Pot scrubbers are a nightmare...

Filter socks?


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Are they used in a wet/dry filtration system ?

You should run the water through some mechanical filter media first..

Mattala matting. Just like scrubbies, but in nice square sheets.

Sounds like the issue is with your mechanical filtration...which should come before the bio media. And yes, plastic bioballs should be much easier to rinse out than scrubbies.

MilitantPotato said:

I've recently had some nitrate issues in my 180. I've about 20 gallons worth of pot scrubbers that are always full of debris.

I'm a bit tired of swishing and squishing yet never getting them remotely clean.

Are bio balls easier to keep clean? Is there another option available?

I'm debating converting the sump to a fluidised bed at this point, but that would require a heap of work and cycle issues.


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Hello; My take on such media has been to clean it enough to remove much of the build up not try to remove any where near all. I am considering this in the view that the use of such media is for the biological effect of the beneficial bacteria (bb). The notion being that such media needs a lot of surface area for the bb to colonize. The more surface area the better.

The bb, as i understand it, cling to these surfaces quite well and vigorous rinsing does not remove much. I have used a garden hose to rinse such media many times with good effect, so a strong aggitation in a bucket of water should be fine.

My take is that the media needs only to be clean enough so that a decent water flow passes thru and around it. Could it be that you are trying to get it too clean? Perhaps they do not need to be all that clean?

Over the decades I have used various things for the media. I have yet to try the scrubbies. My experience with many plastics is they break down over time. Sometimes it has taken years, but they break down. Scrubbies may be the exception?

I have used glass marbles behind layers of filterfloss for a bb colonizing surface. The glass holds up very well over time and I still have some from the 1970's.

good luck

Bio balls are awesome. But with any bio media an excellent mechanical prefilter is essential. That is the only thing that should need to be cleaned on a regular basis.