Biomedia Poll

[Krawnik]

Substrat Pro FTW. I put it in fine mesh bags. Haven't rinsed or replaced it in forever.

 

[stewilkie22]

i use bio max never replaced it

 

[Pharaoh]

Scrubbies and cheap Ebay ceramic media. I never change it.

 

[sevenoaks]

i use' supra' which is lava rock. i never replace. i use old tank water to rinse the gunk out.

 

[dawnmarie]

UGF/ Gravel. Soon to be RUGF( Thanks Chompers). The gravel has been in the tank 30 years, so far.

 

[FUEGO]

Bio-Max, no need to replace. Rinse thoroughly when filter flow diminishes.

 

[dogofwar]

I use scrubbies, bio balls, army men, lava rock...

It never needs to be replaced...just rinsed every now and again..

 

[CTU2fan]

Army men? Like little plastic GI Joe men? Wow, that's crazy.

I use biomax, seachem matrix, bioballs, and scrubbies. If I was starting from scratch I'd probably use seachem matrix and scrubbies, but my fluval 404 came with biomax and my sump came with bioballs so I use 'em.

 

[justin guest]

Just an exerpt from an earlier thread of mine about surface area. Food for thought

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158808

Filter material half life

All filter materials including plastic materials which are supposed to have a high microscopic surface area become polished after a while so in the end one type of filter media is just about as good as another for a given macroscopic surface area. This happens because the colonies of bacteria actually smoothen the surface of microscopically rough surfaces. I worked for years together with a french recirculation systems company who had their filter media in trickle towers analysed regularly. All Bioball types used for instance, lost microscopic roughness at the latest after 5 years. This means you should also partially change plastic medias every couple of years (not just stuff like efisubstrate) if you need high performance from your biofilter. I understand that different media types have widely differing surface areas and I am not trying to spark a debate about which is better but state the fact that ALL filter materials even ceramics, sand and scrubbies reduce in surface area over time.

j<><

 

[cichlid2006]

i use the stuff that came with my 405 plus some ceramic noodles from my old filter but when my new tank arrives i will be using bio-balls for the sump. i chose bio-balls because they are plastic and unlikely to crumble in the next few decades.

i wouldnt replace the ceramics unless they happened to crumble and break up.