Bioballs?

[mlovelace]

Hello, I want to first thank you all for the help in my new hobby! I use to own several freshwater tanks and now I am venturing into saltwater after a 10 year absence from fish tanks. I have read several articles and heard many opinions on bioballs. What are some of your opinions of them for a Fish Only tank? I plan on putting a little live rock in with my dry rock (50 lbs dry rock, 25 lbs live rock). Do most of you use them with a wet/dry filter or do you by pass them? If you do bypass the bioballs, do you add other filters to that area in the sump? The person I purchased the tank from had a reef tank and he told me he only had them in there to keep the noise down from the water dropping.

Thank you, Mike

[gregony]

Bio balls provide decent nitrification but do not offer any denitrification. Most fish are not that sensitive to nitrates, and as long as they stay at reasonable level (i.e. 120 or below), there wouldn't be any concern. The problem with bio balls is that you have to take them out and clean them just like a filter pad because crud will get stuck in them. So for the same function filter pads would be a better choice because they're easier to remove and clean. Chances are you won't need the bioballs or the filter pads though, provided you put in a decent substrate and don't overstock your tank. Of course, this assumes you have a good protein skimmer.