Bio Ball Question

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by rayjay

Very simply put, aerobic bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite and other aerobic bacteria convert nitrite to nitrate.
Now at this point, the nitrate requires anaerobic bacteria to convert the nitrates into gas and other by products so bio balls cannot convert nitrates.
Live rock can convert nitrates with the anaerobic bacteria in the depths of the rock where there is no oxygen, or, a sand bed of sufficient depth to eliminate oxygen can also do the same thing.

A Bio ball is just a ball with a large amount of surface area. They can be used in denitrification just like LR if they are in a low oxygen environment. Many denitrifiers on the market use bio-balls and other similar media, it's just simply something for anaerobic bacteria to attach to, the exact same way aerobic bacteria can attach to them. Weather such denitrifiers work is a different story.