Help with Bio balls in Biocube 29

[hopperjl16]

I've seen a lot of posts about removing the bio balls in the middle chamber in the Biocube and replacing with other things. Could someone explain to me the purpose of the bio balls and if I should or shouldn't replace with something else? In simplest explanation possible please b/c I'm brand new to all this! lol. A step-by-step instruction would be greatly appreciated. With exactly what I may need to get and how to manage it.

(A little more info on the tank: 13 lbs of live rock, 25 lbs live sand, 2 clown fish, 1 watchman goby, 2 nassarius snails, 5 astrea snails, 1 sand sifting starfish, 1 fire shrimp, green star polyp, kenya tree coral, and a couple tiny hermit crabs. The tank has been up for about a month, I've been checking parameters every 2-3 days and everything is good. I have tons of copepods that keep blooming on my glass.)

 

[Ryengoth]

They're supposed to trap algae fibers and grow algae as well as maintain the various bateria to help process the nitrogen cycle. The ones that come with the Coralife BC 29 just take eons to grow out. I tried getting mine seeded for 6 months and eventually tossed them out and used 3 layers of various size and shaped bio media from Fluval and Marineland, which immediately started growing.

 

[sundog101]

The purpose of bioballs is to provide as much surface area as possible for bacteria to grow. This acts as your biological filtration. The general consensus is that bioballs cause excess nitrates ( I've never used them so I can't speak from experience).

I would remover the bioballs. What you want to add depends on what type of filtration you want to have and how you want to run your tank.

Here's what currently have in my biocube
Chamber 1: heater
Chamber 2: intank media rack and algae scrubber
Chamber 3: return pump and auto top off

When I first set up my tank I used this filtration setup.


I think this works well to get started with a basic tank. Just keep in mind the sponges could cause the same nitrate issues as the bioballs of not cleaned.

Hope this helps

 

[hopperjl16]

The purpose of bioballs is to provide as much surface area as possible for bacteria to grow. This acts as your biological filtration. The general consensus is that bioballs cause excess nitrates ( I've never used them so I can't speak from experience).

I would remover the bioballs. What you want to add depends on what type of filtration you want to have and how you want to run your tank.

Here's what currently have in my biocube
Chamber 1: heater
Chamber 2: intank media rack and algae scrubber
Chamber 3: return pump and auto top off

When I first set up my tank I used this filtration setup.


I think this works well to get started with a basic tank. Just keep in mind the sponges could cause the same nitrate issues as the bioballs of not cleaned.

Hope this helps

Ok makes sense. Couple dumb questions:

1) what do you mean by algae scrubber? I'm picturing a sponge I use to clean the glass? This just sits in chanber 2?

2) so I need to rinse the sponges every water change or so, if I put bio media (the little rocks or cylinder shaped stuff right?) do I rinse those every water change too? That doesn't affect the good bacteria and algae that have developed?

3) i'm assuming i should keep the biomedia in a bag of some sorts for easy removal to clean?

Thanks!

 

[sundog101]

No dumb questions

An algae scrubber is actually used to grow algae. This helps filter the water mainly by removing nitrate and phosphate. I have that set up in chamber 2 with a light behind the tank.

For the sponges I would rinse those every water change. Just use the tank water from the water changes to rinse them off. Same thing for other bio media.

Yes I would keep the media in a bag .

 

[Fin]

This is my take on Bio-Balls. I am not a marine biologist and never played one on TV; however, I have kept salt water tanks since the early 80s. And that just means that I have likely made more mistakes than most people. Bio-Balls are a biological filtration media. You need two types of bacteria to provide biological filtration of your tank water - aerobic (needing oxygen) and anaerobic (requiring little or no oxygen).

The aerobic bacteria turns ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. The anaerobic bacteria removes the nitrates. This is why live rock is ideal for biological filtration. It provides both surface area on the exterior of the rock for aerobic bacteria to grow and also provides surface area inside of the rock for anaerobic bacteria to grow. So it is continually converting ammonia and nitrites into nitrates and also slowly removing the nitrates.

What you have with Bio-Balls, is a tremendous amount of surface area for aerobic bacteria, but no additional surface area for anaerobic bacteria. This means you are creating large amounts of nitrates and you are not providing an additional low oxygen environment for the removal of the excess nitrates you are creating. That is why they are known as "nitrate factories." True, they do trap detritus (waste), but they are easily cleaned by swishing around in salt water when you do water changes. The issue is the additional aerobic bacteria cranking out nitrates and overloading your anaerobic bacteria's ability to remove the excess nitrates the Bio-Balls are creating.

So, if this were my tank, I would remove the bio-balls. Maybe don't remove them all at once, but maybe take out one third per week or so. Your live rock should be sufficient to handle your biological filtration needs. If you want additional surface area without adding more rock to the display, maybe look into something like a MarinePure BioMedia Plate, or block. It provides surface area similar to live rock, so it will boost both aerobic and anaerobic filtration. It is also easier to remove to clean (in salt water) than rock rubble.

 

[Bunnee911]

You can't beat the InTank media basket. Lets you put multiple bags of filter material in one spot. I run the fuge with an led light on chaeto also.

 

[jdbrown1998]

I have a 24 JBJ nano cube. In the back three compartments I run 1) in inlet I have the strainer attachment - this makes it more like a true overflow in the back and let's you have the water level up to the rim - worth the $15. In that compartment I have a media basket...essentially a set of three trays that forces the water down through it and does not allow it to flow around. Currently in the top one I have filter floss (mechanical filtration) middle tray I have GFO (granular ferric oxide) in a media bag - it removes phosphates. Eventually I would like to upgrade this to a media reactor in the middle compartment and instead make this level a Refugium(but that is about a $200 upgrade) and in the bottom I have chemi pure elite - removes organic waste and phosphates among other things...basically read this as less water changes and will last six months! Middle compartment I have my heater right now. If you have a skimmer this is where I would put it and move the heater to third compartment. I also would put a media reactor here if I had one. Third compartment is where my return pump is and where my auto top off is. My maintainable schedule is to change water and filter floss every other week (5 gallons), change Gfo every three months and chemi pure every six months. Four months in and doing pretty good. Two fish in my tank (mated clown fish) emerald crab, five or so hermit crabs, four snails, and about seven corals (hammer, green star polyps, some acro, chalice, four zoa bunches, birds nest, candy cane and trumpet coral.)

 

[MikeyAl]

No dumb questions

An algae scrubber is actually used to grow algae. This helps filter the water mainly by removing nitrate and phosphate. I have that set up in chamber 2 with a light behind the tank.

For the sponges I would rinse those every water change. Just use the tank water from the water changes to rinse them off. Same thing for other bio media.

Yes I would keep the media in a bag .

Plus one on the ATS. I have used lots of media but have found that an ATS is the way to go. I have also had success with Dr Tims NP active pearls in a mini tumbler. But long term cost effective solution is a diy ATS like the one pictured above

https://store.drtimsaquatics.com/NP-Active-Pearls_c_88.html

 

[MikeyAl]

Fyi- the following link is a good one for building an ATS. You can also see lots of videos on YouTube. If you don't want to build one buy one at santamonica filtration. For your size I would go small. Or again buy NP active pearls and a mini tumbler. Much better than bio balls or fluval solution.- IMO.
http://www.livingreefs.com/threads/how-to-build-an-algae-scrubber.32422/

http://www.santa-monica.cc