Bio-balls are important to keep the tank maturing. Once it reaches "maturity" you can replace them with LR or you may have a spike since young tanks could be succeptible to a spike.
The reason you get high nitrates is because of overfeeding and not enough good filtration so all that crap is lodged in the balls. If you had good pre-filters, food would not get lodged in the bio-balls. My filter is very well designed. I have a pre-filter detritus trap on my OF (catches about 80% of the crap); the water is then shot down to the main filter and it hits the skimmer first, then finally my 100 micron Pur-Flo filter! My bio-bale has never been cleaner. Also, my bale is much better than the balls since crap can't easily get trapped in it. But you get the idea, trap that detritus with good pre-filters/filters and detritus will not get lodged in your bio-balls, atleast not as much.  Otherwise, good to hear LR worked for you well.
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30g reef tank, CPR CY192 filter w/ DIY plumb running Rio 17HF return, Coralife 3x 9w UV Sterilizer, 3 24W T5-Helios 10K Daylights/3 24W T5-Helios Blue lights, 2 Logysis blue meteor light strobes (moonlights/24 Blue LEDs).
Tiger tail cuke, asst. snails/hermits, asst. feathers, rainbow acan,zoos,shrooms,bubble,galaxea, asst. shrimp, 2 ocellaris,mandarin,zebrasoma xanthurum,pink-spot watchman,red-striped pistol. | 
live rock vs. bio balls 
...maybe i will try to do a sump...but then im gona have alot of piping...ugh 
