ceramic rings

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Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 16, 2007
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Sunny Southern Californiaaaaaa
hey which ceramic rings are better; the big ones or the small ones???


and also someone told me not to use ceramic rings...they told me to use something better like matrix glass or sintered glass...should i listen to him???


lol i just bought 15 lb of ceramic rings and i dont know if i should keep them or not.
 
i think it depends on your filtration setup.

I think people with wet/dry filters like those bio-balls.

But for canister filters, i think ceramic is best.
 
Your selection of biofilter medium type depends upon whether you're a practical sort of guy or the type that enjoys the sense of having given himself a technical edge based upon theoretical considerations. From a practical perspective, as long as you devote sufficient filter volume to your biomedia, you are unlikely to see any difference in water quality regardless of whether you select smaller rings, larger rings or spherical particles, such as Ehfisubstrat Pro. From a theoretical perspective, smaller rings have a higher surface-to-volume ratio than larger rings...so, you'll have more surface for bacterial colonization and ammonia/nitrite oxidation if you use the smaller rings. Spherical particles allow a more unform flow of water through the particle bed...so, even though a hollow cylinder has more surface area than a sphere of similar size, the spherical particle bed probably, theoretically, actually has more useable surface area. I use Ehfisubstrat Pro because I'm the techncal edge sort of guy. My guess is that your 15 pounds of ceramic rings will work just fine.
 
All "bio media" is is a lil nugget that bacteria can live on. It's only valuable quality is it has surface area. If there were any evidence what so eer that suggested that an aquarium without bio media had a lack of surface area, then bio media would make sense. But there isn't... hmmm...

Use whatever you want, bacteria will grow on it... the amount of bacteria in your tank will be limited by the quantity of ammonia in your system, not the amount of surface area...
 
An aquarium is a closed biological system, typically populated with a high density of fish. Given the demands placed upon the filtration system to process nitrogenous waste, it is a mistake to think that you can dismiss biomedia as irrelevant.
 
brianp;3617967; said:
An aquarium is a closed biological system, typically populated with a high density of fish. Given the demands placed upon the filtration system to process nitrogenous waste, it is a mistake to think that you can dismiss biomedia as irrelevant.
Click to expand...


Then why don't any of my large overstocked tanks with no bio media have any detectable ammonia nor nitrites?

I agree to believe random hype from either side of the argument is not wise...

But I've kept a lot of tanks for a lot of years... and when they first came out with bio media I thought... "All the stuff does is give bacteria a place to live, and since none of my tanks have detectable ammonia or nitrite... obviously my tanks have plenty of places for bacteria to live"... 10+ years later, the same holds true...


No matter how you word it... bio media is just a surface area for bacteria to grow on... and no matter what you think, bacteria was growing in ample quantities in aquariums long before bio media was thought of...
 
nc_nutcase;3618047; said:
Then why don't any of my large overstocked tanks with no bio media have any detectable ammonia nor nitrites?

I agree to believe random hype from either side of the argument is not wise...

But I've kept a lot of tanks for a lot of years... and when they first came out with bio media I thought... "All the stuff does is give bacteria a place to live, and since none of my tanks have detectable ammonia or nitrite... obviously my tanks have plenty of places for bacteria to live"... 10+ years later, the same holds true...


No matter how you word it... bio media is just a surface area for bacteria to grow on... and no matter what you think, bacteria was growing in ample quantities in aquariums long before bio media was thought of...
Click to expand...



are you trying to say that i dont need the ceramic rings?
 
I say throw in some scrubbies and call it a day.
 
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