Bio Balls--good or bad

[sandralane]

I have some bioballs in my sump currently but have read conflicting theories on whether they're good or not. What do y'all think? What are the benefits of having them and what do they do?
Thanks in advance everyone
Sandra

 

[yearofthenick]

Personally I'm not a fan, but there are some people on here who would disagree.
The advantage to live rock rubble is that it has the bacteria already in it that breaks down the ammonia/nitrite... but the bioballs do essentially the same thing. the only difference is that you need to allow for the bio balls to become "live" so they can also break down the ammonia/nitrite in the tank. The down side is that the bio balls need to be cleaned every six months, and everyone has their own opinion on how to do it. The general practice with bio balls is that you should clean half your bio balls every six months.
Some like bio balls because they can be cleaned - live rock rubble cannot be cleaned in the same way. Those that use bio balls generally use them because they think using live rock rubble instead is considered "dirty."
Personally I don't use either. If you already have live rock in the main part of your tank, all you really need is good water flow and filtration that can take out the bigger stuff. I've seen tanks on this forum that just have a powerhead and hang-on-back filter! That's nothing when it comes to filtration! But it works for them.
It all comes down to how much money you want to spend and how much time you want to take with maintenance.

 

[geoj]

Originally Posted by sandralane
http:///forum/post/2897185
I have some bioballs in my sump currently but have read conflicting theories on whether they're good or not. What do y'all think? What are the benefits of having them and what do they do?
Thanks in advance everyone
Sandra
So far there is nothing that I have used that is as good as the real thing, live rock… I would recommend though that you use bio-balls when you have the experience to understand their limits (to learn what is myth and what is fact). No mater what type of bio-filter you use there is a maximum amount of filtration it can handle and bio-balls falls short for most peoples expectations. ReefrestH2O BioMedia Block 9x9x4 looks to be something I would like to try.

 

[aquaknight]

Liverock and bioballs do one thing similar, they house aerobic bacteria (after becoming established) which consumes ammonia and nitrite. LR also can contain anaerobic bacteria which consumes nitrates. Something bioballs only really produce considering the stuff they trap and rot away in there.

 

[geoj]

Originally Posted by AquaKnight
http:///forum/post/2897228
Liverock and bioballs do one thing similar, they house aerobic bacteria (after becoming established) which consumes ammonia and nitrite. LR also can contain anaerobic bacteria which consumes nitrates. Something bioballs only really produce considering the stuff they trap and rot away in there.
It does not matter where the decomposition happens, the bacteria takes the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate out of the water not out of the waste. So if you have more waste then the bacteria can handle then you get build-up. The fix is either put less waste in, or remove more out in some way.
I do agree that bioballs dont consumes much if any nitrates...

 

[aquaknight]

Originally Posted by GeoJ
http:///forum/post/2897251
It does not matter where the decomposition happens, the bacteria takes the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate out of the water not out of the waste. So if you have more waste then the bacteria can handle then you get build-up. The fix is either put less waste in, or remove more out in some way.
I do agree that bioballs dont consumes much if any nitrates...
Anaerobic bacteria is what consumes nitrates. It does not grow on most surfaces like the aerobic bacteria which eats amm./nitrites. Most LR has this specialized area. Bioballs don't.

 

[dennis210]

One fact to consider is that bioball were invented for the sole purpose of maximizing the surface area for bacteria to form on. As a matter of fact they promote bacterial growth so well that many consider them to be nitrate factories. So if you are using them you are making more work for your live rock and deep sand bed. The only bacteria that break down nitrate live in very low oxygen areas of the system (anarobic) and actually respire utilizing nitrate instead of oxygen (actually pulling off oxgen from nitrate). So as stated earlier - if your system has plenty of flow, live rock, and a deep sand bed - further nitrogen filtration is redundant. If you must then go with live rock rubble as it is just more live rock in the system. It's just my two cwnts but my findings and science will back it up. Oh & yeah - without bioballs one less maintainance issue

 

[geoj]

Here is how I see it.
If you have two systems with all things the same one with bioballs the other with out you will have the same amount of nitrate in both systems. Waste that goes in and waste comes out at the same rate. The system that has bioballs collects waste on the balls the other collects waste is in the sand or rocks. All the waste brakes down to nitrate and the water moves it to the anaerobic areas to be further removed. The bioball tank has more protection form high ammonia and nitrite. Thesis toxins are converted to nitrate quicker in the tank with bioballs then without bioballs. Do we need the bioballs to do this for us not in my tank. So I don’t see more waste being generated by bioballs, just that you can see it on the bioballs and so when you clean it off you remove waste from the system lowering the nitrate and assuming the bioballs are at fault.

 

[sandralane]

Thank Y'all very much for you imput. I really appreciate it. I took about 1/2 of my bioballs out this afternoon and figure I will do the other half next week. What do I do w/ the empty space down there though? I thought about putting some lr down there but it won't get any light>
Sandra

 

[nuro]

just want to chime in here, i currently have a 55 thats 9 months old with a 4" - 8" DSB and about 175lb LR that experiencing mild nitrates for about the past 3 weeks.. i have enver cleaned my balls nor the filter seperating the balls from the return pump. if im reading this correctly you guys are suggestign cleaning half of the balls and allowing the bacteria to reform?... would the removal of the bacteria on half of the balls minimize the amount of ammonia and nitrite reduction then?

 

[geoj]

Originally Posted by nuro
http:///forum/post/2898454
just want to chime in here, i currently have a 55 thats 9 months old with a 4" - 8" DSB and about 175lb LR that experiencing mild nitrates for about the past 3 weeks.. i have enver cleaned my balls nor the filter seperating the balls from the return pump. if im reading this correctly you guys are suggestign cleaning half of the balls and allowing the bacteria to reform?... would the removal of the bacteria on half of the balls minimize the amount of ammonia and nitrite reduction then?
Every thing you have said is correct and can be one way to deal with your prob. For a more lasting fix you can add more nitrate reduction by adding more “cycled cured live rock”, reduce any over feeding, or remove fish to lower bio-load. I hope your DSB is set up correctly and not starting to go bad on you.
You don’t need more LR 175lb should be good I would look at other reasons for elevated nitrate.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by nuro
http:///forum/post/2898454
just want to chime in here, i currently have a 55 thats 9 months old with a 4" - 8" DSB and about 175lb LR that experiencing mild nitrates for about the past 3 weeks.. i have enver cleaned my balls nor the filter seperating the balls from the return pump. if im reading this correctly you guys are suggestign cleaning half of the balls and allowing the bacteria to reform?... would the removal of the bacteria on half of the balls minimize the amount of ammonia and nitrite reduction then?
One word I want to say (and for me that’s something) REFUGIUM (with a higher form of algae )

 

[gregarch99]

I'm in the process of setting up a bowfront 36g (upgrading from my 20g) and was trying to decide on what to do with the bioballs as well. Guy at the store said take them out and use liverock but I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. One question I have though: Since the water is simply flowing through and not accumulating where the bioballs are, is it still ok for the liverock to not be submerged in water completely? Also, while on the subject of wet dry filters...In my overflow it's creating an ugly sound of where the water flows down the tube into the filter. Does any one have any idea how to get rid of that noise? Would changing the water level (it's about 1/2 inch higher than the overflow) help that?