can you get bio balls wet?

When I do a water change I pump it into my sump than into the tank. Is it bad to submerge the bio balls in water or is it good to rinse them off ?

 

Bioballs are best kept dry, on the shelf, at the store.

but otherwise it's probably a good idea to rinse them every once in a while to keep the detritus out of them.

 

+1

They must be kept clean. They would actually work fully submerged, just not as efficiently.

 

okay thanks I just wasn't sure if the bacteria on there would drowned in the water lol

 

lol

No, it's the same bacteria that colonizes on live rock. It works more efficiently in a trickle filter because they get exposed to air (but not dried!) so they're not competing with livestock for oxygen.

 

I ditched the bio balls and crushed up live rock into golf ball sized chunks and that has worked amazing. I was thinking of going to a new sump with a sock but it's worked so well I'm afraid to change it.

 

The old addage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies well to SW aquaria.

One mistake I've seen repeated many times is altering a working filtration system on an established reef tank. Changing filtration has a strong potential for altering nutrient levels which can lead to a shift in a coral's lighting requirement, or worse yet, it's sensitivity to excess light.