Bio Ball

[rubyfrogs]

Hello again everyone, I have been doing some research on my wet/dry a filter that includes a bio ball. I am wondering what your opinions are regarding the removal of the bio ball altogether, is this a good idea? I have approx. 15 lbs of live rock in my 12G nano with some starter corals, small frags of zoas and various mushrooms, a small 3 polyp frag of purple death. I also have many snails and crabs, 2 fire fish, and a bi color blenny. Everything is doing great I was just wondering if I am going to get into trouble in the long run with the bio ball and if it better to remove it now or should I be cleaning it regularly? Oh I also am running a protein skimmer, idk if that makes a diff or not with the bio ball, just thought I'd include it just in case.Thanks all!

 

[yote]

Ya know.I used to run bio-balls in my old wet/dry.
Started out cleaning them every week.I mean really cleaning them with a soak in bleach,rinse,high pressure wash,and another rinse before going back in the filter.
Then I got lazy and wasnt cleaning them as much and eventually stopped cleaning them all together.
Finally converted my wet/dry to just a sump so my skimmer would fit inside it and did away with the bio-ball.
In all that,my nitrates have always been zero.
So I really dont think its gonna make a big difference either way.:dunno:

 

[rubyfrogs]

Thanks yote, this is why this is the best reefing forum out there, you guys have tons of personal experience and are willing to share it, which is MUCH appreciated by newbies like myself. Seems like alot of other forums get irritated by newbie q's like this one, but it is HARD to find a definitive answer about alot of things in this hobby, and I notice that when I try and research things myself, I just end up more confused then I was at the beginning, lol. Seems like there is also alot of theory involved in this hobby. Anyway, thanks again yote for helping me out, and thanks RC for recommending this forum!!! And the corals are doing great!!! :mrgreen:

 

[Bifferwine]

I'd say it's probably easier just to take the bioballs out to start. I wouldn't want to take the time to clean those things every week.

 

[wontonflip]

Maybe he's a masochist :) Then again, with all the aquascaping, redesigning, and rearranging that we aquarists do makes us all masochists, huh?

 

[BL1]

If you do decide to remove your bioballs do it SLOWLY. There have been a lot of posts on the nano forums where by removing all of the bioballs at one time caused a cycle in the smaller tanks and people ended up losing fish or corals because of it. They have recommended that if you are going to remove them, only remove a few at a time during your water changes to avoid losing too much beneficial bacteria all at once. If you need me to, I may be able to find you a few of the posts.

 

[rubyfrogs]

Thanks BL1, I only have one bioball in my system, and I removed it today during my weekly water change. I am hoping since it was just the one it will not cause much of a disturbance in the system. Thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[BL1]

Your welcome, hopefully it goes smoothly