Problematic bio-balls?

[jehudson]

Hey folks ... I was perusing RC and stumbled across someone lamenting, "I still have bioballs in my wet/dry despite knowing that they will likely cause me problems in the long run". I thought Bio-balls were good. What am I missing?

[Richard]

Bioballs tend to accumulate detritus which can eventually become a nutrient sink without proper maintenance.

[RayAllen]

In freshwater aquariums they are great, even in Saltwater FO aquariums. But in FOWLR and reefs they as stated by Richard just accumulate nutrients which in turn raise your nitrate levels which your corals will not like. With that said a lot of easy/soft corals will tolerate higher nitrates but would do better without them.

[Bill S]

I prefer to put some kind of mechanical filtration in, that will physically remove detritus (gunk). If you did that before your bio balls, you might do ok.

[jehudson]

In freshwater aquariums they are great, even in Saltwater FO aquariums. But in FOWLR and reefs they as stated by Richard just accumulate nutrients which in turn raise your nitrate levels which your corals will not like. With that said a lot of easy/soft corals will tolerate higher nitrates but would do better without them.


I see what you are saying. I have visible levels of dirt-lookin stuff (detritus?) on the bioballs and on the bottom of my sump. Do I need to shake that junk off the bio-balls in a bucket of salt-water and siphon up the bottom of my sump?

[RayAllen]

yes that would be the best to siphon the detrius out. If you want you can slowly remove the bio balls a few per week untill they are all gone. Then replace with Live rock rubble and you will be good to go.

[erikharrison]

If you can't afford the LR rubble right now, scrub 1/3 of your bioballs, and put them back in. Wait a week and grab another third. One more week the last third. The reason you do it that way is because the bio balls do have bacteria on them, so removing them all and putting them all back in clean at the same time could possibly cause a crash do to lack of bacteria to aid in denitrification.

[jehudson]

Thanks for your help everyone. I wish I knew bout MAAST when I started this up last year. I appreciate all the input.

[emac]

why wouldn't you just use live rock in your main tank or sump instead?

[jehudson]

why wouldn't you just use live rock in your main tank or sump instead?

I'm leaning more toward that direction. It seems to make more sense (from what I'm reading) to use the LR rubble than bioballs. It's mearly a matter of cost at the moment. I still need another 20-30 lbs LR for the main tank, and I still havent upgraded my lighting.

I have to say ... It's really hard to be patient. I see all the cool corals and fish posted on the site and I cant wait to get them in mine too. Oh well. My wife says I can get whatever I want as soon as we win the lottery :):):)

[Richard]

An alternative to LR rubble is Seachem's MATRIX biomedia. It is a porous rock media that you can put in filter bags in place of the bioballs. Then it's easy to pull out the filter bag and shake off any detritus that may build up over time. The advantage of LR rubble or something like matrix is that you can get at least some level of nitrate reduction as well ammonia/nitrite reduction. With bioballs you'll never get any nitrate reduction no matter how clean you keep them.

[MissT]

Another possibility is to use lava rock... the cheapest you can possibly find so that any dye, etc washes right off. Rinse the heck out of it and replace the bio balls. Even better, would be to seed the lava rock first or do like 70% lava rock, 30% live rock rubble and you're in business, without the risk of bio balls crashing your tank. BTW, this works great in freshwater canister filters as well, or for those stuck in 1998, saltwater canister filters. lol... And DON'T get Scott's or some other name brand lava rock. You'll never get the dye rinsed out.

[Richard]

saltwater canister filters. lol...

Hey now, my 210 seahorse tank is built completely around canister filters LOL.

The only problem with lava rock is that it may or may not contain harmful things like heavy metals or high amounts of phosphate that could cause real problems. I don't think there is a way to tell if lava rock is safe or not so it is not usually recommended for saltwater.

[MissT]

One way to be positive is to get a few pieces, do the whole rinse the heck out of them thing, then soak for a couple days in DI water and then test the KH, GH, and Phosphates. DI water should have none of the above. If the rock has any, it will readout. Again, more luck has been had with the cheapest stuff (how many times can you say that in fishkeeping?!?! lol) because the name brand's claim to fame is that the color doesn't fade, which is great in the yard, but not for this purpose.