bio-balls in a sump

[RJAG]

anyone successfully using bioballs in their sump. my tank originally came
with these but under advice I removed them but sometime later I don't think
that it was the solution that I wanted and maybe I should replace them.
any ideas out there?
opinions anyone.

Robin

[Dr4g0nf1y]

I have them in my sump. I've been told they are nitrate factories. I've
spoken to a lot of people who have never removed them from their sump and
have not had a problem.

"RJAG" > wrote in message
...
> anyone successfully using bioballs in their sump. my tank originally came
> with these but under advice I removed them but sometime later I don't
> think that it was the solution that I wanted and maybe I should replace
> them.
> any ideas out there?
> opinions anyone.
>
> Robin
>

[Billy]

"Dr4g0nf1y" > wrote in message
...
|I have them in my sump. I've been told they are nitrate factories.
I've
| spoken to a lot of people who have never removed them from their
sump and
| have not had a problem.


Correct. I've mentioned before a long-running thread at RC on this
subject. It degraded into a deep scientific discussion that required
a degree in biochem to follow, so I lost interest. <g> Pretty much,
if you have media like bio-balls, and you develop a nitrate problem,
removal of the media may be something to try. If you have bio-balls,
but your system is running fine, why mess with it? I did an
experiment, which was rather unscientific and undocumented to boot,
but I added 2 gallons of 1" bioballs to my 75 reef, dumping them in
one section of the 20g sump. After several weeks, no noticable
parameter changes could be detected. I removed the bioballs in 1/2
gallon bunches over a week. Again, no changes. <shrug> So, my
experiment, which could be considered a success in that I did not
kill any of my critters, but it could also be determined a complete
failure since I have neither proven nor disproven a single thing. <g>


billy