Bio balls

[Corey]

Just wondering if anything works as well as bio balls, I was thinking simple filter floss would work the same. Any suggestions?

[Rikko]

Hey Corey,

I assume you mean as a biological filter media rather than any other use, right? (Though I bet filter floss would do something interesting in a skimmer too...) If so, I personally think bio balls are a ridiculous waste. They have a good bit of surface area, but really, look at all the air!
Crushed lava rock works great in pond filters and larger FW setups - it would have the same effect in a SW system as far as having a lot of surface area available. My only obvious concern is mineral exchange in a seawater system. I've read a few times that volcanic rock is totally inert, but never saw any decent support for it.

I'm also a pretty big fan of fluidized bed filters - LOTS of available surface area there and it's much more compact.

[Corey]

No, I plan on making a de-nitrifying(spell that three times fast) coil, and am wondering if there is some other things such as floss or chunks of pvc that would work the same if not better than Bio-balls.

[Rikko]

How's that going to work? I always considered bio balls only useful for nitrification - I thought denitrifiers just relied on the walls on the extremely long tube to house the nasties.. How thick of a coil are you planning on using? I've never seen one use anything bigger than airline tubing.

[Corey]

heres a link for more info:
http://www.aloha.net/~hqf/indexdondenitrator.htm

basically all Im doing is using a 16" piece of 3" PVC, running a coil of 1/4"airline tubing from the bottom of the reactor till an inch from the top. In the cavity of the reactor will be bio-balls( or variation). As the water slowly runs through the coil it loses O2 and and thus only nitrate eating bacteria are left from that point all the way through the bio balls, thus allowing only nitrate free water to drip back into the tank. Dont know how well it will work, and doesnt mean Ill do less water changes, but even to work a little bit would be beneficial.

[Rikko]

Ahhh.. Neato. In that case, I still think that lava rock would give you greater surface area. I'm not seeing much about lava rock and reef tanks, however. Might be a risky venture :/

[cc_bruno]

I'm currently using about 30 lbs of lava rock, (I have 3 large chunks in there that make up most of that weight, so, the tank doesn't look like it's saltwater BBQ grill ), in a seperate tank that just has some shrimp in it, and that's it, (no snails, etc). I have noticed a little bit of a brown algae / slime build up on the glass, but, I am only running a sponge filer on it, to keep the water in motion, (and haven't done any water changes, or cleaned the glass). This has been running for 3 months now, and that's the only complaint that I can give you on using lava rock. Granted, I haven't tested it for anything else, but, the shrimp are happy, and reproducing, so, can't complain.

Let us know if you decide to use it and how you make out with it, (I rinsed the lava rock in a 5 gallon bucket for about an hour, to make sure that all of the smaller lava dust / pieces, were removed, and the rock was as clean as I could get it). HTH.

Robert

[rudy]

Great substitute for bioballs is shotgun shell wads from a sporting goods store. (used for reloading)

You can buy 1000 for $20.