Bio Balls and Refugium

[vac man]

Bio balls and refugium Bio Balls
I have been told by my LFS not to use bio balls but instead use Bio Foam. Also I have been told neither should be submerged in water. The water should just trickle through. Any opinions. Also would it be better to use some rubble LR. I have been told bio balls can produce nitrate and ammonia. I am currently using bio foam in a sump and I am wanting to add a refugium with a filter chamber. Thought I would use bio balls but now I am wondering. See attached pic

 

[lion_crazz]

Wow, is that your sump? If so, that is a nice little fuge section.
Do you have live rock in the tank? Honestly, if you have enough live rock to support the tank, you really do not want bio-anything. They do contribute to your nitrates after a while and need often maintenance in order to be clean and nitrate-free.

 

[vac man]

Wow, is that your sump? If so, that is a nice little fuge section.
No this is just a pic i like of the one i want to build. I have lots of live rock. My tank is a 150gal and i have 200lbs. I am just not getting the nitrate down. Lots of water changes and it stays about 30. Anyway i have been looking a Refugium plans and i like the idea of another filter. I can feed my sump with it by using gravity only. No additional pumps. I could leave the baffles out and just use a tank. THat is why i am struggling with the bio issue. I also have a little room in my sump for some rubble maybe. I would think the sand and some algae should make my tank nitrate free.

 

[lion_crazz]

Yeah, if you could build a refugium in your sump, it would help your tank a whole lot. You do not want bio balls or any type of bio media however. You have plenty of live rock for that tank. That bio media is contributing to nitrates.

 

[vac man]

Bump

 

[tennisace]

Well, my LFS (the guy that owns it is a genius, he can keep just about anything), told me not to use bio balls, it does trap nitrates they found out. The reason ppl still use them a lot is because of tanks several years old that still have them before they found out that they were bad. The guy told me to have liverock because it will do all the filtering, and just a sump that the water falls into (oxygenizes the water for the fish) and have the protein skimmer in the sump, I guess you can make it a refugium and it would be fine, but not to use bio balls.

 

[thomas712]

With that type of setup I can agree that there is no need for the bio balls. I'd still have a skimmer for oxygenating the water though.

 

[vac man]

I am planning to use my sump and the refugium. My sump is an oceanic 30gal and i have a skimmer and a heater in it. W
What do you think of using BIO FOAM in the sump where the balls where.

 

[thomas712]

With the fuge portion of the sump I really don't think any form of bio media is necessary.

 

[ryan115]

do the bioballs still trap nitrates in a trickle filter? This is the basic type of wet/dry that i have on my tank now. Should i Remove it completly and sell it or keep it and just clean it often? Also what about the sponge? Is it doing anything to help? My tank is a 112g with lots of LR and about to add a fuge. So what should i do about the trickle filter?

 

[lion_crazz]

I would keep the filter, leave the pad in place, take the bio balls out and either leave that spot empty or fill it with rubble live rock.

 

[thomas712]

Yeah once the refugium is up and running then you can start to remove the bio balls a few handfulls a week until they are all gone. I basically did the same thing.

 

[yellowlogi]

i was looking into getting one of those trikle sumps shown above for my 55 gal tank.. i have 60 lbs live rock.. is there really a point to get one?? right now i have emperor 400 and protein skimmer.

 

[snailheave]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
Yeah, if you could build a refugium in your sump, it would help your tank a whole lot. You do not want bio balls or any type of bio media however. You have plenty of live rock for that tank. That bio media is contributing to nitrates.
and phosphate!