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Thread: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

  1. #1
    Registered Member Phillydubs's Avatar
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    Default To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    I know this is and has always been a debate or a personal preference of some...

    I was wondering who uses them and who doesn't for a sump and if so why or why not?

    I currently have some in the first chamber of my sump but I am not sure if they are helping or just creating another barrier of crap to get in my tank...

    I slacked hard these past 6-9 months since my tank was set-up. There were so many swings to regulate it that since it has been so smoothe lately I feel like I tip toe around it not to cause issue. This has also led to some sump neglect. I always drain the sump and suck out whatever I can and swap my filter socks with each change as well as try and wipe it down as best I can. I have yet to squeeze out the big sponge or the hydro filter sponge. I also notice a bit of gunky gunk wedged in the bio-balls...

    I am contemplating just pulling them...?

  2. #2
    Registered Member Clawhammer's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    I have them in my sump and its hard to say if they are better or worse than other media. I do have mine all in a big mesh bag, which makes them fairly easy to remove and clean, so maintenance hasn't been much of a consideration.

    I will say that I treated my tank with PP 4 times last week (as documented in my "Laying Down - Sick?" thread) and I never lost my cycle or had a mini-cycle. The bioballs are not my only biomedia (also poret foam, matrix, and pond matrix) but I have no plans to remove them.
    Last edited by Clawhammer; 06-15-2017 at 05:21 PM.

  3. #3
    Registered Member Phillydubs's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Thanks Eric... I was on amazon just now and saw that bag, looked cool, funny you mention it right after...

    I too have multiple forms of media and I am wondering if this is really needed or maybe if I pack that first chamber with more filler like a https://www.amazon.com/Puro-Kleen-Kl...ro-kleen+guard if it will be better?

    I am noticing a nice build up now that I look closely today. I am going to pull them all out I think and clean them and see how it goes moving forward before I make a final call...

  4. #4
    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Quote Originally Posted by Phillydubs View Post
    Thanks Eric... I was on amazon just now and saw that bag, looked cool, funny you mention it right after...

    I too have multiple forms of media and I am wondering if this is really needed or maybe if I pack that first chamber with more filler like a https://www.amazon.com/Puro-Kleen-Kl...ro-kleen+guard if it will be better?

    I am noticing a nice build up now that I look closely today. I am going to pull them all out I think and clean them and see how it goes moving forward before I make a final call...
    Are you using them submerged or emerged? My sump is yet to be up and running but I have 10,20,30 ppi poret for the sump intake. I wanted to avoid socks. Then all the water pass through all my bagged media. Matrix and substrat pro then lastly the bio balls in a wet/dry setup so I'm hoping they should stay pretty clean. We shall see
    Im not illiterate...only my phone's auto correct is

  5. #5
    Registered Member Neptune's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    I personally don't like paying for them, so I use the nylon scrubbies.

  6. #6
    Registered Member farebox's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Hey guys, I saw a video of how Hans has his sump set up for his fish house, and adapted a system based off his. I use no filter socks or fiber floss. I made an diy holder for an sheet of poret foam to act as the pre-filter, cover the input with a piece of foam to prevent splashing. Now the water drips down into an chamber of K-1 micro. Next an 20 ppi/30ppi poret foam. I use seachem matrix bio media in the last chamber with the two heaters and the return pump. Bottom line is that I have to do very little cleaning of the sump with this set up. check it out: https://youtu.be/viNS76gbDSk

  7. #7
    Registered Member Phillydubs's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Thanks Roland !

  8. #8
    Registered Member Phillydubs's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    So, I pulled all my bio-balls last night during a big WC and I was quite disgusted with what I saw. My to the eye clean filter became a mess and it wasn't pretty. I completely siphoned out the entire sump, squeezed out all sponges and TRASHED the bio-balls...

    I had some of this polyester foam stuffing around here that I shoved in there and I am going to see how that works, I ordered some bigger filter padding and I will shift to that as this gunks up...

    I was set on cleaning the balls and having back at it, but I was sort of horrified at what I saw and decided this is a cleaner easier approach. If I can just pull and toss the cheap padding as it goes bad and add new, I'll take that over the constant cleaning and maintenance of the bio-balls.

  9. #9
    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Quote Originally Posted by Phillydubs View Post
    So, I pulled all my bio-balls last night during a big WC and I was quite disgusted with what I saw. My to the eye clean filter became a mess and it wasn't pretty. I completely siphoned out the entire sump, squeezed out all sponges and TRASHED the bio-balls...

    I had some of this polyester foam stuffing around here that I shoved in there and I am going to see how that works, I ordered some bigger filter padding and I will shift to that as this gunks up...

    I was set on cleaning the balls and having back at it, but I was sort of horrified at what I saw and decided this is a cleaner easier approach. If I can just pull and toss the cheap padding as it goes bad and add new, I'll take that over the constant cleaning and maintenance of the bio-balls.
    Have you tried poret. I will be using for mech only but the description says it can be used as mech and bio
    Im not illiterate...only my phone's auto correct is

  10. #10
    Registered Member Phillydubs's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    I haven't but willing to give anything a shot once to see

  11. #11
    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Quote Originally Posted by Phillydubs View Post
    I haven't but willing to give anything a shot once to see
    The sheets come in lots of different sizes and thicknesses. Supposed to last a really long time too
    Im not illiterate...only my phone's auto correct is

  12. #12
    Registered Member Neptune's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    I love the poret foam, it is in my new sump!
    Attached Images Attached Images

  13. #13
    Registered Member Jenene's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Hey Phil even though you ditched them already I think I had heard that the bio balls work best in a wet dry like Ryan is setting up. I had them in my sump before one of the many, many do overs trying to dial in the sump. I ended up trashing them after I heard that other types of media work better submerged that have more surface area than the bio balls. Things with lots of tiny holes such as Matrix or Poret. I now use Poret as a prefilter in my intake compartment, then in the media section I have two more layers of poret and a giant bag of Matrix and Purigen. The Matrix rinses nicely and the Poret placed before it helps keep it cleaner.
    "You can't trust water: Even a straight stick turns crooked in it." -W.C.Fields

  14. #14
    Registered Member Debow's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    I am still using 5 gallons of bio balls. Have not done a redesign on the sump so haven't changed out the media. If I were to change it out I would chose the marine pure blocks. and port pre filter.

  15. #15
    Registered Member Phillydubs's Avatar
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    Default Re: To Bio-Ball or not to Bio-Ball

    Hey guys, looking for some advice since my bio-ball adventure... Unfortunately, things seem a tad off now. The fish just aren't themselves. All are eating but one seems to have shied away the last day and a half.

    Just to catch up, I had bio-balls in my first chamber, they were rather mucked up and I decided to pull them all. At this same time, I squeezed my hydro V sponge in tank water as well as my big block sponge and ceramic rings in the second chamber. All were squeezed or rinsed in a bucket of tank water.

    This am I am getting a slight spike in amonia at 0.25 PPM, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate and 7.5 PH

    I did a big 75% WC last night, I have water aging now and can do another around 4 pm. Any other suggestions or advice would be appreciated!

    Thanks

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