CFS 500 with BIO Balls?

[mscamp02]

So recently I took apart my CFS 500 to clean and decided to put a box of 225 Coralife Bio Balls in the bottom replacing the black sponge/pad. Just wondering if this is a good idea or what others thought of it. Reason why I am using Bio Balls instead of ceramic rings is I had them lying around and the flow in the bottom of the canister should be minimal considering the way the pump is designed so bio balls should work just fine right?

I dont really need this canister because I have 2 FX5's on the 125 and only 2 rays (1 5 inch 1 7 inch) and 1 frontosa (6 inch) so I thought I would play around with it for a bit. Eventually it will be replaced by another fx5 that way I dont have to buy any filtration next summer when the new tank is in.

 

[Oughtsix]

Bio balls are an excellent wet/dry media! They are a lousy wet only media. The strength of bio balls is there ability to break streams of water down into drops of water and maximize the water/air surface area. Completely submerged bio balls are about as productive as putting an old shoe in your filter. In my opinion what you have is a waste of electricity. I would put the sponge back in.