bioballs - good/bad - discuss

[fishie]

My LFS told me I should phase out the use of bioballs - take a bunch out every week until they are gone. His reasoning is that they create nitrates, and also I could use the space in the wet/dry for other things.
My questions:
1. Should I remove bioballs?
2. What other things is he talking about?
Additional information:
58 gal Oceanic, 60 pds live rock, 1 year running
a few corals
fish: 2 clown perc, 3 damsels, Hippo Tang, 6 line wrasse, bi-color pseud
2 pepp shrimps, bunch of turbos/hermits
Wet/Dry (obviously)
Eheim canister
Precision Marine Skimmer
A shot of ozone overnight, once/wk
My nitrates rise to about 20 between water changes which

 

[nacl-h2o]

Bio-balls do not cause NO3, feeding your tank causes NO3, the bio-balls are just a good place for the bacteria to grow and if you remove them the bacteria will just grow somewhere else. They won't cause any problems the only true reason to remove them is to make room for something else. You don't have to have bio-balls if you have LR & LS. They are a redundancy.
He could have been talking about making space for anything, only he could tell you.

 

[mr . salty]

Mke space for skimmer,heaters,dosing equiptment,,Pretty much any equiptment(except powerheads) you don't want to see in the main tank...

 

[newfishliny]

Originally posted by NaCl-H2O
Bio-balls do not cause NO3, feeding your tank causes NO3, the bio-balls are just a good place for the bacteria to grow and if you remove them the bacteria will just grow somewhere else. They won't cause any problems the only true reason to remove them is to make room for something else. You don't have to have bio-balls if you have LR & LS. They are a redundancy.
He could have been talking about making space for anything, only he could tell you.
BUt by having a wet dry and live sand and live rock aren't
you increasing the bio load and increasing oxogen exchange.
for a fish only tank , will this be a stronger all around tank.
would a skimmer in a all fish tank work better or would go for a wet dry.

 

[nacl-h2o]

In an FO tank with a heavy bio-load a wet/dry is a good idea. As a matter of fact I would recommend it and LR and LS for stability. But if you have a moderate or low fish load and plenty of LR, LS, it's not neccisary unless you have only a little LR or have low circulation. But there is nothing wrong with using it. Contrary to popular belief it will not cause NO3 problems, there is no down side to having one, it does promote good O2 levels and will allow you to keep a higher bio-load in a tank when used with LR & LS.