Bio media
- Thread starter akskirmish
- Start date
It's always been argued that the cermaic media pores plug so fast that the advertised surface area is quickly thrown out the window. Is it lb for lb more area then bio balls or scrubbies? Maybe. But I think there's many factors that have to be considered such as cost, area available to work with, bio load, and mechanical filtration regimen.
Those rings get cruddy and I bet they would have a hard time keeping up with potscrubbies and bio balls in heavy load situations involving serious amounts of poop. Fistfull of crap in a ringed sump is gonna hurt it alot more then a larger scrubbie/balled sump. My scrubbies get plugged up. I bet ceramic rings wouldn't even have pores in some sumps that rely on a wrinkled up slab of blue bonded filter pad that is wadded up on the drip tray with water flowing around it cause it has become a poop sheet. We all know that everyone knows people out there is doing this.
This arguement has been going on for years. It all boils down to how clean you can keep the bio or the mechanical filtration regimen.
I would prefer to leave the bio debate to others as in my opinion both submerged rings and bioball/potscrubbie wet/dries are inferior to bio reactors. With a reactor you never have to worry about media getting cruddy.
Those rings get cruddy and I bet they would have a hard time keeping up with potscrubbies and bio balls in heavy load situations involving serious amounts of poop. Fistfull of crap in a ringed sump is gonna hurt it alot more then a larger scrubbie/balled sump. My scrubbies get plugged up. I bet ceramic rings wouldn't even have pores in some sumps that rely on a wrinkled up slab of blue bonded filter pad that is wadded up on the drip tray with water flowing around it cause it has become a poop sheet. We all know that everyone knows people out there is doing this.
This arguement has been going on for years. It all boils down to how clean you can keep the bio or the mechanical filtration regimen.
I would prefer to leave the bio debate to others as in my opinion both submerged rings and bioball/potscrubbie wet/dries are inferior to bio reactors. With a reactor you never have to worry about media getting cruddy.
Majority of bio media is ceramic rings(roughly 40 gal)....But I got roughly 30 gal of ehiem sub pro that will also be used ontop of the rings.....I will still have enough room in sump for roughly 30 gal of bioballs
Some media will be submersed and parts wont be depending on water level I choose.....
Some media will be submersed and parts wont be depending on water level I choose.....
DB junkie;4796718; said:
I run no mechanical as of now......But that is going to change now that I can acess my sump. right where my return is I have room to place mechanical filtration......My tank will love this.
Media will be a 50/50-half submerseded and half not depending on water level.
I have holes (extra) that are drilled in glass top for sump that I could run an airline down in to provide more oxygen if one thinks it would help
No mech? Doesn't make any sense spending money on nice bio if you're just filling it with crap. I'd worry about the mech side before the bio. Gonna be pretty difficult to make any bio even remotely efficient if you can't keep it clean.
DB junkie;4796952; said:
lol.....
It's more the way my tank was designed that wont allow me to due this efficiently anyhow.....
In order to get anything decent for mechanical filtration out of this sump-I would need to move my bio media to a spot where there would be no trickling water at all....Only a chamber that is filled with the water after it flows over the bio media in current state......It's a alarge chamber right before it gets to my return pump...the only way to add any oxy to this part is to run an air pump and run the tubeing down inside the chamber where the bio media would then be housed.
Otherwise I have no choice but to run bio before mechanical....
I'm only looking to improve what i have.....I'm open to all suggestions
I could grab some pics later today if your willing to help me a bit further on this.......
Let me add that my tank use to be a king crab holding tank......So it isn't setup or drilled right for keeping fish........
it was never designed to due so.....My frickin returns (which are only two at .5 inch) are right in the bottom of my tank(hence my very large substrate choice) the darn intakes for the sump are 2 1 inch drain pipes-same all the way to the return pump where it is then choked down to the 2 .5 inch returns.....Needless to say i burn up pumps...
the sump is designed a bit wierd too I do believe....But at the time I had to buy what i could to save my Pacu.....it may not be the best tank or route to have gone...But my pics speak volumes of the care I do give them...
Just looking for a better way to provide better care is all...
it was never designed to due so.....My frickin returns (which are only two at .5 inch) are right in the bottom of my tank(hence my very large substrate choice) the darn intakes for the sump are 2 1 inch drain pipes-same all the way to the return pump where it is then choked down to the 2 .5 inch returns.....Needless to say i burn up pumps...
the sump is designed a bit wierd too I do believe....But at the time I had to buy what i could to save my Pacu.....it may not be the best tank or route to have gone...But my pics speak volumes of the care I do give them...
Just looking for a better way to provide better care is all...
Sounds like you have a failing sump design.
It should go like this:
1. mech first to catch all your crap.
2. bio to help the nitrogen cycle.
3. return.
From what I have read ^ the sump set up has crap trickling down clogging your bio media, then you want to use mech before the return. This does not make sense.
You said you would be "open to all suggestions".
My suggestion is to redo your sump design. Heck sketch it and throw it on here so we can help you.
By the way sera siporax > matrix bio media > eheim substrate pro > jbl micro mec but any bio media will work.
I over stocked my tank and my water does not go over 20ppm with proper water changes using sera siporax.
[YT]8QqLCshF_M4[/YT]
Bomber
It should go like this:
1. mech first to catch all your crap.
2. bio to help the nitrogen cycle.
3. return.
From what I have read ^ the sump set up has crap trickling down clogging your bio media, then you want to use mech before the return. This does not make sense.
You said you would be "open to all suggestions".
My suggestion is to redo your sump design. Heck sketch it and throw it on here so we can help you.
By the way sera siporax > matrix bio media > eheim substrate pro > jbl micro mec but any bio media will work.
I over stocked my tank and my water does not go over 20ppm with proper water changes using sera siporax.
[YT]8QqLCshF_M4[/YT]
Bomber
bomber;4797072; said:
Basically a bad design-this is understand.
I can switch it around.......Just that the water where bio would be is more of a "standing" (slow current spot if make sense) chamber instead of a faster one where it trickles over.........Is this OK
I have no clue what you mean on the last part with the bio media.Sorry
I also do not know how to go about scetching it out and putting it on here...I can take good pics though.
I really can not afford to scrap my sump-just switch it around.......I dont have the skills to build something I would or could trust.Plus it is a rather large sump that I would like to keep.
Later down the road after I burn up another pump...I am going to go with 3 high volume canister and plug these damn holes so i can have a normal tank....And run sand.....
