Remove Bio-balls or not?

[DarthFred6996]

I have a new 14 gallon Oceanic BioCube. I have 15 lbs live rock and a sand bed about 2" deep. I am mid cycle. I have read that the bio balls are a bad thing to keep if I am planning on having corals. I have also read that they are not a problem. You can understand my confusion.

I just figure more area for biological filtration is better, but some stories mention the Bio balls are nitrate factories.

So, should I remove them or not?

The guy at the fish store said that he would not change the balls out. He said if I put rubble in there then it will just be a dirt trap that in itself will lead to nitrate problems. He talked me out of spending money with him, so I felt he had a valid point. This store is a Saltwater/reef only store with 6 nanos running for displays (items inside not for sale) that range from 6 gallon to 24 gallon. All off them still have the original bioballs/rods in them and he said that he cleans the balls every 6 months and he has no problem with nitrate levels above 10-15 ppm. His tanks look beautiful and the water looks pristine.

I did remove the carbon filter as you and he both suggested. He said to put it in for one week a month after a partial water change. I also put my heater in the first compartment to get it out of sight.

So who do I listen to? Should I at least remove the sponge? Should I go to another store (less reputable around here) and get some rubble?

PLEASE HELP ME BE LESS CONFUSED! I want to get this all taken care of before I start adding fish and inverts in a week. Oh yeah, he told me to wait on buying a cleaning crew as well. He told me to add about 4 snails next week and then wait a week to add a sandsifting goby. Then another week to add a detrivore of my liking.

What do you think?

:confused:

[Illuminati]

Well first make sure you are done with your cycle before adding fish and inverts.


Filter Floss is a better option than the sponge, you can throw away filter floss when you change it, the sponge is hard to clean.

Toss the balls, replace with a bag of Chemi-pure in one chamber in one (Keeps Ph steady, lowers nitrates), and chemipure in another chamber (water polisher, lowers nitrates).

Floss, Chemi-pure, Purigen. That's my advice.

[just dave]

His tanks look beautiful and the water looks pristine.

You were right in not wanting to follow his advice, who'd want a tank like that?
[ sarcasm off ]

Let me say this, if you have a nice shop with people that seem to know what they are doing ( as evidenced by their displays ) it would be a good idea to let them be your mentors as you learn. Once you start to learn you can make changes and take new paths based on your newly acquired knowledge ( after weighing the potential risks and benefits.) As you have already discovered there are a lot of different opinions and methodologies in this hobby and a great many of which seem to be at odds with each other and the last thing you need right now is conflicting view points. The reason being is you probably don't have the knowledge base to objectively sort through it all. Such are the trials of being a newbie.

[remo85]

I say toss the bioballs. you can always add a refugium in the middle chamber! and with the filter, all i did was tae the silter padd off, pour out the carbon, and dremel the dividers in it out, and add a piece of filter pad ($3.50) and just throw it out every weekend, and its way cheaper than buying new filters...

here are a few pics to help with it...


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/apologeticlies/Aquraium/morebiocubestuff047.jpg

there is the fuge light i made. all i did was scrape the paint off the back off the back of the tank, and velcro the light to the back of the tank, put some chaeto in there, and added some live rock. well, I will... long story about my tank, but ive heard a lot of success stories with this mod. keep in mind, anything like this will void the warranty.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/apologeticlies/Aquraium/morebiocubestuff048.jpg
another pic of it...

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/apologeticlies/Aquraium/morebiocubestuff052.jpg
the filter mod
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/apologeticlies/Aquraium/morebiocubestuff054.jpg
i added a couple of hooks to it and it holds the pad in rpetty good!

[roader247]

I have the same tank it's been up for about 5 months I did a similar mod like Remo85 he used a little brighter bulb though. With this mod fuge in chamber two, I have 0 nitrate and some pod growing and lots of life. Keep an eye on your nitrates you may be ok just don't feed a lot that's one of my bad habits. Any way Good Luck. here's a pick of my hammer I can't get on my home PC it's off and I'm out of town so I don't have a full tank shot.

Mark

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b26/roader247/DSC01835.jpg

[tropicalraspberry gu]

Hi - For what it's worth I too have the same questions. I have kept the bioballs and clean/rinse about 1/3rd of them every couple of months. I have a heater and bag of chemi pure in chamber 1, I pulled the stock filter and use floss on the top of the trickle tray in chamber 2 wtih bioballs and I NEVER measure any nitrates. So far tank is doing great.

John