took all my bio balls out

[salty419]

i took all the bio balls out are my fis and corals gona be ok i have 125 gallon reef tank with about 160 to 180 lbs of live rock in it thanks for the help

 

[ryshark]

Normally you talke them out over time, maybe like 25% at a time. However, you do have a fair amount of live rock so hopefully you will be ok. Just make sure to test your water everyday for a few days, just in case.

 

[Pasfur]

I am confident you will be 100% fine. Actually, you should start to see some major benefits within the next 60 days. Algae growth will reduce and Nitrates will begin to drop.

If you go back to the 1990's the internet was full of people with this exact question. The big names in the hobby were strongly encouraging the removal of bioballs. Guys like John Tullock and Eric Borneman were at the forefront of this movement. Thousands of us removed our bioballs, all at once, and the results were wide spread success.

No worries. It will be fine.

 

[lando]

I agree...you should be fine. However, test for NH3, NO2 and NO3 daily for a couple of weeks just to make sure the removal did not interupt your biological filtration.

 

[salty419]

Thanks for your guys help i feel better now i couldnt get rid of my nitrates so i figured this was worth a shot ill let you know how things go

 

[carbon]

So I have the same thing going on with nitrates and also have Bio balls on my 49 gallon bow front. I was thinking of ditching the Bio balls too, so it is advisable to take them out 25% at a time, or just throw em all out?? my 50 lbs of LR has been in the tank for a number of years previous to my owning this tank so ive been told and I just put in another 20 bs of Live sand... whats the safest way to remove them??

 

[Pasfur]

There really is no difference. If you are worried, it certainly won't hurt to remove 25% every week.

However, I have talked to dozens upon dozens of hobbyists, including myself, who just removed them all at the same time. I have never heard a single bad situation occur from a total 100% immediate removal.

 

[roka64]

I agree, 15% is a SAFE amount, depending on how much LR you have and your bioload.