Revove bioballs?

[sambryce]

My tanks been cycling for about a week now and according to the tests, everything is going as it should. I started it with a wet/dry, but after reading more and more I'm thinking I should remove the bioballs.

Right now I have 100 lbs of cured live rock in a 105 gallon tank and only 1-2" of live sand. Is that enough to provide all the biological filtration I need? Should I get more live rock? Another 50lbs?

I really don't want 5-6" of sand in my tank because I don't really care for the look. I will probably end up with a refugium and can have a DSB in there later. Will the rock w/o a DSB do the job or do I need to keep all or some of the bioballs if I don't have a DSB?

Should I just yank 'em all out at once? Being set up only 1 week, I wouldn't think it would hurt to remove them all at once vs slowly.

 

[LFS42]

I run the dirty, evil, no-good doing bio-balls in my reef.
No probs yet (it's been up for 1-1/2 years)
But then again, I'm just too lazy to rip them out.
Others have had mixed results with bio-balls. (sorry I forgot the evil part)

IMO, I havn't seen a reason to pull them out either.
And I don't like half a tank full of sand also.

 

[Riotfishdude]

if you have a good amount of live rock a DSB isnt needed,i have a FOWLR 130g tank (with messy tangs and a trigger and wrasse),and i have 200 pounds of live rock,took out my bio balls long ago (made a huge diff. in water quality),and my system is doing great,if you have a reef setup with a few fishes and alot of rock as well as a good skimmer,take the balls out,do more harm then good......Riot.....

 

[sambryce]

Took them out this evening. It's better to do it now than 6 months down the road.

 

[danmhippo]

I would submerge them (bioballs) in a bucket of old tank water for a few days. This is just a precautionary measure that in case if you noticed nitrite level rising. You can place some bioballs back if it becomes necessary (.......not very likely in your case though.....).