Help.. OLD BIO MEDIA NEEDS CHANGE???
- Thread starter TheCanuck
- Start date
I just buy the cheap filters and use nylon mesh bags and aqua-clear sponges for the various applications in which they can be used. I bought a Whisper cartridge once, installed it, and instantly felt like a fool when I looked around and saw I already had the stuff I needed to rebuild the cartridge myself. And without that pesky charcoal that you have to cut a hole to remove.
I have no gravel and little decor, so the bulk of the good muck is in my HOB filters. I can see where they grow and do my best to put everything back where it was so they don't have to regrow elsewhere. So far so good.
I have no gravel and little decor, so the bulk of the good muck is in my HOB filters. I can see where they grow and do my best to put everything back where it was so they don't have to regrow elsewhere. So far so good.
Very nice responses. Well NC i use pot scrubbies that seem to have a more forgiving surface area than lets say ceramics. I have gained about 20Litrse of cermics from purchasing filters/returning them and just fish trade so to speak. I don't spend money on these i just accumulate them over time. I would never pay top dollar for bio.
BTW SUBSTRAT is on ebay 4L for 30$ great price!
I always worry about my pot scrubbies clogging but i keep up with my micron filter socks. I guess now i should be worried about my cermics in my FX5.... i have 6L of those hoes in there. They constantly collect calcium deposits and sand.( i run saltwater though its different). I would bleach my cermics before ever replacing them of course. Lets say they did have a mass build up of mineral deposits though, would bleaching still render them less effective as before?? Would bleach actually eat out calcium or any other minerals that "gunked" up such tiny pores? I guess thats why rubble rock "liverock" in filters is so good, because it cant really clog, due to all the micro organisms eating and pwning clogs. Hm maybe it would be in my best interest to remove my cermics and sell them and just replace with my 40lbs of rubble rock i dont use... Also if these cermics did clog, or pores begin to lose effectiveness would a bio bale substance that is much cheaper be much more worth the cash?
My tanks filtration
around 400-500 pot scrubbies 2400GPH
10gallons of bio bale super compressed
protien skimmer
fx5 with 6L of bio max from aqua clears. (Cermics) 950gph
rena xp4 with 4L of bio max cermics 190gph
100 micron filter sock
aqualizer
algae scrubber 900gph
Yea that might sound way overkill on my 360 ... but i toss 2lbs of food in there a day.... and this topic could really be benefitial to me changing out certain bio media...
My tests always read 0amonia 0trite 0trate .... i do a water change when my trate rises to 5-10 area. That can take weeks and weeks, so i usually just do a monthly wc. But i dont want my tank to suddenly crash from bio just becoming non effective, maybe the mechanical approach is more safe i the end.
BTW my freshwater tanks have gravel in the filters for media lol... fine pads and gravel.. my small sw tank has FW gravel as media as well lol
BTW SUBSTRAT is on ebay 4L for 30$ great price!
I always worry about my pot scrubbies clogging but i keep up with my micron filter socks. I guess now i should be worried about my cermics in my FX5.... i have 6L of those hoes in there. They constantly collect calcium deposits and sand.( i run saltwater though its different). I would bleach my cermics before ever replacing them of course. Lets say they did have a mass build up of mineral deposits though, would bleaching still render them less effective as before?? Would bleach actually eat out calcium or any other minerals that "gunked" up such tiny pores? I guess thats why rubble rock "liverock" in filters is so good, because it cant really clog, due to all the micro organisms eating and pwning clogs. Hm maybe it would be in my best interest to remove my cermics and sell them and just replace with my 40lbs of rubble rock i dont use... Also if these cermics did clog, or pores begin to lose effectiveness would a bio bale substance that is much cheaper be much more worth the cash?
My tanks filtration
around 400-500 pot scrubbies 2400GPH
10gallons of bio bale super compressed
protien skimmer
fx5 with 6L of bio max from aqua clears. (Cermics) 950gph
rena xp4 with 4L of bio max cermics 190gph
100 micron filter sock
aqualizer
algae scrubber 900gph
Yea that might sound way overkill on my 360 ... but i toss 2lbs of food in there a day.... and this topic could really be benefitial to me changing out certain bio media...
