Pot scrubbers are a nightmare...

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MilitantPotato

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 19, 2006
722
2
48
Missouri, USA
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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I like to put any kind of biomedia in mesh bags (lava rock, scrubbies, whatever), whenever it collects debris, and they all do, lift the bag out, splash it around in some old tank water and put the bag of media back.
And agree a filter sock placed on the line into the sump stops the debris from collecting, but then the filter sock must also be rinsed frequently, just part of normal maintenance.
 
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.


Sent from my LG-E980 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Click to expand...

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.
 
I'm using bonded poly floss, the dual colored blue and white stuff. It's a 12x8" cutout changed weekly or when it gets clogged up and starts bypassing. Filter socks won't work since its a wet/dry with very little room for mechanical media, maybe 3".

I believe it's an issue with how tightly they're wound so tightly internally that they end up storing mulm and gunk that gets past the mechanical filtration. It's the same muck that ends up in the bottom of the sump over time.
 
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