I honestly am ordering some myself. But, reviews and my research pointed me there. Seems you'll be able to get a couple years out of it at a minimum.
fill my filter
- Thread starter BichirKing
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I honestly am ordering some myself. But, reviews and my research pointed me there. Seems you'll be able to get a couple years out of it at a minimum.
the reviews look promising! I'm thinking of using the divet foam 3 pack and then for bio using pond matrix instead of lava rock. I know a lot of people like the lava rock and I have used it as well but I think there's a lot better out there. the lava rock doesn't have any internal low oxygen areas for anaerobic bacteria.
Not to mention available surface area in Pond Matrix vs. Lava Rock. Much larger surface are on the same size of piece. Which, you're filter will have as much BB as it needs/your aquarium can support. But, giving BB more area to grow and exist is better for ebs and flows you may have with your tank, be it adding new fish, family fed the fish heavily while you were gone or something.
Yeah do that. It has greater surface area then k1 and is cheaper. Ill post some pics of both 13 and 17 when i go down to my fish room tomorrow.
Nothing wrong with lava rock. This will make some unhappy. Fluidized moving media is not needed in most situations, I think it's more of a hey look how cool I am. Sure it works but is it needed? I mean it converts ammonia to nitrite and that to nitrate.....the bacterias that do that will colonize just about any surface. I've never had ammonia or nitrite at a detectable level in my tank since its been cycled. I use scrubbies, bioballs, and lava rock.
I agree bio after mech. I like the idea of porite for more mech and bio. Just get a smaller micron rating then your socks. Leave some room for water to bypass in case of a clog but not so easy to go there instead. Put your heaters in the chamber that has your pump. If you have a controller or your heaters have a sensor lead put those in your first chamber.
If you want to really have a complete bio filter which most of us dont have, you need to incorporate a media that allows/promotes anaerobic bacteria growth. Anaerobic bacteria converts nitrate to nitrogen gas. Instead of spending money on media that does what the lava rock can do spend it on something to help create a full biological " experience". Thats harder then said though. Biohome is one that claims it does but ive not tried it yet. I'm looking at feather stone hoping that is porous enough.
Looks like it took me to long to post that.....work it gets in the way of my hobbies.
I agree bio after mech. I like the idea of porite for more mech and bio. Just get a smaller micron rating then your socks. Leave some room for water to bypass in case of a clog but not so easy to go there instead. Put your heaters in the chamber that has your pump. If you have a controller or your heaters have a sensor lead put those in your first chamber.
If you want to really have a complete bio filter which most of us dont have, you need to incorporate a media that allows/promotes anaerobic bacteria growth. Anaerobic bacteria converts nitrate to nitrogen gas. Instead of spending money on media that does what the lava rock can do spend it on something to help create a full biological " experience". Thats harder then said though. Biohome is one that claims it does but ive not tried it yet. I'm looking at feather stone hoping that is porous enough.
Looks like it took me to long to post that.....work it gets in the way of my hobbies.
I have biohome in my canisters and after about a year I haven't noticed any difference in my water parameters that would show the extra $$$ is worth it. I was looking at the nano-tech bio blocks that are supposed to help house the anaerobic bact. to fill the sump with enough bio home it would cost more than the entire tank set up.
I had feather rock in a tank once and its sharp! fish would flash on it and fillet themselves so out it came. I was thinking about using pumice but I cant trust it not being treated with something that would adversely affect my tank.
I had feather rock in a tank once and its sharp! fish would flash on it and fillet themselves so out it came. I was thinking about using pumice but I cant trust it not being treated with something that would adversely affect my tank.
Yeah I've read a ton of forums and really anything I can find on it. It seems it really only excells when you use a ton of it and when there is no chance of it becoming clogged, or with a lot of mechanical filtration before it. I am running some tests on a "tower" with feather stone. Small low gph pump in a filter wrap to ensure no detritus gets in. Yeah after messing with the feather stone I'm not puting that in my tank, its like a thousand little knives... But it is the only thing I found that is porous all the way through I can pour water on one side and it comes out somewhere on the other.
heres more pics texasmfk31
also noticed that the middle chamber is completely sealed to the bottom on both sides ????
looks like i'll need to open the far side along the bottom or the water will just fill the middle chamber and only the surface will move to the pump chamber. i'm also going to fill the holes that are in the sides that I think were for the wet/dry tower??? so the flow will be in before the bubble wall flows over the first baffle then down through the mech into the return/bio chamber area. or could add another baffle and put bio in there than leave the last chamber for equipment and the pump???? thoughts?
I honestly would scrap all these chambers. For what your planning they arent needed. Unless you decide to go with the k1.
Just pumps, lava rock/biomedia in some laundry bags ontop of the pumps and filter socks. Simple easy to work in amd leaves you with space
Just pumps, lava rock/biomedia in some laundry bags ontop of the pumps and filter socks. Simple easy to work in amd leaves you with space