My tests always read 0amonia 0trite 0trate .... i do a water change when my trate rises to 5-10 area. That can take weeks and weeks, so i usually just do a monthly wc. But i dont want my tank to suddenly crash from bio just becoming non effective, maybe the mechanical approach is more safe i the end.
BTW my freshwater tanks have gravel in the filters for media lol... fine pads and gravel.. my small sw tank has FW gravel as media as well lol
I confess although I claim I do not use bio media, I do have a two or three (out of ten or so) filters that have Aqua Clean bio nuggets in them. I don't bother maintaining them, cleaning them, etc though.
I'm far more educated on the organic side of things than the mineral side so I can't comment to much on calcium build up...
Bleach will not erode calcium...
Soaking calcium in an acidic solution will erode it. I have no experience doing such so I can't really offer any suggestions of how to best achieve this though.
Saltwater aquariums are far more dynamic ecosystems than fresh which makes comparing the two fairly difficult. Although chemistry is consistent, the forces at work in each are totally different.
Since bacteria will grow on darn near any surface... and as we have discussed here, tiny pores are prone to clogging... there are tons of things that could be used as bio media that would be wiser than paying for bio media... gravel sized terra cotta would be marvelous...
That's funny, in my above response I almost concluded with "hell, regular aquarium gravel would probably work as well as most high dollar bio medias."
If we read Tableau's experience above... when the bio media got clogged, the bacteria seemed to relocate to teh gravel. Well gravel doesn't get clogged. So why not put gravel straight into the filter and forget the bio nuggets that will eventually clog and need replacing.
nc_nutcase;4120594; said:
Well chaps i must say this has been successful. I may be replacing my ceramics with other more suitable bio. I wan tto conduct a test as well, just have a hob filter on an established tank with just cermics. See how long it takes me to overfeed the tank before the cermics become inactive. I never thought of crushing up those plant pots but thats a really good idea. I might be doing this for my FW aquariums. For my salt i think rubble rock in the canisters and sump area is hard to beat.
TheCanuck;4120603; said:
I think the 'rubble rock' will work in fresh water just as well as the terra cotta would... I would let cost determine which to use...
Also, the same little organisms that keep rubble rock clean in salt water will occupy terra cotta (or other media) and keep it clean...
nc_nutcase;4120621; said:
well in my rubble rock i have tube worms, sponges, and bristle worms. They are already populated in the rubble rock. The terra cotta could not do the same. But yes for freshwater it would i understand that.
The rubble rock has filter feeders which i think is very hard to recreate in any other substance.
Vinegar. Straight pure vinegar out of the bottle will do the trick nicely, and won't damage the ceramic.
I use fine-pored lava rock in my Magnum HOT chamber. It's pleasantly rusted over but hasn't 'smoothed' yet. Lava=good. I also like the natural variations in pore size that will give me the chaos curve for adapting to different currents and flow rates, etc.
very interesting read.
the only way to know for sure is to have two identical setups with the same stock and filters except the media would be different.
would love to test this out however I do not have the space nor the resources to do so
i like to think that the majority of what is said above is true and has substance
the only way to know for sure is to have two identical setups with the same stock and filters except the media would be different.
would love to test this out however I do not have the space nor the resources to do so
i like to think that the majority of what is said above is true and has substance
I have a tray full of mountain dew bottle caps in my XP3 serving as "bio media" I cleaned out my PC room and noticed all the ridges on the outside of the cap for grip.. Viola! 1 minute with a drill to drill holes in the ends (to help circulation) and instant bio media.
I can't tell you if it works or not. I can tell you that I have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in a well stocked 55g. I'd bet $100 that I could replace all those bottle caps with green scrubby pads or floss or even nothing and i'd still have parameters at 0,0,20.
I can't tell you if it works or not. I can tell you that I have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite in a well stocked 55g. I'd bet $100 that I could replace all those bottle caps with green scrubby pads or floss or even nothing and i'd still have parameters at 0,0,20.
