Bio-balls

[kraiford]

I have the bio-balls from my old tank about 1 1/2yrs old. However they have sat outside in the old sump on my porch when we moved into a new house. Hubby forgot he put it there. They were a little sandy from being outside. This might be a silly question but here it goes. Can they still be used if we rinse them off?

 

[tthemadd1]

I would say go for it... Is there any bacteria still on them? It might start a cycle if there are a lot of dead bacteria on them. I would rinse them off and even scrub them.
Good luck
themadd1

 

[kraiford]

I have no idea if they have any bact. on them still. The new cycle is not a problem. I am at the moment curing rock in my new tank. If I put them in there now they would accumalte the bact. correct?

 

[thomas712]

If they dried off then the bacteria that was on them is dead. They can still be used in a wet/dry atmosphere if you like or reused, I might (depending on how they look) soak them in white vinegar if there are any calcium deposits on them. Rinse them and reuse.
Thomas

 

[trainfever]

If you are going to use live rock, why even bother with the bioballs?

 

[theirr]

Just when I think a knew it all. I thought that a sump with bio balls was the greatest thing in the world. It's a bilogical filter what could be bad about that? What is the best set up for a fish only system?
I currently have a sump with bioballs, canister filter, two power heads, a protien skimmer, and about 40 lbs of LR and 100 lbs of LS in a 100 gallon tank. I thought that was as good as it gets except I could keep adding LR??????

 

[dskidmore]

Wet/Drys and canister filters are great at turning ammonia into Nitrate. In a fish only tank, this is the greatest thing. If you're really going for coral growth however, Nitrate can be a problem in and of itself. Many people have had luck with using thier wet/dry as a sump with no bio-balls, and using the canister filter as a pump with no media in it. The live rock, the skimmer, a filter sock, and lots of current seems to do just as well as fancier filtration equiptment.

 

[acrylic51]

Bioballs can be reused... As mentioned earlier since they were sitting outside they probabyl have dried and they just need a good cleansing and are ready for use again

 

[kraiford]

Thank you very much for the replies. I have washed them off and put them in the sump. I have 60lbs of LF and 65lbs of LS, sock filter and skimmer, mag12 return and two power heads,VHO 2x110 actinic white and 2x110 super actinic blue. I do not plan on using the bio-balls until a good bacteria has built up and then slowly taking them out. We are curing and cycling right now. We plan on keeping coral and some fish. Oh, it is a 55gal.