Bio-Balls

[Horizon]

I like to check out the no. of Bio-balls needed for a sump tank of size 2x2.5 ft. Any ideas? And roughly how much it would cost?
:confused:

[slcw]

my sump is almost the same dimensions as urs.
My bio-balls are not submerged in water but trickle down in a conpartment (2feet x 1ft x 8inches) about 300++ bio balls.

But I have already removed 1/4 of the balls and replaced with dead rocks.

bio-balls are apparently good if u have high bio-load and fish only. but according to west, they suggest removing bio-balls and leave it to trickle down or replace with rocks.

I thought u might be interest.;)

[Yiss]

Consider to replace the bio-ball to biohome or LR.
Bio-ball will accumulate NO3 only( Nitrate Factory ), it does not help breaking down to nitrogen gas.

[Horizon]

Thanks.. i wan to check out the rough qty and price. Jus making sure i din get it too expensive.

[ah goh]

hi, i thought removing the bioballs will kill the BB? if i have one bag of biohome and some bioballs on top of it, can i remove the bioballs and replace it with another bag of biohome?

[KaLiB]

Yes, you can remove the bioballs but do it slowly over a period of time. Replace the removed bioballs with some biohome each time you remove the bioballs.

If filter media is to be removed/replaced, they should be done slowly as removing/replacing the filter media at one go will remove most of the bbs found in the filter media.

[slcw]

Originally posted by KaLiB
Yes, you can remove the bioballs but do it slowly over a period of time. Replace the removed bioballs with some biohome each time you remove the bioballs.

If filter media is to be removed/replaced, they should be done slowly as removing/replacing the filter media at one go will remove most of the bbs found in the filter media.

agree

[ah goh]

Originally posted by KaLiB
Yes, you can remove the bioballs but do it slowly over a period of time. Replace the removed bioballs with some biohome each time you remove the bioballs.

If filter media is to be removed/replaced, they should be done slowly as removing/replacing the filter media at one go will remove most of the bbs found in the filter media.

Bro kalib.. how to add in the biohome slowly? is it by adding few piece of biohome slowly straight to the filter without puting inside the filter bag?

[KaLiB]

You can add in with the bag. Just make sure it won't replace more than 20% of the bioballs at a time.

The idea is to let the bbs populate the biohome before you replace another portion of the bioballs.

If all/most of the bbs are replaced in one go, there won't be sufficient bbs left to handle the tank's bioload, resulting in an ammonia spike.

[bluecoolz]

So what is the true purpose of having Biohome...?

[deep_end]

BC,

BioHome is another sort of synthetic (compared to crushed corals) bio-media which is designed in such a way that not much water flows thru' the inner parts. This then causes oxygen levels to be much lower in the inner section, hence enabling the denitrication bacteria to grow there.

Originally posted by bluecoolz
So what is the true purpose of having Biohome...?

[bluecoolz]

Originally posted by deep_end
BC,

BioHome is another sort of synthetic (compared to crushed corals) bio-media which is designed in such a way that not much water flows thru' the inner parts. This then causes oxygen levels to be much lower in the inner section, hence enabling the denitrication bacteria to grow there.

So after replacing the bioballs with Biohome, when I am washing the canister... Should I rinse through the Biohome... And what about the ceremic rings, should I remove them too...?

[deep_end]

bro BC,

Normally if you've kept your sponge filter clean, you won't have to clean the BioHome/Biorings. In the event that you need to, use the aquarium water to do so.

Originally posted by bluecoolz
So after replacing the bioballs with Biohome, when I am washing the canister... Should I rinse through the Biohome... And what about the ceremic rings, should I remove them too...?

[bluecoolz]

Originally posted by deep_end
bro BC,

Normally if you've kept your sponge filter clean, you won't have to clean the BioHome/Biorings. In the event that you need to, use the aquarium water to do so.

Okay, I just bought the Biohome... 1kg pack... My tank is currently 2ft, and I am using a Jebao canister... Do I use all the Biohome, or I just use a certain amount...?

And I still keep the ceramic rings inside rite...? Means my canister will have sponge at the bottom, followed by ceramic rings, Biohome and sponge again... Is this okay...?

[deep_end]

bluecool,

A 1 kg pack is more than enough even for a 400 litre tank, so it should do wonders in your tank, even without the bio rings. In fact I would remove the bio rings stage by stage until you're left with only BioHome. You can use even 1/4 of the BioHome, but the more bio-media you have, the more stable your tank will be. Just compromise with the amount of space you can spare in the canister.

zOriginally posted by bluecoolz
Okay, I just bought the Biohome... 1kg pack... My tank is currently 2ft, and I am using a Jebao canister... Do I use all the Biohome, or I just use a certain amount...?

And I still keep the ceramic rings inside rite...? Means my canister will have sponge at the bottom, followed by ceramic rings, Biohome and sponge again... Is this okay...?

[bluecoolz]

Okay... Cool... Thanx bro...

[hanifrez]

So let me get this right:

In a FOWLR tank, if you have JUST BioHome (and filter pads above it) in your sump, chances are you'll have sufficient bacteria for nitrification AND denitrification :confused:

[deep_end]

rez,

In theory, yes. But it all depends on how soon you place in your fish, and how many fish you put in.

Originally posted by hanifrez
So let me get this right:

In a FOWLR tank, if you have JUST BioHome (and filter pads above it) in your sump, chances are you'll have sufficient bacteria for nitrification AND denitrification :confused: