Plastic vs ceramic bio balls

[Harpo]

Is there a preference for ceramic vs plastic bio balls. Supposedly ceramic has more surface area but they may be fragile

I want to put a bunch in my frag tank

Thanks

 

[brandon429]

If you opted not to use either your tank would run the exact same as if you did run either

No param you can measure would change between having either or neither option, frag tanks don't run low on surface area they run high on it without either option

Your system does not carry more bioload by adding those, you can't fit in enough fish to overcome the normal surface area of a frag tank without disease or behavioral issues from crowding killing them first before ammonia issues from lack of bioball surface area

Since no form of reef tank runs low on surface area, the answer is both options are totally neutral impact other than a new spot for waste to collect in the flowpath

 

[Harpo]

I was going to use them instead of rock. I thought we needed lots of surface area for the denitrating bacteria to grow?

 

[piranhaman00]

You want ceramic, they have much more surface area then those old school plastic ones. They work well.

 

[JohnTheReefer]

Is there a preference for ceramic vs plastic bio balls. Supposedly ceramic has more surface area but they may be fragile

I want to put a bunch in my frag tank

Thanks

I prefer ceramic and have almost 15 pounds of it in my grow out system kept in media bags for easy cleaning. Even if having bio media does not make much of a difference it is at least usable when setting up new tanks/systems to get things started

 

[Harpo]

What size bags do you use? Are they sitting on the bottom

 

[JohnTheReefer]

The media bags are 6" wide by 8" long and came with the media. Yes, I have them stacked and sitting on the bottom of a sump chamber. Can't hurt to have them sitting on the bottom of the frag tank.
Interestingly, the size of the pieces of media I bought are smaller than standard and could possibly be used as a rubble type substrate which I might do for my 15 cube build. Here is the amazon link:

They do absorb water quickly when dry which means they are correctly porous. I recommend rinsing them before use.

 

[VB313]

I use ceramic in my frag system I’ve used seachem bags in the past but now have a custom container from octo aquatics called a casket looks neat easy to shake around to clean off debris for maintenance

 

[brandon429]

Either will do if in place of rock

nobody has real control over denitrification via media in an aerobic filter, it happens rarely not by direct control.

its only lucked upon, nobody has a way to actually arrange sand or filtration material to denitrify although actual nitrate removing media isn’t hard to come by. Denitrifcation outside of a dedicated reactor (that’s an aerobic filter they’re in above) is a made up sales lark in reefing, feel free to use either option, the effect will be nitrification.

remember denitrifications history in reefing: since the nineties we were all told mere live rock reduces nitrate bs produces it, and we were told any deep sand bed would reduce nitrate

those two statements turned out false we can see in forum posts

 

[Harpo]

Is there any kind of guideline for how much ceramic media per gallon?