To Wet/dry or not to wet/dry, that is the question

[msmith619]

I have wet/dry because it came with my 75 gallon reef-ready tank. After reading a lot on these posts if I were to choose, I would have bought a refugium but cost was an issue. Never-the-less, I have zero amonia, nitrites and nitrates in my tank. It is designed to have the bio-balls all out of the water, I keep it half full of water and so half are submerged. On the return side, I put some rock rubble and a layer of sand- no lights or plants though. It is working for me.....so far.
It appears this might not work long term as they may eventually build up nitrates. I see some posts about removing and rinsing with fresh water periodically to clean them but that looks detrimental by killing the good bacteria with fresh water. I do a 15% water change every week. Would the bio-balls work long-term, i.e. no nitrate build-up if once a month (or every 3rd month?) I removed them and scrubbed them in the bucket of old water before dumping it?
By the way, I have a large amount of Caulerpa growing in my tank both for looks and for the benefit of macro algie and to feed the tangs and angels. I suspect that probably is my best bet for keeping nitrates down.
I also would appreciate more info as I am keeping corals and if bio-balls are bad, I will upgrade to a better system when the cash flow allows.
Mike