Bio Balls Help........

[shaginwagon13]

I have bioballs in my sump right now and I have ready that if you want to take them out and replace it with LR (which is what I would like to do) you have to slowly remove them. I was just wonder why that is? If they cause Nitrate levels to increase then how come it would be bad to completely remove them all at once? I have enough LR that has already cycled and so I plan to replace the bio balls with the LR rubble.

Thanks

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The concern with rapid removal is that if they are carrying a large part of the ammonia to nitrate conversion load at the moment, you want the live rock elsewhere to pick up that load and not allow an ammonia spike that might result from instant removal.

[shaginwagon13]

Ohhh i see that your saying...What is a safe number of balls to remove and in what time frame?

[snorvich]

I would add the live rock first (assuming it is cured) and then remove, perhaps 10% of the bioballs each week. But be sure you add sufficient live rock and that it is totally cured. However you have a lot of filtration capacity in your current live rock, so you won't need to add a lot of new live rock.

[seapug]

And better yet, put the rocks in the sump so they are submerged or you'll basically end up with very expensive bioballs.

Bioballs themselves aren't the problem, it's the trickle filter situation that really causes the problems. Bioballs, ping pong balls, hair curlers, and even live rock can become a nitrate factory if used as a trickle filter media.

Submerging live rock will allow it to denitrify the water and serve as refugium for microfauna.

[twoodall]

I am going through the same procedure, I am removing a double handful every day.

Hard to accept with this hobby that you do everything gradually!

[seapug]

Don't take it as advice, but I yanked mine all at once after a year of using them and everything was fine. Going gradually is always a good idea, but you don't need to be overly paranoid about it.

[snorvich]

I agree with seapug's posts (actually I almost always do). Being conservative in all things "reef" I do everything slowly. Nothing good happens quickly in this hobby.