ceramic rings?

[CHOMPERS]

Excuse my ignorance, but do the ceramic rings have the same concept as bioballs and scrubbers, just better at it? I saw X24 say that they have more surface area, but this surprises me thinking about how the rings are constructed.

There is a comparison chart floating around here somewhere that has all the types of media with their respective surface areas.

Whether ceramic rings have more or less area than bio-balls and scrubbies depends who you ask (or who is selling what). Consider looking at a map with a lake on it. Say that it is a map of a state and the lake is an oval. When you get a map of the county, then the lake will take a more jagged shape. In measuring the oval shape and measuring the jagged shape, the latter will certainly have a larger shore line (think surface area for the media). When you start measuring infantismally smaller increments, the larger the shoreline (or surface area) you will get. The pores are the practical limit for measuring the surface area, but unfortunately...the pores on ceramics clog quickly and you are left with only the macro dimensions.

The realistic surface area of ceramics is far less than scrubbies or bio-balls. Lava Rock excedes ceramics and is cheaper, but fell from grace because it also clogs. The pores in Lava Rock vary in size from macroscopic to microscopic.