Bio Balls Bad Beyond Belief?

[smokinreefer]

i believe the problem with bioballs to be that it is so effiicient at breaking down wastes [ammonia > nitrites > nitrates] that unless you have some equally efficient means to remove the nitrates you will have a steady increase in nitrate levels.

now while nitrates are pretty much accepted as not being an immediate problem, it is a source of fertilizer [if you will] for algaes, not excluding nuisance algaes. so you definitely wouldnt want to promote that type of growth. not only that, if left unchecked and nitrate levels continually rise you will run into problems down the road, throwing your system parameters out of whack, and negatively affecting the health of you inhabitants in your tank, fish, corals and inverts.

so in my opinion, when bioballs are in use, they should be used in conjunction with other maintenance methods that will remove the nitrates at the same rates produced.

-water changes would be the obvious method. though depending on the system size could become quite laborous, inconvenient and costly.

-a well maintained and regularly pruned macro algae refugium would help as well.

-a good skimmer to remove wastes before they get to become nitrates

personally i prefer to use live sand and rock as much as i can and still have it aesthetically pleasing. thus using natural filtering methods as much as possible, then use any combination of the previously mentioned maintenance practices to some extent to do the rest.

hope that helps. happy reefing.