Bio balls or filter floss in overflow ?

ttmanta

ttmanta

Member
Hello everyone, this is my first real post here !!! I've had saltwater tanks for a little while now. Mainly FOWLR predator tanks & a few specimen tanks. But my wife & I recently purchased a 92 reef ready corner aquarium. It was an established reef already so all we had to do was take it down, move it, and set it back up. My question is that in the overflow would it be beneficial to put bio balls in there for more space for bacteria to grow or maybe filter floss to help catch larger particles before they go into the filter sock in the sump ? Or should I just leave it the way it is ?
 
As long as you are not keeping crazy amont of fish. Live rock and sand will be able to deal with your bioloads easily. Therefore, IMO bio balls will be useless.
For floss, if you have the time to clean it daily, yes, it will be helpful. But if you are planning to just put it in and clean in every once a while, then don't use it. It will release nutrients overtime.
 
Bio balls will become a nitrate factory. Don't use them. If you have a filter sock there is also no need for filter floss. The sock is intended to catch every thing.
 
I would say don't use bio balls or filter floss. It becomes a pain to change regularly and the benefit is minimal to zero. Just keep up on water changes (weekly or bi-weekly) and that should do the trick.
 
Some of the more advance older reefers turn to Bio-Balls as an added benefit, but since you are starting out I will stay away from both Bio-Balls and Filter Floss, simple filter sock should be enough.
 
To add... If you ever do incorporate some kind of media for helping bacteria colonization, I might try Siporax instead of bio-balls. A few tanks have had amazing success with Siporax.
 
tmb22 said:
To add... If you ever do incorporate some kind of media for helping bacteria colonization, I might try Siporax instead of bio-balls. A few tanks have had amazing success with Siporax.
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Never used that stuff but I heard it does a great job. I might have to try that out and order some. :)
 
Thanks for all the information guys. I'm already changing & cleaning out the filter sock every day so I'm not looking for more daily work. So I guess I'll avoid the filter floss all together.
 
ttmanta said:
Thanks for all the information guys. I'm already changing & cleaning out the filter sock every day so I'm not looking for more daily work. So I guess I'll avoid the filter floss all together.
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You probably don't need to clean them every day unless they are clogging up an not allowing water to flow through. I swap out my socks about once per week.
 
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