"Nitrate builders"

[gjuarez]

[QUOTE=reddrum;668311]I keeps being brought up that bioballs are too fast at producing nitrates...Would you rather ammonia and nitrite hang around longer?[QUOTE]


The way you phrased this is as if you were saying that you need bio-balls to convert amonia and nitrite into nitrate. Bio balls help, however they are not the only way or the best way in my humble opinion. Once again, they provide surface area for the denitrifying bacteria but can be detrimental over the long run if not maintained properly. If you really want to get awesome biological filtration, get at least 1.5 to 2 pounds of live rock in your display and i gurantee you that you wont have an amonia or nitrite problem, at all. If you want to deal with NO3, then get at least a 4" deep sand bed and that should help, of course through a proper maintenance routine. Tough to beat a good skimmer these days, imho the best thing to take care of nutrients.

[Texreefer]

Bring your test kits over and test my system,, I bet you find undetectible nitrates,,, I don't have bio balls... its just a discussion and opinion. if you like them use them.. plus the question was why are they not wanted. not which way is better,, I have some old bioballs somwhere is anyone wants them

I keeps being brought up that bioballs are too fast at producing nitrates...Would you rather ammonia and nitrite hang around longer?

Personally I would rather keep them at zero and deal with the nitrates.

I guess my point with this was maybe would should stress more to newcomers to the saltwater/nano tank deal that waste removal and nitrate control (protein skimmers/macro algae) are more important than what biological filtration you have.

Bottom line is if you have live rock rubble, sponge, bioballs, or whatever else you choose it will slow water flow. Thus, accumulating waste. Additionally, nitrates will be produced. It is your job to remove them since it is very difficult to utilize anaerobic denitrification.

[reddrum]

Texreefer, I bet you do regular water changes and have good husbandry practices in general. Which is why you don't have nitrates. Not necessarily because you don't have bioballs.

I am kind of coming out of this as a bioball salesman! Don't get me wrong bioballs can become a problem if not used right. However, a smaller amount of bioballs in a high flow area will not collect detritus and will not hurt. If you don't need them then don't use them. I am not advocating throwing stuff in your compartments just because you can.

We have kind of got a little side tracked from where I was originally going with this, all I wanted to say was rather than demonizing bioballs, we should focus on nitrate control more.

Good input and discussion everyone!

[Third Coast Tropical]

hmmm.....ammonia and nitrite toxicity, or nitrate haven???? How about neither....do your maintenence and water changes and there really shouldn't be issues....I think that is reddrums entire point.....I agree, do your maintenence and water changes on whatever filtration device/bedia you choose, and most problems with the nitrogen cycle can be alleviated/reduced......if you use bio balls, siphon out the compartment they sit in from time to time (just keep them wet).......

maitenence....

[hobogato]

i think the problem many people have with bioballs is when they are used in a traditional wet/dry filter where they are out of the water and the tank water trickles over them. this allows them to trap detritus more and makes maintenance more difficult.

[Third Coast Tropical]

there should be some type of mechanical filtration prior to the bioballs to eliminate that issue....foam, ac filter, baffles, etc.....most solids should be removed before ever getting to the bio-balls.....and should be removed via rountine siphoning/maitenence.....
...again, maintenence...its on the aquarist, not the filtration device

[serazol]

So is the whole "bioballs are bad because they are nitrate factories" stigma because people were not putting fine mechanical filtration before water hits the bioballs?

When I first bought my biocube29, I read a lot of people took out their bioballs because they were called "nitrate factories." I never understood that. I thought that would have been a good thing: you WANT that ammonia and nitrite to turn into the less toxic nitrate ASAP.

What you DON'T want is an ammonia factory. That's what it becomes when big detrius particles get into the bioball chamber. There's no clean-up crew (snails, crabs, worms) back there, and it's a pain to siphon that cramped space yourself. I _could_ use filter floss in the first chamber, but they get dirty real quick and I have to throw them out every day.

That's my reason I have the bioballs out: they're more maintenance than they're worth, and not simply "because they are nitrate factories" --which is a good thing, actually.

P.S.: I should note that nitrate will happen sooner or later. The bioballs do not create nitrate out of no-where. It's better to have nitrate lingering than have nitrite lingering in the water. It's up to the aquarist to get rid of the nitrates through water changes or through nitrate eaters (macro algae, mangroves, etc).

[Big_Pun]

so any way to use the bio ball sumps, turn them into a refugium, i dont have that $$$ or maybe plumb a tank to it as a refugium

[danny]

so any way to use the bio ball sumps, turn them into a refugium, i dont have that $$$ or maybe plumb a tank to it as a refugium

I'm in the same boat here sorta......I'm in the market for a much larger sump than what I have. I look through the pictures here of some of the setups people have under their tanks and good lord.....some of it's amazing and I want one!

[serazol]

so any way to use the bio ball sumps, turn them into a refugium, i dont have that $$$ or maybe plumb a tank to it as a refugium

Are you talking about the Oceanic BioCube or an exterior tank? If you're talking about the BioCube, there are plenty of cheap mods out there that changed the bioball area into refugiums.

A compartment is a compartment. In can house the bioballs or it can host anything else like chaeto, cucumbers, algae, etc... You just gotta add the lighting for it if it needs it.