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How many currently use bio-balls as a form of biological media?
Bio Balls
- Thread starter tony_caliente
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Bioballs are excellent media for doing exactly what they are designed to do. They provide a huge surface area for colonies of nitrifying bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite and ultimately to nitrate.
The problem as I see it is, the nitrogen cycle does not end there. We in the hobby have mostly opted for using live rock to do it all. That is-
1) conversion of ammonia to nitrite
2) conversion of nitrite to nitrate
3) denitrification of nitrate to N2 and oxygen (consumed by bacteria)
The live rock method is a somewhat slower and diffusion limited process. When we overload the capacity (or rate limit) of the live rock, is where we sometimes have problems.
Bioballs are simply more efficient at processing nitrogen into nitrate, than live rock is, but they do not possess the anoxic 'pockets' of live rock for the denitrifying bacteria to finish the job. And for doing that we call them "nitrate factories", a term I consider to be sometimes used in ignorance.
Some may recall the 'Biorocker' and ceramic slab products, that attempted to simulate live rock, but improve on the rate of filtration. These products were more expensive than live rock and where used, often suffered from insuficient quantity due to costs. This IMO led to their demise.
If you want to use bioballs, you may do so with complete confidence, with one caveat. You must provide a method to deal with the nitrate. The options include:
1) dilution, via water changes
2) denitrification, via a special filter maintained under anoxic conditions and requiring supplemental inorganic carbon to feed the bacteria (alcohol, acetate, sugar, acetone, etc.), or
3) bacterial assimilation, via carbon dosing (alcohol, acetate, sugar, etc) and skimming the bacteria out of the system.
Modern wastewater treatment methods have one of two other variations, but IMO require process controls that are too complex.
One of the healthiest aquariums I have ever maintained was a 150 gallon fish only tank with a trickle filter complete with bioballs, and a denitrification filter. The bioballs had copious amounts of pods growing on them too! Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all read 0.0 ppm.
So I say pick your poison, but drink the whole</em> cup! -JMHO :cheers:
The problem as I see it is, the nitrogen cycle does not end there. We in the hobby have mostly opted for using live rock to do it all. That is-
1) conversion of ammonia to nitrite
2) conversion of nitrite to nitrate
3) denitrification of nitrate to N2 and oxygen (consumed by bacteria)
The live rock method is a somewhat slower and diffusion limited process. When we overload the capacity (or rate limit) of the live rock, is where we sometimes have problems.
Bioballs are simply more efficient at processing nitrogen into nitrate, than live rock is, but they do not possess the anoxic 'pockets' of live rock for the denitrifying bacteria to finish the job. And for doing that we call them "nitrate factories", a term I consider to be sometimes used in ignorance.
Some may recall the 'Biorocker' and ceramic slab products, that attempted to simulate live rock, but improve on the rate of filtration. These products were more expensive than live rock and where used, often suffered from insuficient quantity due to costs. This IMO led to their demise.
If you want to use bioballs, you may do so with complete confidence, with one caveat. You must provide a method to deal with the nitrate. The options include:
1) dilution, via water changes
2) denitrification, via a special filter maintained under anoxic conditions and requiring supplemental inorganic carbon to feed the bacteria (alcohol, acetate, sugar, acetone, etc.), or
3) bacterial assimilation, via carbon dosing (alcohol, acetate, sugar, etc) and skimming the bacteria out of the system.
Modern wastewater treatment methods have one of two other variations, but IMO require process controls that are too complex.
One of the healthiest aquariums I have ever maintained was a 150 gallon fish only tank with a trickle filter complete with bioballs, and a denitrification filter. The bioballs had copious amounts of pods growing on them too! Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all read 0.0 ppm.
So I say pick your poison, but drink the whole</em> cup! -JMHO :cheers:
Dave taken it waaay back.. I forgot about that...
DLS media is basically a piece of matt filter floss with a piece of open plastic mesh on top of it, then rolled up, kind of like a roll of insulation. The roll is placed on it's side in a wet/dry and water is flowed over and thru it, many times distributed with a rotating spraybar. The mesh helps the matt keep it's shape, and bacteria colonizes the surface area of the matt.
That's what we used in the original George Smit style trickle filters, Dave. I found the rotating spray bar to be unreliable, and moded it for a drip plate. Those spray bars would plug up and/or stop rotating (too many moving parts). Some LFS still carry rolls stock of the DLS you can cut up for filter pads. I still have that thing somewhere around here. Thanks for the flash back!
I have a box of 'em, with all of the other crap I'm still hoarding. If your puppy runs short let me know
One of these days I really need to get around to that ammonia dosing experiment I have been thinking about doing with bioballs. So many ideas, so little time.
Oh Snapichthyoid;499100 wrote: I have a box of 'em, with all of the other crap I'm still hoarding. If your puppy runs short let me know
One of these days I really need to get around to that ammonia dosing experiment I have been thinking about doing with bioballs. So many ideas, so little time.
Bill soon to be on
The rotating spray bars were really unreliable. Drip trays were a quantum leap forward!
Does anyone remember Albert Thiel and Thiel Aqua Tech? I met him back in 1991 at Tropiquarium, which was located at the intersection of Piedmont and Cheshire Bridge Road.
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I purchase DLS material directly from George Smit's company in 1986 along with 150 pounds of live rock from his company too. After about 6 months, it became vogue to remove the white felt. I also bought rotating sprinkler bars from a half-dozen home-based inventors.
Then Burelson came out with his version. I was actually in his homefactory in MD.
Later, the then long-haired Julian Sprung was adopted by Dr. Tunze. I met all of them at a Windows to the Sea Aquaruim Society meeting in Metuchan, NJ in 87/88. They were showcasing their Tunze all in one modular reef system which hung on rails and sat across the top rear of one's tank. They were only a strart-up. Moe published his second book around the same time. Oh...a trip down memory lane. Probably dropped over 15k between 1986 and 1988 on equipment that is now considered the cotton gin of the reef keeping industry. I still have my WISA air pump which repalced my dynmaster 2 air pump.
That's when a the only fish you would find in a reef tank was a goby, a gramma and a hawk fish!
Then Burelson came out with his version. I was actually in his homefactory in MD.
Later, the then long-haired Julian Sprung was adopted by Dr. Tunze. I met all of them at a Windows to the Sea Aquaruim Society meeting in Metuchan, NJ in 87/88. They were showcasing their Tunze all in one modular reef system which hung on rails and sat across the top rear of one's tank. They were only a strart-up. Moe published his second book around the same time. Oh...a trip down memory lane. Probably dropped over 15k between 1986 and 1988 on equipment that is now considered the cotton gin of the reef keeping industry. I still have my WISA air pump which repalced my dynmaster 2 air pump.
That's when a the only fish you would find in a reef tank was a goby, a gramma and a hawk fish!
Yep, I remember Albert well. He was a regular for a while at SEMAS meetings, along with Noel Curry and Dana Riddle. I wonder what ever happened to him? Albert was a walking encyclopedia of anything aquatic. Very humble and kind man IMO.
Tropiquarium...now there's a flash from the past! That made me think of at least a dozen LFS that no longer exist. Wow! My girlfriend (now wife) and I would run all over Atlanta on Saturdays to see what they had.
