Bio Balls

[nicodemus]

I have a 40 gal reef tank with skimmer and bio balls. My lfs told me that if I have a reef tank with live rock(which I do), the bio balls will just increase the nitrates and that I should add more live rock and depend on this for filtration (plus skimmer), removing the bio balls. I am currently dealing with a high phosphate/hair algae growth problem and looking for filtration solutions. Also, is it possible to have too deep of a sand bed?

 

[opus18]

Originally Posted by nicodemus
I have a 40 gal reef tank with skimmer and bio balls. My lfs told me that if I have a reef tank with live rock(which I do), the bio balls will just increase the nitrates and that I should add more live rock and depend on this for filtration (plus skimmer), removing the bio balls. I am currently dealing with a high phosphate/hair algae growth problem and looking for filtration solutions. Also, is it possible to have too deep of a sand bed?
I've been slowly removing the bio-balls from my wet/dry and plan to replace wtih lr rubble. Bio-balls are great for a FO tank... once the LR is added, they just fight with each other... As for the DSB, what I just read in a book called Mini-Reef concerns how deep is needed... Many "experts" dissagree... Near the bottom of the sand bed, there should be a layer that receives no oxygenated water. The bacteria that exist in that level consume the nitrate and convert it to nitrogen gas, which floats the surface and into the air. Is it possible to go too deep?... well, yeah... I'm sure it is... What is that magic number? Every expert will tell you something different. To get the effect that I read about, you want about 3" of LS. This gives a good depth for your burrowers to play in, and leaves a level that remains undisturbed and can consume the nitrate...

 

[cgrant]

I am comverting my all-glass #4 trickle filter into a fuge, will be replacing the bio-balls with LR rubble.
The key is to make sure you have enough LR to support the system, I have about 100lbs of LR in my 210, not enough to support the system, so I pick up ~50lbs every pay (2 weeks) until i have atleast 200lbs.
So I am about a month or so away of being able to start the swap.
Bio-Balls are very affective and if kept clean work well, I have 2 puffers 6" porcy and a 9" golden, they eat like cows and my trates never go over 10 but thats because I maintain my tank, so yes you can affectivly use bio-balls as long as you clean about 1/4 of them about once a month, I just swush them around in a bucket of the old saltwater when i do a water change, once a month.
High nitrates are usually caused by overfeeding and/or poor tank maint. in general.
If your tank is fairly new the brown algae is normal, mine turned from brown to green and now its starting to turn purple, but i dont have hair algae.
I clean up crew also helps out ALOT!!!
Hope this helps!