Bio Balls

crypt keeper

Active Member
get rid of them. Get yourself some Cheato, crumbled live rock pieces and a light hooked up to keep the cheato alive.
watch the magic.
 

spanko

Active Member
They require more maintenance that other things. People are lazy and don't want to deal with it. They really work wonderfully for what they are designed to do. If you can keep up the maintenance leave them there.
JMO
Oh I am one of the lazy ones, don't want to deal with additional maintenance issues.
 

zsqure

Member
NEED MORE INPUT!
Bioballs house beneficial bacteria dont they? Explain the maintenance. I am starting to wonder where the red algae is coming from, I know excess non beneficial nutrients. But from where? The balls?
 

spanko

Active Member
It is recommended that you maintain bio balls by taking a portion out at each water change or on some regular basis and give them a good swishing around in some saltwater to dislodge the detritus that tends to accumulate on them. No scrubbing with brushed or anything here, just some good old heavy duty swishing.
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2982697
They require more maintenance that other things. People are lazy and don't want to deal with it. They really work wonderfully for what they are designed to do. If you can keep up the maintenance leave them there.
JMO
Oh I am one of the lazy ones, don't want to deal with additional maintenance issues.
Henry you mean to say you do not have the time to clean your balls bio of course.
bioball cleaning

[hr]
only do this if your tank is at least 6 months old
1. Place some new saltwater in a five gallon plastic bucket, or any other type of good-sized deep plastic container. This is where you will rinse and clean the bio-balls off. If you are planning for a water change, water removed from the aquarium may be used for this as well.
2. Turn off the filter.
3. Remove about 1/4 of the bio-balls from the filter chamber and place them into the container with the saltwater.
4. Stir and swish the bio-balls around in the saltwater to break all the gunk or organic matter loose that is stuck on them. If they are extremely dirty, you may have to repeat this step. DO NOT scrub the bio-balls! Just allow the saltwater to do the job, nothing more than that.
5. Scoop the rinsed bio-balls out and place them back into the filter bio-chamber. A plastic kitchen colander works great for this, but any type of cup or small container with drain holes in it will do. The bio-balls come out, the yucky water stays behind.
6. Restart the filter.
7. Test for the appearance of ammonia every few days for a week, then every several days over another week after that. If the tests read near zero after this time, it is ok to repeat the process. If ammonia does appear, wait until readings drop back to zero, then wait another couple of weeks after that before repeating the process with the next batch of bio balls
 
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