bio-ball in sump, good or bad ?

[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.