Ok here is my math on Bio Media - Argument against pot scrubbies.

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VLDesign

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I guess like everything there is a limit to the ratio of good deal/not worth it.

Here is what I figured out:

Max recomendation on bio filtration is:
5-6 Square Feet of surface area/Gallon of water

I have 1000 gallons:
5-6 x 100 = 5000-6000 SQ FT Of surface area needed to cover the max load

Pot scrubbies = 375 SQ FT / Cubic Foot. About 200 scrubbies per cubic foot.
375/6000 = 16 Cubic feet of media needed or 200 * 16 = 3200 scrubbies.

DoItBest.com while no longer sells online in bulk was asking 8 for $1 or $400.00 for my required media.


Wow...

Needless to say I am going to be getting 3 liters of Eheim Pro media for $150.00 and will have about 55,000 SQ FT of surface area for that 3 liters of media.


Even if you cut back to 3-4 SQ Ft / Gallon it's still cheaper to get the Eheim Pro media.

Just thought I'd share.
 
Makes sense when you put it that way!!
 
i having a little trouble following this, how did you determine the number of scrubbies per cubic foot? also where did you get the units from? only site ive seen saying surface of scrubbies says 370 surface area(had no units) per cu. ft. and in my sump the spot for scrubbies is about 12 x 12 x 6 and hold 20 scrubbies so a 12 x 12 x 12 could hold 40. so assuming that it was 370 sq. ft per cu. ft then for 6000sq ft. you would just do

6000sq ft / 370 sq. ft per cu. ft. x 40 scrubbies per cu. ft. = 649scrubbies. and most dollar stores it is 1$ per 6 scrubbies or in your case 1$ per 8 that would mean....
649 / 6 = 109$ or
649 / 8 = 82$
but thats just me, i may have done it wrong. it really depends on how many scrubbies per cu. ft.
 
To get the amount of scrubbers per cubic foot I Used another members setup as a guide..

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124574&highlight=pot+scrubbers

Also based on rough dimensions it also adds up to about 200 per cubic foot.

Then to the surface area:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/filtration/l/aa071603.htm

This site explains in better detail whatt he surface area is. Which is SQ FT Per Cubic Foot. It also has a rough estimate per cubic foot of media which is higher than what I calculated only becuase DoItBest had the best deal and the article was using average costs.
 
Interesting information.

One point....... Any calculation based on "gallons of water" rather than "total bioload" is pretty much irrelevant. So much of this hobby is based on that erroneous relationship.

Most aquaculture systems relate things to waste load, pounds of fish, or total DOC's. That might be a better place to start.
 
VLDesign;1594464; said:
To get the amount of scrubbers per cubic foot I Used another members setup as a guide..

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124574&highlight=pot+scrubbers

Also based on rough dimensions it also adds up to about 200 per cubic foot.

Then to the surface area:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/filtration/l/aa071603.htm

This site explains in better detail whatt he surface area is. Which is SQ FT Per Cubic Foot. It also has a rough estimate per cubic foot of media which is higher than what I calculated only becuase DoItBest had the best deal and the article was using average costs.
Click to expand...
well prove me wrong, lol. guess i didnt pack mine as tight
johnptc;1594526; said:
you dont believe 3 l of anything will handle 1000 gallons do you ???
Click to expand...
yeah me either
 
Why argue.. really save yourself some money and go sand .... ;)

Sorry I add idiocies here and there .... Don't mind me.. nto really thinking.. i am still ill :( Brina not functioning quite rationally....
 
VLDesign;1594109; said:
Max recomendation on bio filtration is:
5-6 Square Feet of surface area/Gallon of water
...
Even if you cut back to 3-4 SQ Ft / Gallon it's still cheaper to get the Eheim Pro media.
Click to expand...

From my readings 5-6x seems excessive, although would love to learn more if you have a pointer.
http://www.russellwatergardens.com/metabolization.htm

I tested this out when I did mine, during a fishless cycle. I bought double the scrubbies that I thought I really needed for 210 gal (ie: 400 scrubbies). Once the bacteria colonized, it brought down 4ppm (considered by most more than any real load in a day) in less than 8 hours.

So in reality, I probably only needed 1/2 of that and then fully stocked I'm probably not even close to 1-2ppm. So I'm going to imagine those 400 scrubbies could easily do (210*2)*2.5, or close to your 1000. So if I were to double that 800 (ie: security and still under $100) can't see it having issues with 1000, but again I would test it for 4ppm (or your actual load) before you bet on my (wild) guess - grin.

BTW: Eheim Pro media is great; I used it extensively for years in my 2217's, with well-over stocked tanks. The only down side is that you have to replenish them, as the pores get filled with crud, one plus for scrubbies.

Ed
 
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