Bio Balls

[Joonkun]

+1 to LH, i too prefer ceramic rings over bioballs, im pretty sure most bioballs are created for wet/dry drips?

[scotchbonneteater]

Thanks for the help and advice, I have a Fluval 406 external plus an internal Juwel 600, I know its a bit over the top but I can turn 1 off to clean it while the other is still going and if 1 stops I wont lose all my filtration, I will look at changing 1 over to ceramics at a later date as I'm fishless cycling at the moment, The LFS told me to leave my tank with filter on for 2 weeks before adding fish!!!! 3 weeks of cycling and my nitrite spiked yesterday !!! that would be cruel to put fish in after 2 weeks, surely they would of died.

[Fishguy2727]

They should not be used in a submerged filter (like a canister). Bioballs are designed to be used in a trickle filter. A submerged use will be MUCH more efficient with biomedias like Seachem Matrix and other porous medias. Bioballs have a tiny fraction of the surface area of porous medias. They compensate for this in a trickle filter because the bacteria that are there (much less) can work so much more efficiently because of all the oxygen. This is not so in a canister. In a canister they are a waste of space.

Yes, in a trickle filter they will trap debris creating more work and/or lower water quality. In a reef setup they are not needed at all and only function to trap debris which almost no aquarists clean out, therefore they increase nitrate and lower quality simultaneously creating unnecessarily more work.

Lose-Lose. Don't use them.