Bioballs or porous media for bio filter?
- Thread starter Gambusia
- Start date
RTR said:
Then why use them at all? Why not use non-porous media that is self cleaning and won't add to the bioload due to decomposing matter within the pores?
i agree, once they start filling up with biofilm there is a lot less room than something like bioballs. and with the exception of lavarock they all cost a lot more.
I don't use porous media - I'm big on self-cleaning biofilter material. Perhaps "neurotic" is the right word? 
I often ponder different ideas with bio-media and have learned a lot from prsonal experience, and folks like RTR. The crux of the matter is this: If you have a big enough bio-filter to support the tank, then use the easiest long lasting media you can find. For most people sponges in their filters are good enough. IMO if you are so marginal on bio-surface that you "need" a micro pore media, then it is time to add more or create a bigger filter. If you like the micro pore stuff and the cost doesn't bother you you can use them with very little space and be happy as well.
The nice thing is that there are options, and only the most overstocked/ underfiltered tanks don't have enough available surface area to support a large enough bacteria colony.
so to me. If #1. I create available surface area elsewhere in the tank, AND #2. I keep the bacteria in small numbers in my Hob's then #3. I can clean/ replace/ trade out mechanical media at will without worrying about killing off significant bacteria. MY filter media seldom stays in my tank more than a week at a time, and therefore it never becomes a primary bio-filter. there is adequate surface area elsewhere in the tank, so I have a good bio-filter, and when I do maintenance, I swap out all sponges pitch them in the maytag and let them dry for next week. time spent cleaning 23 filter sponges = 5 minutes, risk to bio-filter 0%.
This is essentially the concept behind bio-wheel filters. large bio-media, totally seperate from the mechanical media. Now if you compare two bio-wheels, to a liter of micro-pore media, you will see the bio-wheels are a fraction of the surface area. Yet Those two bio-wheels will support a 55g tank with 2 juvie Oscars, and 6 other fish between 4-6 inches and some serious overfeeding, I know this because I have done it, when I knew a lot less. So I see little need for the extra surface area of micro pore media in a typical set-up. This does not mean It isn't a good product or that it won't do what is claimed, it just means I don't see that it is needed.
My excessive bio-media is courtesy of an RFUG with high flow, and thick substrate. It could also be courtesy of many things depending on filter preference, tank parrameters and maintenance ideas. I recently built a power reactor for my Co2. It holds 15 bio-balls, has constant flow, and is prefiltered. The o2 level may be slightly compromised (I don't think it is but am not sure) but it will still serve as a colonized bio-filter to some level or another. While building it it occured to me that the exact same design could be used to build a biofilter of huge proportions for less than $20 dollars anytime I wanted.
Whatever fits your needs and desires will usually work, and while the high surface area medias are awesome, the cost, and need to replace combined with the lack of true need in the tank make them less than desireable for me. If I ever had a situation where I felt my bio surface area was marginal, I would use micro pore media in a heartbeat.
Dave
The nice thing is that there are options, and only the most overstocked/ underfiltered tanks don't have enough available surface area to support a large enough bacteria colony.
so to me. If #1. I create available surface area elsewhere in the tank, AND #2. I keep the bacteria in small numbers in my Hob's then #3. I can clean/ replace/ trade out mechanical media at will without worrying about killing off significant bacteria. MY filter media seldom stays in my tank more than a week at a time, and therefore it never becomes a primary bio-filter. there is adequate surface area elsewhere in the tank, so I have a good bio-filter, and when I do maintenance, I swap out all sponges pitch them in the maytag and let them dry for next week. time spent cleaning 23 filter sponges = 5 minutes, risk to bio-filter 0%.
This is essentially the concept behind bio-wheel filters. large bio-media, totally seperate from the mechanical media. Now if you compare two bio-wheels, to a liter of micro-pore media, you will see the bio-wheels are a fraction of the surface area. Yet Those two bio-wheels will support a 55g tank with 2 juvie Oscars, and 6 other fish between 4-6 inches and some serious overfeeding, I know this because I have done it, when I knew a lot less. So I see little need for the extra surface area of micro pore media in a typical set-up. This does not mean It isn't a good product or that it won't do what is claimed, it just means I don't see that it is needed.
