a&m aggie 04'
Active Member
bioballs that is. They've been in for a while now and i havent even thought about cleaning them. Whats everyones take on this??
Mark
Mark
should i clean my balls???
- Thread starter a&m aggie 04'
- Start date
coralcollector
Member
Mark always use soap
T
thomas712
Guest
Set up the 90 in December and have cleaned my bio balls twice now. I might not have but had to tear the sump apart twice for other things.
Thomas
Thomas
cincyreefer
Active Member
You really shouldnt clean the bioballs. They house most of the bacteria that breaks down the ammonia/nitrite and if you clean them you stand the chance of losing some of it. Chances are you wont lose much since they have water running over them anyway, but there really isnt any reason to clean them.
T
thomas712
Guest
Originally posted by cincyreefer
You really shouldnt clean the bioballs. They house most of the bacteria that breaks down the ammonia/nitrite and if you clean them you stand the chance of losing some of it. Chances are you wont lose much since they have water running over them anyway, but there really isnt any reason to clean them.
First of all, if you use a good pre filter, and keep it clean, then you will not have to clean them very often. But if you have been in this hobby for a while sooner or later you are going to hear someone's erronious bilge about bio balls being a nitrate factory.
This only becomes true if you never clean your bio balls and they get food and waist traped in them, over feed, don't change your pre filter, never clean your sump. All these things need to be maintained.
If cleaning the bio balls then you should never clean them all at once, just a few handfuls at a time or never more than 1/4 of them. And you can use saltwater to do it or RO water, never tap water to clean them. But it should be done, how often depends on setup, feeding habits, and routine maitenance.
JMO, IME
Thomas