bioballs cycling removal?

Okay so i have bioballs in my wet/dry and i want to take the out to avoid nitrate problems and free up some room. I'm going through the nitrite spike in my cycle and im wondering if i take out my bioballs right now will that mess up my cycle? should i wait until the nitrites are gone? Tanks been running with bioballs for a couple weeks with sand in it and i put in LR 4 days ago. I dont want to have to restart my cycle

 

I would set up your tank using wet dry. After a few months of using the wet dry and having fish I would remove a quarter of the bioballs every 2 weeks and replace with dry rock or cured live rock. DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT NOW OR YOU WILL HAVE TO RESTART THE CYCLE!

 

Bioballs won't be a problem until you pass the 6 month mark usually.

 

If you don't have any livestock, remove them now. It's preferable to have bacteria colonizing the liverock, as opposed to the bioballs. I don't see a point to allowing colonization of the biomedia, only to remove them latter. The sooner bacteria starts colonizing the liverock, the better.

 

+1 no point in the bacteria colonizing the bio balls

 

okay i guess ill take them out i dont have any livestock yet
thanks guys

 

Very true. Might as well do it now.

 

Take them out now, you won't have any problems with doing this early because nothing has built up and the tank is still fairly new. I put 2lb of LR in the back of my biocube and as long as you have enough sand and live rock in the display, this should be enough of biological filtration given the proper amount of water flow!

Good luck!!! 8)