Live rock and bio balls?

[deeze]

I was talking to my LFS and he told me if I had the proper amount of live rock I wouldn't need to use bio balls in my wet/dry. He showed me a few set-up's he had around the store and it consisted of about 1.5 lbs of live rock per gallon, no bio balls in the wet/dry and a protien skimmer sitting in the wet/dry. It was pretty cool and he had a term for that type of setup (can't remember what he called it) but what do you guys think of it? He said the bio balls would compete with the live rock and vise versa. Made sense to me and his tanks looked great...

 

[pontius]

that's the setup I've used. I took all my bioballs out. from what I've heard from nearly everyone, the bioballs can cause nitrates to buildup. and I don't think they're necessary if you've got enough rock. Thomas, however, will disagree. at least he did the other day. when cycling, you can keep the bioballs and add rock gradually and remove the bioballs gradually. that's an important think to remember, DON'T remove the balls all at once, I think it can cause your system to crash.

 

[new2u]

yup all at once causes a crash im livin proof or should i say dead proof...