Bio Balls

fwildthing

fwildthing

Member
I just got a 90 gallon drilled tank with a sump. this is my third one, but I've never used bio balls before. (or live sand substrate) I've always made my own sumps with rubbermaid tubs, egg crate and filter floss chambers with charcoal. i'm currently using such a set up on a 125 with 2 berlin skimmers.
my question is are bio balls a good sump filter? I was going to leave them out of the system, but I've read pros and cons ....just wonder if anyone can tell me if they are useful. I'm still going to build floss and charcoal chambers in the sump....and it has a triple pass skimmer.
thanks
 
fwildthing

fwildthing

Member
OR, can I just start a refugium and forget about a sump??? I'm not too clear on whether a refugium will do it all or not. I would really like to try a refugium. I had considered building one on my 125 soon.
 
azocean709

azocean709

Member
i have read several articals about bio balls being a NitrAte trap. so i decided to do a test. I tested my water, my trates have always been around 7-10. I started removing bioballs from the wet/dry. <slowly as commented in the artical, so that your tank can adjust.> i removed them over a period of 3 weeks, I then replaced the bioballs with LR rubble. I test my water every week, and with my regular 10% waterchanges once a week, my trates dropped to 0-1, and have been holding steady. It seemed to have worked, so i believe i will stay with this. My 55 DT goes to the wet dry, and then into a 30 refugium also. I like the refugium..i also use it as my frag tank. I don't have many corals yet, so there are not that many frags and it doest take up too much space.
 
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