Bio balls?

USE THEM OR DONT? i currently dont have any bought the tank from a guy that said he didnt use them. Have heard long as you have enough live rock it doesnt matter what your opioion or what do you use instead? My tank is going to be a 55gallon Fowlr

 

I would not use them
some do and they are not having any issues with them

if you have enough live rock (or rock thats been in your tank a while so its live rock now, irrespective of what it was when you purchased it) and enough water flow
then you will have the 1st stages of the nitrogen cycle covered

waste to ammonia, ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate - all this happens on the live rock

if your running a sump (as thats where I assume you where considering the bio balls)
then if a fuge or refugium is part of your plans then the nitrate conversion to nitrogen gas can occur in there with the DSB and macro algaes - like Chaeto , Mangrove roots or Halimeda etc

bio balls need to be managed , you need to keep them very clean, or they trap rubbish which breaks down and creates additional nitrates

rock and DSB have a large surface area and some of this real estate is oxygen deficient
which is where the bacteria that converts Nitrate to nitrogen gas lives

bio balls have great surface area, but lack the oxygen void real estate of live rock - hence they are great in the 1st couple of parts of the process , but are not effective at all at the last part


Steve

 

My opinion is: don't use them. There are a lot of things the require cleaning and constant work on a SW tank. Adding Bioballs just adds to your work. They do there job well when run correctly, however the opposite is true also. They can become a headache also. Bioballs when submerged in water will collect a lot of waste and will become a Nitrate factory. Bioballs need to have water trickleing over them and not submerged, and require you to take them out and clean then on a regular schedule to keep them free detritus. They will also compete with the bacteria that is colonizing your LR. If you were not running LR, I would say go ahead with them and make sure you clean them off often. Otherwise I still would not use them.


Yeah what Steve said above me.....lol