Originally Posted by
MATTHRUSHFORD
http:///forum/post/2995652
question
i read and the only maintenance there is to do is replace the bio balls and carbon monthly.
other people said to remove that and put crushed live rock instead?
not sure what to do.
You should never replace the bio balls. These maintain important bacteria for your system. However you should wash them, (in a bucket of old tank water), just to make sure that you don't get a buildup of crap which causes nitrates to go up.
Bio balls are fine as long as you keep them relatively clean. Most prefer live rock rubble so they don't have to clean it. However just be aware that if you don't have a ton of flow and have "dead spots" in the filter, then the live rock can hold particles that will raise nitrates too.
If it were me, I'd go with live rock rubble. It generally has more capacity to hold beneficial bacteria and critters then bio balls.