The ultimate biological media?

[Essaf Victor]

Can I know what is the best biological media to use in a canister filter ?
Cuz I am confused between all the different types and materials

Thanks in advance!

 

[kno4te]

Lava rock. Cheap and effective.

 

[duanes]

Biological media is a surface area for ammonia and nitrite consuming bacteria to live on, there is not really any more to it than that.
If a media has more surface area it is said to be better, so a very porous surface area with many interstitial spaces, is in essence supposedly better.
That said, if your media sits for a long period without rinsing mulm off, it can become clogged, and those microscopic spaces become anaerobic and don't support the the kind or aerobic life you want.
I have used everything from ceramic rings, to simple lava rock, to fluidized media, and wouldn't/ couldn't know which is better without counting and comparing bacterial colonies between types under a microscope, and without that knowledge, its only speculation.
But if you use nothing more than a few lbs of lava rock from the garden center, and your tank water tests zero for ammonia and nitrate, then what you have is working fine.

 

[jcarson]

Bang for your buck right here.
For me, its lava rock and pot scrubbies in my canisters. (and the sponges they came with)

 

[Atomic Dog]

I use pot scrubbies

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Let me mention two not common media I have used. Back in the 1970's I somehow got around to stacking my filters with a primary layer usually some sort of floss and after that a layer of some sort of hard material.
I used glass marbles that worked well. The marbles were not porous but when stacked in layers spaces were created between them which allowed plenty of water flow. I guess the surface of the glass can be roughed up so to create lots more surface area. They were easy to clean if they ever got loaded with mulm/detritus which was a bit rare. I get that they had much less total surface area than lava rock and such but there were no pores to get clogged up.
Another material I used for years was a type of carbon meant to be used in a filter. I had a large bag of the stuff and for years used it as a secondary layer in my filters. I was mistaken in my thinking back then when I would rinse the carbon and then bake it in my home oven. I thought I was recharging the carbon but since learned that is not possible in a home oven. However the rinsing and the baking did a job of cleaning the carbon. I think the organic bits in the pores was to some extent baked out. This apparently made the carbon porous again and it was a decent biological media.

I guess the best biological media is al the surfaces in a tank and not just in a filter. I do figure the media in a filter has a good chance of becoming a surface for beneficial bacteria (bb) due to consistent water flow. Nothing wrong with using a decent media in filters as long as it is cleaned when clogged up. However the tank will have lots of surfaces with bb colonies as a film.

 

[jcarson]

Hello; Let me mention two not common media I have used. Back in the 1970's I somehow got around to stacking my filters with a primary layer usually some sort of floss and after that a layer of some sort of hard material.
I used glass marbles that worked well. The marbles were not porous but when stacked in layers spaces were created between them which allowed plenty of water flow. I guess the surface of the glass can be roughed up so to create lots more surface area. They were easy to clean if they ever got loaded with mulm/detritus which was a bit rare. I get that they had much less total surface area than lava rock and such but there were no pores to get clogged up.

You just gave away your age and supplied some ol skool wisdom.
My father and uncles who kept koi and ponds swore by marbles.
I thought the were crazy and have never used them but.... this does bring up some nostalgia.

 

[esoxlucius]

There's some very expensive bio media out there. Due to the porous nature of said media the manufacturers claim that they offer crazy amounts of surface area for BB to grow. This is true but there are other very cheap alternatives that will do just the same job. Lava rock and pot scrubbies, as mentioned, are just as good and a fraction of the price.

 

[Essaf Victor]

Thanks everyone
I think am gonna use ceramic rings, glass pebbles and maybe some lava rock

 

[skjl47]

You just gave away your age and supplied some ol skool wisdom.
My father and uncles who kept koi and ponds swore by marbles.
I thought the were crazy and have never used them but.... this does bring up some nostalgia.

Hello; Yes I am old and started this hobby back around 1959. There are two somewhat conflicting trends lately, at least from my reading posts on this forum. One is to get the most porous media possible (or at least media with the most surface area) and the other is to let filter material become loaded with detritus/mulm.
I read how folks clean filter media by gently sloshing it in old tank water. I am afraid I do not follow this practice. The floss or detritus trapping layers get replaced when loaded with tank trash. This layer is meant to do that job and by my thinking is meant to be replaced.
The second layers of media which we hope to house our bb should not get clogged up too quickly if the first layer is kept up, but it will eventually need to be cleaned.
To clean marbles is pretty simple and not much chance of removing the bb bio-film. That film is, to my understanding, the colonies of bb. It is sticky and not so easy to remove with simple rinsing.
By the way I think the same applies for all the tubing and other surfaces in and around a filter. Eventually these surfaces need to be cleaned. Not a hard scrub necessarily on most surfaces, here a gentle rinse can work. The inside of the tubes sometimes need cleaned with a brush.
Not sure the best way to clean lava rock or ceramic rings.