bio balls.. yes or no ???
- Thread starter 90gal.newguy
- Start date
bio balls tend to produce more nitrates, i know from experience i had a serious nitrate problem, once i removed the bio balls my nitrates began to drop significantly and i now i have much more control over them, IME lose the bio balls especially if you have enough live rock to sustain your system and get a good skimmer
balls require maintenance, as they need to be washed once in a while (25% of them monthly would do it). If you keep up with this maintenance they are a great bio-filter – most don’t realize this and give bio-ball a bad reputation. Its not the balls themselves that are problematic, it’s the fact that they catch and build up crap that becomes a nitrate factory. I use a bio-ball chamber filled with crushed live rock. If you don’t care for maintenance stay away from the balls.
Inert plastic biomedia is fine in fish-only systems but it's generally avoided in reef systems with good reason. You can use a prefilter to minimize the need for cleaning the media in a wet/dry system but it still has short comings.
One of the major ones is that it offers little to no dentrification like the anerobic portions of live rock/sand do. This can lead to excess nitrate levels in the system which is where the idea comes from that bioballs can be a "nitrate factory".
A good skimmer can also be a huge asset in regards to nitrate control (among other benefits). Removing the wastes before they break down effectively keeps them from becoming a nitrate issue. Whatever little waste remains is quickly consumed by aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in/on the live rock/sand.
Corals/inverts are less tolerant of excess nitrate levels than fish, so with that in mind, this is why the live rock/sand + skimmer methodology has become so prevalent in the reefing community. It's one of the easiest, most reliable methods for running a system with extremely low nitrate levels.
HTH
One of the major ones is that it offers little to no dentrification like the anerobic portions of live rock/sand do. This can lead to excess nitrate levels in the system which is where the idea comes from that bioballs can be a "nitrate factory".
A good skimmer can also be a huge asset in regards to nitrate control (among other benefits). Removing the wastes before they break down effectively keeps them from becoming a nitrate issue. Whatever little waste remains is quickly consumed by aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in/on the live rock/sand.
Corals/inverts are less tolerant of excess nitrate levels than fish, so with that in mind, this is why the live rock/sand + skimmer methodology has become so prevalent in the reefing community. It's one of the easiest, most reliable methods for running a system with extremely low nitrate levels.
HTH
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