Should I chuck bio balls ?

[Bintis]

I have a 5 gallon Nano that’s been running for 3 months. All the corals are thriving and doing very well. That being said it seems like I am always rinsing the bio balls of detritus, etc. it drives me nuts. if I decided to discard them from the tank, would I cause harm to my tank and the livestock ?
Sorry if it seems like a silly question.

 

[brandon429]

It will not cause any harm. We could remove them, and your whole sandbed all at once in a certain order and you’d still be ok. Live rocks are enough for reefing. Not any reef on any site on the web needs bioballs or siporax or bio bricks, it’s all a big sales ploy based on doubt that we lack core surface area using just rocks. It’s a peace of mind carry over we teach each other from freshwater setups which really can lack surface area with smooth and rounded surfaces being the most common.

 

[Midrats]

People used to call bio balls "nitrate factories" in the Nineties. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make a comeback with everyone dosing nitrates these days

 

[Bintis]

Water change in the morning. In the dumper those annoying things will go…..

 

[BanjoBandito]

Useless bacterial space in an adequately live rock’d w/ sand tank. If the tank is “bare bones” then it’ll make sense.

 

[Klyle]

Depending on how many you have it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to remove them slowly over the course of a few weeks. But that's just my cautious, amateur opinion

 

[CanuckReefer]

Water change in the morning. In the dumper those annoying things will go…..

Do you have LR? If so congrats on the dump useless, pain in the butt. If not...........

 

[Bintis]

Do you have LR? If so congrats on the dump useless, pain in the butt. If not...........

I do have LR and live sand. Tank is well established and all the corals are growing and looking extremely healthy. Weekly water changes and all my parameters are on point.

(Been out of the hobby for years and getting back into it. Got two tanks going at once now. A five and a ten.)

Never used bio balls in the past, so just not sure if they are helping the vast coral growth or not. I tend to think not. They just get so dirty so quickly. Can’t stand it. The bio balls are in the inlet portion of the sump on top of a filter pad. Would putting a carbon pad on top of that filter pad instead of the bio balls make sense ? Or would I just be wasting my time. The tank is going so well I just don’t want to jack it up by doing sudden changes.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I do have LR and live sand. Tank is well established and all the corals are growing and looking extremely healthy. Weekly water changes and all my parameters are on point.

(Been out of the hobby for years and getting back into it. Got two tanks going at once now. A five and a ten.)

Never used bio balls in the past, so just not sure if they are helping the vast coral growth or not. I tend to think not. They just get so dirty so quickly. Can’t stand it. The bio balls are in the inlet portion of the sump on top of a filter pad. Would putting a carbon pad on top of that filter pad instead of the bio balls make sense ? Or would I just be wasting my time. The tank is going so well I just don’t want to jack it up by doing sudden changes.

Understand totally, the trepidation of removing something when doing so well. I think you're safe personally. Good stuff you well established with LR. Go for it.

As for the carbon I never use it. Other than leaving room for it in my HOB in event of toxic emergency.. So cannot comment that way.

Rock is the lifeblood of my system , and it's doing well for you by looks of it as well....

 

[brandon429]

All the gunk caught by the bioballs will now be caught in the sand and rocks, they’ll need cleaning just the same to remove it, in that way the bioballs were handy as catchments in an easy to get to location. They just weren’t helping any with ammonia control. That’s handled without them just fine.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Useless bacterial space in an adequately live rock’d w/ sand tank. If the tank is “bare bones” then it’ll make sense.

I don't think they hurt - especially if they are used in a bare bottom but who wants a high maintenance item? Not me.

 

[Azedenkae]

Useless bacterial space in an adequately live rock’d w/ sand tank. If the tank is “bare bones” then it’ll make sense.

This. +1

 

[Bintis]

All the gunk caught by the bioballs will now be caught in the sand and rocks, they’ll need cleaning just the same to remove it, in that way the bioballs were handy as catchments in an easy to get to location. They just weren’t helping any with ammonia control. That’s handled without them just fine.

Understood

 

[Bintis]

Water change this morning. Bio balls gone. We shall see

 

[firehawk922]

Any updates on this. I want to remove the bioballs very curious

 

[blatherdrift]

Bacteria are super important in a reef. To say more surface area for it to cultivate is useless is maybe a little bold. Unfortunately the type of bacteria that generally inhabit bio balls are not the type we value the most. Removing them won't effect your tank's denitrification in the same way removing other forms of bio media could. If they bug you, you could probably chuck them and not notice a difference.

 

[brandon429]

My only take against bio bricks was water not being pressure directed through them. By being a tight network of micro pores, water strikes the brick and flows around, not through.

If they were rounded, and fitted in the end of a delivery tube then water would flow through. Someone do a dye test. Fill up a syringe with all red food dye.


Put a bio brick at the bottom in tap water in a big clear white cooler.

Turn on video, inject the dye from the side of a bio brick. I believe it will show eddy currents reflecting just like a 2x4 portion in the water.

The main claim is that they reduce nitrate via constant contact with water, I haven't tested to know if they work reliably for nitrate control.

 

[blatherdrift]

My only take against bio bricks was water not being pressure directed through them. By being a tight network of micro pores, water strikes the brick and flows around, not through.

If they were rounded, and fitted in the end of a delivery tube then water would flow through. Someone do a dye test. Fill up a syringe with all red food dye.


Put a bio brick at the bottom in tap water in a big clear white cooler.

Turn on video, inject the dye from the side of a bio brick. I believe it will show eddy currents reflecting just like a 2x4 portion in the water.

The main claim is that they reduce nitrate via constant contact with water, I haven't tested to know if they work reliably for nitrate control.

whoops lost my reply so quick edit. There’s spots you can put them to force water through. Bubble traps for example. I don’t think all the water has to pass through in order for it to work. Getting some water blowing through it in your sump is probably enough and probably not much different from rock work in your main display.