Bio balls

[homegrowncichlid]

As I mentioned earlier (twice) bio balls were designed for use in trickle filters, which I didn't specify, which is an artificial waterfall, where instead of forcing air though water, water is mixed into air, providing super oxygenation, and plenty of nitrifying bacterial surface area, without clogging. It was not designed for use under water. It has no denitrifying ability.

In the 90s when I first encountered bio balls, they were used properly in sumps as trickle filters, but I began to see more and more people using them incorrectly in their sumps as they let the water level rise to 30% or 50% and even higher, submerging them completely, when, to be used properly, the water level only needed to be a few inches high, to cover the return pump intake.

 

[marrone]

Actually bio-balls/bio-blocks were first used in wet/dry filters in place on the crush coral or aggregate that was used. The wet/dry filters that came out in the early 80's there was a wet and a dry area. The wet area was completely submerged in water while the dry area was usually some type of trays where the water drip down onto from usually a spray type bar. Also included was a denitrate filter, which removed nitrates from the water. In the beginning crush coral or aggregate sand was used but then people started to switch over to things that had more surface area, like porous glass rings and bio-balls or bio-blocks. What eventually happened over the years was that the denitrate filter was removed from the wet/dry filter and then people started to use a plastic wire mesh, which was usually cover in some type of fabric turning the wet/dry filter into a trickle filter. Eventually that was remove too and what started out as a wet/dry filter eventually became a sump, where you could keep equipment, make a refug, and not as much a filter as it was first designed to be, then again wet/dry filters were use back in the 60's too.

 

[theMeat]

What kind of "denitrate filter" was in wet/dry back in them days?

 

[marrone]

It was built into the system. Basically there was a reservoir where you would put a solutions that would fed the denitrate filter. It had silicone tubing, that you could control with values, and it would dip the solution on pads that were located in the back on the wet/dry filter. Water would also be fed very slowly into the area and then ultimately returned to the filter and then the tank.

I took down the filter a couple of years ago, and put it in the basement of my building, but unfortunately it disappeared so I don't have a picture of it to show, unless it's in a batch of old photos that I have. The thing was you had to make the solution and keep up with it, so in the end it wasn't something that I did. It was very interesting but I'm not sure if it worked 100%, but in theory it should have. I think it just eventually disappear from the wet/dry systems as people didn't understand what it was for or the concern with very low nitrates at that time in reef tanks wasn't something that most people were concerned with, then again most people didn't even check Alk or Cal levels either.

 

[theMeat]

Wow. Remember when crushed coral on top of under gravel filter was the sh!t. Then wet/dry filters with bio balls was the latest and greatest. But don't remember that thingamajigy
Thanx for sharing

 

[marrone]

And dolomite and white bleached skeleton of corals too! I actually have a couple of big pieces of bleached skeleton corals in my large FO tanks.

If you think about it the denitrate filters was an important part of the system and what should have been used to remove the end product, nitrates. I think for the most part denitrates removal systems have never caught on and only a few use them.