Can I safely ditch my bio balls now?

[wantvws]

My tank has been set up for close to five months now...parameters have always checked out at ph-8.4, nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia all at zero. It seems pretty stable. What I'm wondering is if I can safely take out my bio balls in my filter and just leave my LRR now. I hope that most or all of my base rock has been seeded and all of the sand is live at this point and the balls are no longer needed. Do you think it's safe to take them out without my tank crashing? I would hope that it would not make a big difference in a tank of this size, but I'm not sure.
Thanks!!
Robbie

[Reefscape]

I would say it would be fine if you have 1 - 1.5lbs of rock per gallon of tank water...Just be sure to remove them in small portions though, and leave a couple weeks in between removing..

Niko

[wantvws]

I really don't know what I have....I'm guessing around 300-350 lbs of rock. I just want to be sure it is all live now before I do this. Do you think that most or all of it is live at this point? The bulk of it was base, and only about 30lbs or so was live at set-up, along with the 60lbs of live sand.
Thanks!!
Robbie

[Reefscape]

With that ratio of live rock to dead rock, i would say no then...Personaly, i would wait another 5 months...

Thats just me though, prefer to err ont he side of caution..

Niko

[Sploke]

What you can try is removing a cup or two worth (dunno how much you have in there) and test the parameters after a day and make sure everything's in line. If you don't see any elevated levels, then wait a week or two and remove a little more. If you try something, the tank will tell you if it was a good idea or not, and if you make relatively small changes, you shouldn't cause any major disruptions. I did the same thing with my 55gal reef - started with about 80 lbs of base rock and about 10lbs of actual liverock.

[wantvws]

Well I'll do it slowly then. They are not causing problems right now, but I just would like to get rid of them before there is a problem. Plus, the less things in this tank I have to maintain, the better.
There are a bunch, btw. Probably 3 gallons worth.
Thanks!!
Robbie