BioBalls

[yamanjazz]

First of all id like to say Hi im new to the saltwater world so forgive me if my questions seem a bit weird.

i am setting up a new sump and i was wondering if it would make any difference if the water coming from the aquarium, just passing down through the bioballs(bioballs in the air and not covered in water) or if the bioballs were actualy in the water in the sump?
i hope i have writen clear enough, if not ill post again.

Thanks in advance

 

[Max]

Welcome aboard yaman! What sort of set up are you aiming for? If you have enough l.r. in what ever it is you won't need the balls they will only trap stuff and cause nitrate problems on down the road. Other wise it will work fine it really doesn't matter as far as the nitrogen cycle goes where the bacteria are. Now your fish and inverts might have anoter opinion.
hth
Chris

 

[yamanjazz]

thanks for the tip Max sorry to be a pain, but what is l.r ?

 

[acefred]

thanks for the tip Max sorry to be a pain, but what is l.r ?

l.r==========Live Rock.

 

[Max]

no pain involved it's live rock. what else do you have in your tank what sort of set up do you want?

 

[yamanjazz]

im looking to setup a Fish-only tank. i havent filled the tank yet with water, cause the filter is not finished yet. can i use live rock from the sea?

 

[yamanjazz]

oh and what other filter materials are good to add in the sump??(e.g carbon, zeolite...)

 

[Max]

L.R. from the sea sure but, stuff you've harvested might be a different story. It will really depend on where you are in places like FL and a lot of other places it's against the law. Also if it is legal it would be best if you were into scuba or if you could find some place not poluted as most of our shores are. I'd also avoid sand from a beach for the same reasons.
F.O. tanks don't require l.r ," for some species anyway," but in my opinion your fish will be much happier and there really is a lot going on in the l.r. You could also get 1/2 l.r and 1/2 base rock," or more if you are patient," and it will turn into l.r. over time. In my tanks l.r. and my sand bed provide all of the filtration so I can't really answer your filter question. I'd imagine you could use anything inert and porus the bacteria won't care but, you may have some nitrate issues down the road if you don't keep up with your maintnance.

 

[yamanjazz]

i live in Cyprus, its not illegal to take l.r from the sea just as long as you dont start taking too much. there are no issuses of pullution around the part where i live(well not as far as i know).

 

[plantman1028]

Bet you can find all kinds of cool stuff in Cyprus!