bag for bio balls

[TanksJB]

I purchased a five micron hundred percent cotton bag to put my ceramic and plastic bio balls in while in the sump. Five micron is pretty close and I was wondering if this would prevent the bio balls from doing their job. Water penetrates but just dribbles through slowly. The bag is a pillow slip cover designed to keep bed bugs and stuff out (they say). I will put it on a pillow if I don't use it for the balls so it is okay to say I wasted my money. It will make a really nice heavy duty slip cover for a pillow so I am happy with it for that purpose.

I would like some input from some of you reefers about this. The ceramic balls tend to loose granules easily and I am wondering if they will just break a part once in the sump for a while and having them in a bag would help keep with the cleanup if they do. I was disappointed with the ceramic balls on this account but I guess that is how they make them. I have some other plastic balls I also plan to put in there. All I have is rock and no sand for filtration and I am just now getting the tank going. Tanks in advance for any wisdom or opinions.

 

[MNFish]

I have made the mistake of putting things in without being in a bag, and had to fish them out. I personally would not use a 5 micron bag unless maybe I was going for a Anaerobic bacteria reaction as this would hopefully reduce the water flow enough which may be what you are going for since you do not have sand? What kind of ceramic balls are you using?

 

[JediCruz]

I put my bio balls in the filter sock in the sump but I also have a bag of ceramic rings in the sump as well. Kind of a pain to move the balls to the new sock every 3 days but reduces the splashing noise in the sump with them in there so I do it.

 

[X-37B]

I have 3 liters of eheim substrate pro in a mesh bag in my sump.
A 5 micron bag will not allow any flow as it will plug up fast.

 

[TanksJB]

I have made the mistake of putting things in without being in a bag, and had to fish them out. I personally would not use a 5 micron bag unless maybe I was going for a Anaerobic bacteria reaction as this would hopefully reduce the water flow enough which may be what you are going for since you do not have sand? What kind of ceramic balls are you using?

Gallon Box - 1 1/2” Spheres Ceramic Biomedia - MarinePure

 

[TanksJB]

I put my bio balls in the filter sock in the sump but I also have a bag of ceramic rings in the sump as well. Kind of a pain to move the balls to the new sock every 3 days but reduces the splashing noise in the sump with them in there so I do it.

I have plenty of room in the sump. I have the 44 inch trigger with matching 10 gallon ato tank. It all sits beside the tank in my fish room. There is a viewing window into the dinning room and den. So there is plenty of room for media in the sump. The tank is 140 gallon from Custom Aquarium. I thought about putting the sack of balls under the return flow from the tank but haven't decided. I like the trigger sump but I don't have water in it yet but I like the room and the way it is organized. I also thought a bag would keep detritus from clogging the bio balls.

 

[TanksJB]

I have 3 liters of eheim substrate pro in a mesh bag in my sump.
A 5 micron bag will not allow any flow as it will plug up fast.

I see your point and figured that but the ceramic balls get clogged as I understand and become pretty much useless when they do as no water flows inside. So I thought this might prevent that. Perhaps the plastic balls will be what works for the long term.

 

[Jeffcb]

I have 12 square blocks in my refugium that I will slowly start to pull out one at a time and throw away as my tank matures.

 

[X-37B]

I see your point and figured that but the ceramic balls get clogged as I understand and become pretty much useless when they do as no water flows inside. So I thought this might prevent that. Perhaps the plastic balls will be what works for the long term.

Mine have been in their for 1.5 years and they are not clogged.
Once a month I shake the bag and it releases debris/bacteria and the corals like it and its kept it from clogging.
I do it in the morning after the lights have been off for 9ish hours and all polyps get larger after the shake.
I use mine to keep nitrates where I want at 5-10 so im not really interested in much flow anyway.

 

[TanksJB]

Mine have been in their for 1.5 years and they are not clogged.
Once a month I shake the bag and it releases debris/bacteria and the corals like it and its kept it from clogging.
I do it in the morning after the lights have been off for 9ish hours and all polyps get larger after the shake.
I use mine to keep nitrates where I want at 5-10 so im not really interested in much flow anyway.

Thanks for the reply and info. I may then use a porous bag and put the balls beneath the filer socks in my Trigger.

 

[ApostolosGronquist]

Until I started using bio-balls, I had no idea what they were.

 

[ApostolosGronquist]

Until I started using bio-balls, I had no idea what they were.

It turned out to be simple.

 

[ApostolosGronquist]

It turned out to be simple.

It is a unique artificial filler for aquarium biological filters. Bio-balls mechanically remove large dirt particles from the water. The balls have a large surface area, which promotes the formation of a powerful colony of filamentous bacteria and biological water filtration. Thanks to a small outer volume and a huge inner surface, bio-balls are more durable than ceramic porous fillers. I keep them in the bags I ordered at interplas.com back in the day for Halloween.