Bio Balls Bad Beyond Belief?

[Myanth]

The more I read, the more I get scared of Bio Balls. It's not because anyone says anything especially bad about them, other than nitrate production, just that everyone seems quite against them. Kind of like George Bush and the "evildoers". Lots of fright... no fact. I have them in my sump, about six gallons worth in a 33 gal sump under 90 gal tank. Is nitrate production not good? Or should the nitrogen cycle be broken down in the rest of the system instead. I have 105lb live rock and 110lb live sand. Just got it started and would like to change it now if necessary. I'm moving from a manually skimmed, topped up and cleaned 10 gal nano with about fifteen softies, two clowns, a blenny, 14lb rock, and a herd of hermits and snails w/coralife 96W overhead, penguin 270 hang on, powersweep 20. Should I turn the sump into a refugium instead with the corallife light over top? It grows macros really well. If so.... the questions abound.... substrate? macros? livestock? flow rates?

Or should the refugium be totally separate from the sump... if so... what is the purpose of the sump? Mechanical filtration?

Phew
Thanks.
Mike

[Saltysteve]

I'm playing around in the same area as yourself. I believe a sump is great for mechanical filtration as well as a great place for equipment, protein skimming, heaters etc. I'm not a seasoned pro and I'm sure if I'm wrong I'll be corrected; a sump setup with our thinking is referred to as a plenum. Lots of reading here on it http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlenumFAQs.htm
A refugium is a seperate animal all together. Many will run both. The refugium is suppose to be on display as well. Setup beside or behind your main tank etc. The plenum idea and DSB issues have been beat to death on all the forums. The refugium setup seems to have its place and escapes much conversation other than being praised. My nitrate levels and water parameters remain quite constant. Nitrate is always below 5 etc.... I may concentrate on other areas myself, maintaining calcium and alk is climbing to the top of my list. How are your parameters?

[Myanth]

As I am still seeing levels, low as they are, of ammonia and nitrite, I have not been testing anything else. PH has not changed from 8.3 but I think that is because of my rock and sand. I have not been checking calcium yet as I have nothing in this tank, barring the rock, that will use it. In the reading I have done I see that alkalinity until stable will fluctuate so I have not been checking it either untill I see no ammonia. I could be wrong. It hasn't happened yet this year though As far as the plenum.. is that not an anearobic area under your sand bed that has minimal water flow to lower PH in that area to increase the breakdown of nitrogen? My 10 gal nano has never had good calcium levels... until I started using a nano filter on the change water. Not as good as an RO but still removes 60-70% of dissolved solids. Running two nano's in series and I am finally able to get calcium above 350. I'll let you know where the big tank stands when I get it checked.

[reeferaddict]

Sounds like you're on the right track. I say do whatever works for you. Delbeek and Sprung's Reef Aquarium Volume 3 has some absolutely AWESOME information on running systems various ways... they have used a totally open minded approach and have delivered some of the best information to date in this book, with some of the articles coming from some familiar places we go to here on the internet.

I just removed 7 gallons of bioballs from my system... just to see if this will give me some headway on some hair algae I have been getting...

Alkalinity is something that can be monitored and controlled from almost day one. I add more alkalinity than anything else to my system in one way or another.

It really doesn't matter which way you decide to go, as long as you create a balanced, stable system capable of housing the animals you want to keep.

[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.