Which bio media? New sump for 125

SwampFins

Candiru
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Sep 19, 2018
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So I'm in the process of cleaning my sump and organizing it and wanted to ask about what type of media is better for my application.

A few months ago I cleared out my three canisters and pretty much just dumped all my old media and foam sponges into my sump to make sure I did not go into a mini cycle.

Since, I have consolidated all of my hard bio media (ceramic rings and beads) into a bag and the rest is just a bunch of old sponges.

My question is, can I safely get rid of the sponges and maybe replace them with lava rock or more media or are sponges better at holding good bacteria?

Ideally, I would like to get to the point whete I only have polyfill for mechanical, and everything else is just hard bio media. I really hate having to clean the sponges lol

Any thoughts?
 

PYRU

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I like seachem matrix. I wouldn't get rid of the sponges quickly until your new bio gets established.

Food for thought. Anything with super porous crevices(lava rock or rock rubble) and hollow media will trap crude in it creating a nitrate factory.

You want something neatly in a mesh bag that you can pull out easily shake in a bucket of tank water then put back in. Canisters can become nitrate factories very quickly.
 

skjl47

Goliath Tigerfish
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Hello; I agree with duanes. I have used glass marbles and old filter carbon in the past.
 

CrazyKoiCracker

Plecostomus
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Aquacity ceramic media on amazon is a fraction the cost of other bilogical media and does the job. I highly recommend it.
 
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CrazyKoiCracker

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Extremely fine pores. So it doesn’t get clogged. The downside is that there’s less flow through it. But having low flow areas for anaerobic bacteria to grow is useful too, and it is EXTREMELY porous. I’d be curious how much surface area it has. Has to be an absurd amount. It’s similar to fluvals media.
 
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SwampFins

Candiru
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Thank you all for the great advice!

I put all my ceramic rings and balls in a mesh bag as suggested to make it easy to clean later.

As you can see, I have sponges for days in there, they take up more than half the sump lol. I think I'll do as suggested and start taking one or two sponges with every water change each week so I don't shock the system and put in some lava rocks instead in another mesh bag to compensate. That should free up a lot more space in there.

I'm also contemplating on adding a little k1 chamber in there once I have the space.

Sump is on the smaller side ( I messed up when building my stand by not allowing much space under) but so far its working great. Not too bad for a $20 sump setup!

20190311_222909.jpg

20190311_222900.jpg
 

CrazyKoiCracker

Plecostomus
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K1 doesn’t have near as much total capacity. Not even close. But it works faster when it comes to what it can break down. So I think of it as a small buffer to smooth out spikes. But never count on it by itself.
Ceramic media - massive surface area.
Moving bed filter - high performance low capacity.
 
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SwampFins

Candiru
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Sep 19, 2018
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K1 doesn’t have near as much total capacity. Not even close. But it works faster when it comes to what it can break down. So I think of it as a small buffer to smooth out spikes. But never count on it by itself.
Ceramic media - massive surface area.
Moving bed filter - high performance low capacity.
Ahh good to know. perhaps it would be a good idea to use it in combination with ceramic?

I'm definitely going to look into getting more ceramic as I transition over.
 
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