bio tower on fish only tank questions???

[CJG]

I've heard mixed feelings about bio towers filled with bio balls on fish only systems. Can anyone give me there two cents on how they feel about em?
Some questions to consider...

What are the pros and cons of having them?
Have people that used them felt like they were good for the system?
What is there overall purpose?

Thanks very much to who every helps.

 

[gary shandling]

Salt water?

If so a skimmer is much better for removing disolved solids. That would help remove uneatin food and other debris but you can controll this from your feeding habits.

 

[CJG]

ya its a saltwater tank, sorry forgot to add that.

 

[matts125]

they are great to cycle a tank fast but after that they are a nitrate producer. they are kinda old school.

matt

 

[plack]

Fish tanks with a larger bio-load are more concerned with ammonia wich is toxic .

Now bio-balls /wet dry filters will remove/convert that very quickly-Good for the fish.

If you have corals thought they don't like Nitrates either .

Bio-balls/wet dry filters will keep the tank with higher level of this even after water changes etc. -Bad for the corals.

Some corals seem to tolerate nitrates more so than others and the same could be said of phosphates.

Most fish can tolerate the higher levels of nitrates that these bio-balls wet/dry filters leave/breed in a tank.

It would be better to have a skimmer and healthier for the fish as well.

But it would be hard to keep a large ray tank clean etc because of the amount of waste!

But it is do-able and is being done currently see link with post # 448

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33953&page=30



Paul

 

[BCT182]

I think the next question should be if he were to remove the bio-ball tower, what would happen? On a fully established system would removing that part of the entire biological filtration be like pulling one of the legs out from underneath a chair? As we talked about it the other day, I was using more of a reef theory for my system.

Another thing Cody, with the type's of animals we keep, we don't feed everyday or even every other day for that matter. Our "fish" would grow rapidly if we did. While they are more messy, they are creating mess less frequently with un-eaten food and such. DonW had an interesting topic we talked about once. If you feed lighter, but much more frequently. Having a constant food source entering the water allows the beneficial bacteria to increase making it easier to break down the food. Rather than to toss food in once a day and add waste all at once that then has to be broken down. Essentailly lightly shocking the on-going nitrogen cycle.

If that theory is correct, than what I have been doing may backfire one day. Who knows? I'm learning all the time too.

 

[CJG]

I've got a skimmer on my system as well. The reason that I have the bio tower on it is becuase I've heard that there good for a system such as mine. Overall like brett said, will removing it cause failures in my system? Should I remove it, or keep it? I'm stuck right now. Thanks thus far guys, keep it coming.

 

[Skimmy]

if it was me, i 'd just do something to improve the media it uses...
ie: switch out the bio balls with rubble live rock, or a ceramic denitrifying media, like i know seachem has a "gravel" looking media that sort of looks like a zeolith which is great for denitrification.