Old School Bio-Balls - usage and if so, how?

[reefandriver]

Excellent biological media for quarantine tanks and fish only displays that do not have live rock. Medications typically won’t bind to the plastic like they do other ceramic type bio media. Also, very durable and easy to clean . They absolutely have a place, perhaps just not in a reef.

 

[MnFish1]

I would be interested (besides the potential mechanism that I mentioned) - 'how' the bioballs - as compared to rock, etc would become a nitrate factory? The only way (or at least the main way) to produce nitrate is ammonia. The only way to get ammonia is decaying stuff. It seems to me that bioballs would be no more likely to 'trap' stuff - than small spaces of rock, and with a pre-filter - I dont see how bioballs would trap anything. It just doesn't make sense (to me). Actually at first I though well - yeah - things get caught- and there are no fish, cleanup crew to get rid of it. But in the end - to me it all came down to a given amount of stuff is put into the tank - and will turn into ammonia - and nitrate. I don't see hoe bioballs can increase this process

 

[MonsterMush]

I would not necessarily recommend one to seek a wet-dry filter with bio balls for a Reef system, because it alone does nothing for nitrate export: a fuge would be more helpful. For us “old timers” that already have the equipment or if it is super cheap or inherited - go for it. Bio balls seem to be benign and not harmful: lots of live rock and regular maintenance is your friend!

 

[brandon429]

Curious which retains more waste: a fuge where current is slowed by design or bioballs where current is high by design

 

[salty joe]

That picture of the wet dry was nostalgic! Good times.
I wonder how well a wet/dry would work for gas exchange if fresh air was plumbed into 'dry' chamber?

 

[MnFish1]

That picture of the wet dry was nostalgic! Good times.
I wonder how well a wet/dry would work for gas exchange if fresh air was plumbed into 'dry' chamber?

When I had one - it was recommended to pump air into the 'dry' chamber. When trickle filters first came out - I remember seeing one at an LFS - it extended all the way down the back of the tank - to a sump in the floor - it was a series of trays like gutters - with holes in them each 'tray' held come crushed coral water dripped through all the holes through the multiple trays. Each tray was maybe 5 feet long and 6 inches or so wide. It was loud, not enclosed and seemed to spray water all over. But people did use them for a while.

 

[brandon429]

100% of ammonia tracing threads are an unspoken claim to not enough surface area.

EMERGENCY - Crazy Ammonia spike

Hey all, This tank has been up for 1+ year and its been doing great with SPS, LPS etc. Today I had 1 sps peel out and I thought maybe it was the new carbon I changed out, went to rent out a par meter to make sure had them test the water just for ***** and giggles as I test it myself x2 weekly...

www.reef2reef.com

Surface area mechanics are just fascinating. It sets rules we don't get to customize around what our test kits say and I'm glad the rules are fixed, so that when I drink tap water it's not burning me with raw ammonia. What runs waste treatment plants runs reef tanks.

 

[MnFish1]

100% of ammonia tracing threads are an unspoken claim to not enough surface area.

EMERGENCY - Crazy Ammonia spike

Hey all, This tank has been up for 1+ year and its been doing great with SPS, LPS etc. Today I had 1 sps peel out and I thought maybe it was the new carbon I changed out, went to rent out a par meter to make sure had them test the water just for ***** and giggles as I test it myself x2 weekly...

www.reef2reef.com

Surface area mechanics are just fascinating. It sets rules we don't get to customize around what our test kits say and I'm glad the rules are fixed, so that when I drink tap water it's not burning me with raw ammonia. What runs waste treatment plants runs reef tanks.

There is (to me) - a difference - between something like bioballs which are exposed to very highly oxygenated water - vs something that is a rock with minimal flow - but likely a huge amount of bacteria. IMHO - the reason that oxydators work - is they raise oxygen levels - which encourages nitrification.

 

[brandon429]

I like them. They tame peroxide into total safety and maximize its o2 benefits slow and steady vs spike then dissipated in four hours


the thread above isn’t an ideal match here but we had some keen eyes for surface area experience and I wanted to see if they have ever seen a reef that nice just up and quit nitrifying one day. I’m certain this hobby picks and chooses when to believe api

 

[Radicalrob1982]

Hello. So I rejoined the hobby being out for 10yrs. I have a couple tanks running and have a question on one of them which is a 30gl tank with about a 12gl Wet/Dry I picked up used. I have been running the tank now for about 3 months. i used the Bio Balls that came with it. I have some what was Dry Rock in the bottom of the sump sitting under the Bio balls for added filtration. I then have the Bio Balls sitting on egg crate where the tank overflow resides.

About 2/3's of the Bio Balls are above water line with water trickling over them. The other 1/3 is constantly submerged. My question is whether I really need the Bio Balls at all any longer? I could add more Dry Rock in the sump, or a Bio Brick.

Also, if I remove the Bio Balls above the water line, I expect more noise. Is there a way to quiet it back down if i do remove them?

Any recomendations and thoughts on this are much appreciated.

I never used bio balls but used matrix for the first 8 months on my 20 long. Finally ditched that and just let my rock do the work.