Do Bio Balls Work?

[EagerAqua]

Just looking through my Big Al's product guide and noticed products like Bio Balls that are supposed to provide more surface area for bacterial growth. Do they work and do many people use them?

Thanks,

Eager

[pinballqueen]

Well, I don't see why they wouldn't work, but I also don't see why they would be necessary in a normal fishtank. Maybe if you had a bare-bottom tank with no decorations it would be wise to have something like that, but most tanks with gravel, plants, decorations, etc. have plenty of surface area for bacteria to adhere to... besides, a fake plant is going to be cheaper and more attractive than a device like that ever would be, IMO....

Others may have different opinions, but I'll stick to tank deco as a biological farm, thanx....

[RTR]

I've never used such as tank decor, but in my wet/dry filters I use Dupla's Biokaskade balls/spheres, and in my canisters I use the same company's Minikaskade spheres. I consider them the best available biosubstrate, but they are not suited to all filter formats.

[superstein61]

I use BioBalls in my wet/dry sump for my 72 gallon - they work fine

[Kit Walker]

Bio balls do work in canisters, sumps etc but they have been superseded by products such as Efhisubstrat and Seachem Matrix.
1 litre of Matrix supports as much nitrifying bacteria as 48 litres of bioballs, making the bioballs seem quite cumbersome.

[RTR]

I personally believe that "superceded" is a poor choice of words. Alternate biomedia would be a better terminology. The hard plastic bioballs such as Dupla's are forever - they are totally self-cleaning and continue with optimum service levels indefinitely - I have setups in continuous use >15 years to date without any loss of function. Ehfisubstrat is supposed to be replaced more often than yearly, as its internal pores clog from bacterial overgrowth. It is not internally self-cleaning at all - after a few months it offers surface only, you might as well be using a rock. Matrix I have no personal experience using, but physically it should be a similar situation. Biomedia relying on internal pore spaces are not permanent media. If you are limited in biomedium space, the alternatives requiring periodic replacement or renewal would offer more function per unit space allocation, and could be worth the premium and extra handling. My setups are not so limited. For me, permanent media are preferable.

[superstein61]

Kit - I concur with RTR - those you mention are alternative methods - but not necessarily permanent methods. Bioballs are designed to basically be no maintenance, permanent filtration media.

All will work - it just depends on what your overall goals are