[isabelle]

hi everyone. i have a question on my problem.it has been a year since i have had my tank going i have a trickle filter with the bio balls i was not told to take the bio balls out untill now due to the fact my nitrates spiked have you ever heard this fact or not.i have done a 20 percent water change and it has come down some how long does it take :slap: :slap:

[dougc]

Bioballs are often referred to as "nitrate factories". Trickle filters efficiently process waste into nitrates, bypassing the other pathways in your tank, such as live rock, sandbed, or macroalgaes. You don't state whether your tank is a reef or a fish-only system, but trickle filters fell out of favor in reef tanks years ago for this reason.

Most reef tanks are now run with some combination of nutrient processing mechanisms such as protein skimming, live rock, deep sandbed, macroalgae, and chemical filtration (phosphate removers, zeovit, etc.). Personally, I use live rock, a protein skimmer, and a refugium full of macroalgae to remove nitrates and phospates. I also do a 10% water change every week.

One water change will not lower nitrates appreciably. A series of water changes, combined with proper filtration and export, will usually keep them under control.

Assuming you other filtration in place, you should remove the bioballs in the trickle filter slowly to allow the bacteria in your live rock to multiply, replacing the bacteria on the bioballs. This will help prevent an ammonia spike, which could be much worse for the inhabitants of your tank than the nitrates.

Understand that the subject of filtration of marine tanks is fraught with conflicting opinions, but when it comes to trickle filters, the consensus is that they contribute nothing positive to waste management.