Tonys new frag tank build

Bio balls are just plastic balls that attempt to give you increased surface area for bacteria growth, bacteria that help turn ammonia into nitrate.  Because they are plastic, all the surface area is what you can see with your eyes.  The oxygen content in the water that the bioballs are submerged in prevents from growing the bacteria colonies that can breakdown nitrate into yet other chemicals.  The best way to get a lot of surface area in an extremely low oxygen to oxygen free environment is a deep sand bed and huge pieces of live rock.

But if you do that, it is difficult to move the water through huge pieces of live rock and through deep sand beds.  Not to mention the positives and negatives to deep sand beds are hotly contested.  Some people opt for plenums, which I hear wonders about, but don't know much about them.

The bio pellets are little buggers that combat the phosphates in the tank - I don't know that they help clean anything else out.  Not that they don't, I just don't know.  Eventually the agents that soak up the phosphates or other ill desired chemicals are saturated and you have to remove them.

Like I said, I'm learning as well, so take that with a grain of salt.

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The quality of your acrylic skills is out of this world.  I am seriously impressed.