment for aerobic bacteria to proliferate and break down the more toxic ammonia and nitrite from your system, but they are detritus traps. For them to work well in a reef tank they need to be aggitated and cleaned regularly otherwise they produce more nitrate from the decaying aerobic bacteria/mulm trapped between the bioballs.

 

Hey, ty everyone, this helps alot. there is just so much to know. So sump, skimmer, fudge? and nice sand beads annd lots of live rock.

 

Also balance of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria and a good cleaning regime.

 

ok if no bio balls then what?

OK in my sump for a coral tank. if install my baffles what do i put in place of bio ball I know protean skimmer but what els charcoal pad? I'm am getting confused. If the live rock filters the water and i have a protean filter. whats the sump going to do?