bio balls?

[Simona586]

are they good or are they bad i have a 120 gallon and i have bio balls and people have told me after a while they are bad is this true? when should i take them out?

[vittleking]

I'm not for sure on this but I would guess people say they are bad because they trap a lot of debris. To prevent this, it's best to use the filter socks IMO. And to take them out and rinse in tank water during water change time every few months to keep them clean.

[medwards]

As they get dirty, they become nitrate factories if not cleaned often. They do much the same function as your live rock. In the begining they can help your tank, but if they get clogged up with detrious, they can become harmfull. If you are already running them, that should be fine for a while just keep them clean. If you go to remove them, take a third or maybe half out at a time. Do a Water change wait a couple weeks then remove the rest. Good luck.

[Simona586]

\


does this look okay? the bio balls are almost completely under water. i have to make like a chamber so i could put some algae. what do i need to change or is this fine? should i take the bio balls out?

[medwards]

Imo you should be fine. They just become a problem over time as they get dirty or get stuff trapped in the ball itself. If you keep them clean they should continue to work well. Its easy to let them get dirty, I have a canister filter that i dont clean near as often as I should. Opening it is a pain in the butt. What are your nitrates reading. As long as they are low, I wouldnt worry. If they start raising Id look there as a suspect. That looks like a nice setup. What does the rest of the tank look like? Pics please.

[MizTanks]

You could also use a turkey baster blowing water on them right before a WC-taking them out is a great pain-I traded all mine in for LR rubble and cheato-still I will give it all a good rinsing once a month in the old removed tank water.

[vittleking]

If you have a powerhead laying around you could hook up a hose to it and just blow the debris out every now and then. I'm in the same boat as you are right now. I'm contemplating taking them out and replacing them with live rock. One thing you could to is to drill the sump and get a small tank and drill that, then connect them. You could move that rock in the second chamber into the 2nd sump and keep your macro algae where your live rock is now. Thats the route I think I'm gonna try.

[Simona586]

i took them out and put some live rock where they were because the bubbles were crazy and my sump takes up the whole underneath of my stand theres no way i can add another. sooner or later im gonna be getting a bigger tank and having a fish room and doing everything the right way from the start haha

[rmalone]

I think you made a good move. Why not use that area for some macro? But rock is a good idea also.

[Simona586]

i was thinking about doing that the only thing i wasnt sure about is that there is no way that my light can shine directly over it would be off to the side a little and the water is kinda flowing pretty fast threw there and it might break off and get into my tank but im not sure what im going to do yet.... im going to post some tank shots either later tonight or tommorow because im about to do a water change.