My excessive bio-media is courtesy of an RFUG with high flow, and thick substrate. It could also be courtesy of many things depending on filter preference, tank parrameters and maintenance ideas. I recently built a power reactor for my Co2. It holds 15 bio-balls, has constant flow, and is prefiltered. The o2 level may be slightly compromised (I don't think it is but am not sure) but it will still serve as a colonized bio-filter to some level or another. While building it it occured to me that the exact same design could be used to build a biofilter of huge proportions for less than $20 dollars anytime I wanted.
Whatever fits your needs and desires will usually work, and while the high surface area medias are awesome, the cost, and need to replace combined with the lack of true need in the tank make them less than desireable for me. If I ever had a situation where I felt my bio surface area was marginal, I would use micro pore media in a heartbeat.
Dave
I tend to agree with the thoughts of media and I certainly prefer something that doesn't block. In reality I have a feeling that I may not even need biomedia in the 50g tank as it has a 2-3" depth of very course gravel/rocks (often 2" stones or so) and a lot of circulation with water running over and amongst this, so a lot of bacteria probably live happily there. Sure, I doubt it would be enough and I don't really want to risk the fish testing the theory...
Anyway, I also wanted a relatively compact above tank wet/dry, without a lot of blackage trouble, and stumbled over some relatively inexpensive chinese media that is fairly open (as per photo) that hasn't had any blockage trouble yet and should clean okay if it does. It's really just a ceramic sponge replacement...
The litre or two I have of this stuff is again probably overkill. I started with a third the amount and the tank was just fine, and in the end you really don't know where the bacteria are living. Well, actually you do - everywhere there's a solid(ish) surface - but you don't know for sure where the major numbers are.
I can wash the mechanic media (which sits above/before the biomedia) or replace it completely and nothing seems to change - tho you know for sure a large number of bacteria have to be living in the poly fibre mechanical filter as well...
I have avoided the real micro pore material so far due to the concerns with blockage and the doubt that I really needed the extra area. And I'm still thinking of maybe going with a bigger sump style system later on. At the moment the current filter is an experiment which, like many experiments on the tank, works so well there doesn't seem to be a lot of need to change it...
The good thing behind a biowheel is probably that the water just flows past and over it, rather than through it, so no blockage problem. They still have to have a fine structure to create the surface area and they would block quickly if the water had to trickle though the media. There are other ways this could be done, I bet, but it wouldn't look as cool as a wheel
Anyway, I also wanted a relatively compact above tank wet/dry, without a lot of blackage trouble, and stumbled over some relatively inexpensive chinese media that is fairly open (as per photo) that hasn't had any blockage trouble yet and should clean okay if it does. It's really just a ceramic sponge replacement...
The litre or two I have of this stuff is again probably overkill. I started with a third the amount and the tank was just fine, and in the end you really don't know where the bacteria are living. Well, actually you do - everywhere there's a solid(ish) surface - but you don't know for sure where the major numbers are.
I can wash the mechanic media (which sits above/before the biomedia) or replace it completely and nothing seems to change - tho you know for sure a large number of bacteria have to be living in the poly fibre mechanical filter as well...
I have avoided the real micro pore material so far due to the concerns with blockage and the doubt that I really needed the extra area. And I'm still thinking of maybe going with a bigger sump style system later on. At the moment the current filter is an experiment which, like many experiments on the tank, works so well there doesn't seem to be a lot of need to change it...
The good thing behind a biowheel is probably that the water just flows past and over it, rather than through it, so no blockage problem. They still have to have a fine structure to create the surface area and they would block quickly if the water had to trickle though the media. There are other ways this could be done, I bet, but it wouldn't look as cool as a wheel
