Bio Balls or live Rock?
- Thread starter SharkMan
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Jermz79
Aquarium Advice Addict
what type of filtration sustem are you using ... HOB, Canister, Wet/Dry?
There is always different opinions on Bio-Balls, some will say good, some will say bad. I don't have an opinion on them as I've never had to use them. I went to my LFS and asked if they had any LR rubble I could have, sure enough there was a whole pile of it in the corner they needed to get rid of before a new shipment came in!
There is always different opinions on Bio-Balls, some will say good, some will say bad. I don't have an opinion on them as I've never had to use them. I went to my LFS and asked if they had any LR rubble I could have, sure enough there was a whole pile of it in the corner they needed to get rid of before a new shipment came in!
Do you have at 1 lbs per gal? Even so that would be the bare minimum IMO with a reasonable fish load. Skimming helps keep excess DOC down as well.
Using base/lr rock rubble (or larger pieces broken up) instead of bio-balls would be more beneficial for denitrification.
Not that bio-balls couldn’t be used to supplement the lr but either way the use of a pre-filter is a necessity to keep waste off of them and rinsing the pre-filter every couple of days is important as well.
If adding lr/base rock at a later date to get your tank up to 1.5+ lbs per gal and you still want to use the balls make sure you remove only about 20% of the bio-balls every two weeks to keep your levels from spiking. If you use base/lr rubble you will never have to remove the rock.
P.S. The 1.5 lbs per gal doesn’t have to be all in the main
Using base/lr rock rubble (or larger pieces broken up) instead of bio-balls would be more beneficial for denitrification.
Not that bio-balls couldn’t be used to supplement the lr but either way the use of a pre-filter is a necessity to keep waste off of them and rinsing the pre-filter every couple of days is important as well.
If adding lr/base rock at a later date to get your tank up to 1.5+ lbs per gal and you still want to use the balls make sure you remove only about 20% of the bio-balls every two weeks to keep your levels from spiking. If you use base/lr rubble you will never have to remove the rock.
P.S. The 1.5 lbs per gal doesn’t have to be all in the main
