bio-ball in sump, good or bad ?

[Reefcan]

hey, its me again.
my reef tanks about 3 weeks. there are some bio-ball in the sump. Should I take them out ?

[Myka]

Is your tank a reef or a FOWLR? I find no place for bioballs in reef tanks as they are nitrate factories, but they can be used in FOWLR tanks under special circumstances.

[chevyjaxon]

even better than bio balls use LR rubble i ditched my balls a year ago and replaced them with rubble just a thought, and yes they are nitrate factories IME but if you give them a swish in water to knock off the detritus every now and again they should be fine

[sphelps]

Once you have enough rock in your tank you should remove the bio-balls. Despite how they are marketed bio-balls don't serve a useful purpose in the standard saltwater aquarium.

[Trigger Man]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Once you have enough rock in your tank you should remove the bio-balls. Despite how they are marketed bio-balls don't serve a useful purpose in the standard saltwater aquarium.

I agree with Sphelps on this one.

[phreezee]

I'm going to vote for keeping the bioballs with the caveat that you also need sufficient LR and DSB.

Pros
1) Mechanical filtration
2) Biological filtration. Nitrate isn't as bad as nitrite, ammonia. Bio balls do this very well.
3) Silencer - cuts down on water noise.
4) With sufficient LR and DSB, your denitrifying bacteria will take care of your Nitrate.

Cons
1) Must rinse them occassionally.

Note that LR with insufficient waterflow will also produce nitrates in deadzones.

It's always about finding the balance.

I agree that rubble is better as it provides the porous areas bio balls can't.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by Reefcan

hey, its me again.
my reef tanks about 3 weeks. there are some bio-ball in the sump. Should I take them out ?

Lets put it this way. If your LFS(fish store) is trying to sell you bioballs, run, run don't walk out of the store and choose another LFS.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by naesco

Lets put it this way. If your LFS(fish store) is trying to sell you bioballs, run, run don't walk out of the store and choose another LFS.

I'm with naesco on this one. Bio-balls can work very well when used in combination with a sulphur based denitrating media run through a reactor in a fish only setup with a large bioload. Imo bioballs are detrimental to a reef tank because of the mass amounts of nitrates they produce. People who have difficulties with nitrates in reef tanks (that aren't using biolballs or another type of nitrate factory) usually have their tanks overstocked. Of course there are many other reasons a person will struggle with nitrates in a reef, but generally nitrates aren't a difficult obstacle.