bioballs any good??

I have a new 29 gallon tank and have recently started the cycling process. The tank has 30lbs. of live sand and about 35lbs of live rock. Anyway, im running a 3 stage canister filter and just today i put some bioballs and some carbon in the filter. Shortly after doing so i read a few people online saying to take out the bioballs to avoid future problem. Is this true?? Should i have just stuck with the foam inserts?

 

IMO, I think its only good if you only have a FOWLR otherwise, it's a Nitrate factory fish can handle high concentration of Nitrates to a certain extent but not corals if you're setting up a reef tank.

 

I remove the bio-balls because they accumulate detritus in enclosed areas. Personally I think they work better in a wet-dry type of filtration.

 

I agree totally with Corailline. Bio-Balls have there place and work great in certain set-ups, i.e. wet-dry filters, but they aren't ideal for our reef tanks. The wet-dry's that I have seen run most successfully were on predator systems (fowlr), but that doesn't mean it can't be done on reefs with proper maintenance.

 

So I'll remove the bio balls. ($10 down the drain) Should I leave the carbon and foam filters only then? How bout those ceramic rings?

 

I feel the same way about ceramic rings, they have a place but again in a wet/dry set up.

If you have adequate LR you really do not need them IMO.

I do use carbon (for chemical filtration) and sponges/foam (for mechanical filtration).

 

Cool, thank you very much for your input.