Bio Balls And Powerheads

[kilgore33]

Gotten lots of great advice here.

So my tank is set up (90 Gallons w 110 gallon sump w a wet/dry filter) Salinity is at 1.019, Temp at 78F, add 80 lbs of Live sand and 90 lbs of cured LR today. The pump for my filter is a Rio 2500 (about 6X Total Volume/Hr). Add stability and Prime and am starting my cycle. 0 ppm Ammonia/Nitrite today. Ph 8.2. Bought a Protein Skimmer which I'll add after cycling process is complete and Livestock is added.

1. Can a power head make up for too little cycling of my Wet/Dry filter since I also have LR. Picked a Maxjet 1100 (294 Gallons/hour). If yes, will this be enough?

2. Should I leave the Bioballs in? If not, take them out after cycling or right away?

3. Typically, how soon should I get an ammonia spike? the LR I purchased is cured, much of it coming out of an established reef/fish tank. Short transport time.

4. What's the liklihood the Ammonia/Nitrites wont spike?

 

[seffieuk]

Gotten lots of great advice here.

So my tank is set up (90 Gallons w 110 gallon sump w a wet/dry filter) Salinity is at 1.019, Temp at 78F, add 80 lbs of Live sand and 90 lbs of cured LR today. The pump for my filter is a Rio 2500 (about 6X Total Volume/Hr). Add stability and Prime and am starting my cycle. 0 ppm Ammonia/Nitrite today. Ph 8.2. Bought a Protein Skimmer which I'll add after cycling process is complete and Livestock is added.

1. Can a power head make up for too little cycling of my Wet/Dry filter since I also have LR. Picked a Maxjet 1100 (294 Gallons/hour). If yes, will this be enough?

Your lr will do the business - don't worry about the wet and dry filter

2. Should I leave the Bioballs in? If not, take them out after cycling or right away? Take them out before they become a nitrate factory

3. Typically, how soon should I get an ammonia spike? the LR I purchased is cured, much of it coming out of an established reef/fish tank. Short transport time.
It is very possible you will not get a cycle, however I would expect you to have a small cycle if the lr was out of water during transport4. What's the liklihood the Ammonia/Nitrites wont spike?

Seffie x

 

[andywg]

Oh NOEZ ur BIOBALLS WIl Becum a nitrate Faktory!



Or, more realistically, the bioballs will provide an excellent site for ammonia and nitrite to be oxidised, thus massively reducing the chances of either of the two very deadly compounds from rising in the tank, even if something untoward (a hidden death) should occur.

The "bioballs become nitrate factories" is very bad advice. Where can all this extra nitrate come from? Nitrite. Where will the nitrite come from? Ammonia. Where will the ammonia come from? The fish we keep. Does adding the bioballs cause the fish to excrete more ammonia? No. So, the only way bioballs can cause an increase in nitrates would be if they were to be processing ammonia and nitrites faster than the live rock, meaning that the tank has more nitrates and less ammonia and nitrite.

What would you rather have in your tank; ammonia, nitrite or nitrate?

The root of the nitrate factory belief is most likely from people who fitted bioballs and never cleaned them and didn't have a decent sponge above them and so a large amount of detritus accumulated in the filter and broke down allowing an increase in ammonia production (which was efficiently converted to nitrite and then nitrate).


So, to return to your question, I would say it is up to you whether you want them or not. They form a nice buffer against the really deadly stuff, but will be another thing to keep an eye on from a maintenance point of view.