In order to explore the feasibility of using balanite shells as a biological filter for the treatment of shrimp aquaculture water, the effects of biofilm colonization in 4 different filtering medium groups-ceramic ring, PE, barnacles shell, balanite shells and balanite shells + PE were compared to preliminarily evaluate the application value of balanite shells as a biological filter; different fill rates of balanite shells were set (volume of filtering media: volume of aquaculture water) to study the influences of fill rate on treatment effect of shrimp aquaculture water. Results showed that in balanite shells group, the biofilm colonization was successful earlier and the water treatment effect was good; different fill rates of balanite shells had remarkable influences on treatment effect of suspended matter, NH4+-N and NO2--N in water, and after 6 h, the removal rate of suspended matter in groups A, B, C and D respectively reached (68.7±4.3)% , (74.5 ± 7.0)%, (80.9±4.2)% and (82.1 ±3.8)%, which showed the removal rate in groups B, C and D was significantly higher than Group A (P< 0.05); final removal rate of NH4+-N in 4 groups was above 92.1%, and with 0.1 mg/L as the base, 5 d were required by NH4+-N in Group A to decrease below such mass concentration, 4 d in groups B and C and 3 d in Group D, with degradation rate in Group D > Group C > Group B > Group A; final removal rate of NO2-- N in 4 groups was above 98.0%. With 0.1 mg/L as the base, 6 d were required by NO2-- N in Group A to decrease below such mass concentration, and 5 d in groups B, C and D, with degradation rate in Group D > Group C > Group B > Group A . The study showed that balanite shells had a good effect in application to treatment of shrimp aquaculture water, and such effect was enhanced with increase of fill rate; however, in consideration of the economic costs and practical application, 2:9 was recommended as the fill rate of balanite shells.