Biological filter media..Whats the best out there?...

Glad I could be of help. You can get it through notjustfish.com or call up the US distributor -- Kingfish Aquatics in NY, 914-833-7701 and talk to Michael.
 
fwiffo said:
sounds like the filter i have running in my tank. i used fluval bio max in it and well if i had to do it again, i would'nt buy them.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171231

i would just go to jo-ann fabric store and buy some sea sponges to fill it with.
the bio max is white so it discolors, collects algae spots on it, and is just an awful color for the tank.

all this talk about bio media...why not just get a big hydro sponge and a small air pump. those things are great.
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but it's fun to talk about bio media. And I think sponge filters look funny! ;-)
 
Mgamer20o0 said:
pot scrubbers cheap and prob better then bio balls. i think floss has lots of area for bacteria also and polish the water at the same time.
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Pot scrubbers are good wet dry media but submerged media it does not have a chance compared to ceramic medias as far as surface area.
 
Are porous ceramic or sintered glass any good in wet/dry filters? Any better or worse than when submerged?

I was thinking, wouldn't it be a good idea to hammer on some of my odyssea sintered glass media to crunch it into gravel-sized bits so more would fit into my filter? It seems like pretty idea good to me and I've actually whacked a few of those little guys and they do crunch into aquarium-gravel sized pieces!

You see, I'm a tad obsessed with nitrification/denitrification because I keep getting these big batches of endler fry and feeding them 4-6x a day makes my tank all ammonia-ny and nitrite-y and my tank is small and I've no room for a fry tank. I like growing them out and giving 'em away to other hobbyists, and besides, my stupid betta hasn't realized that fry=food, though I'm not sure how good it is to feed your fish fried food.:D
 
Lol that's funny, I use pillow floss, sponge, ceramic and bio balls. I bought a box of BB s about 6 months ago and popped them in my sunsun1400lph and my fluval 305. They're still working fine and I have had no spikes or deaths so who cares, tring to push your filter to the highest possible output may be appealing but putting all yr eggs in one basket can be disaterous.

Buy a bigger filter and add acrylic wool sponge BBs Ceramic and those glass beads and you'll get a higher bio load in yr tank safely. The more systems u have the less chance of total disaster

Just thought id throw you al a curve ball fo fun!!!!!!!
 
Personally the thought of using submerged media for biological filtration doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Give me a wet/dry with bioballs or if I'm running a canister a set of Marineland BioWheels. Biological filtration as it is being discussed here is series of oxidative chemical reactions. Submerged media are limited to the oxygen dissolved in the water. Whatever media you use the more oxygen it can get the better.
 
DeeDeeK said:
I hope this tangent from the topic is OK but I can't imagine starting a whole, new thread for this. Hopefully I can make it relevant.

I got a weak powerhead from a discarded filter barely rated for a 5gal tank. Gph I don't know but not many. Then I

got a plastic tennis ball can and put a hole in the bottom,

(note that I created no spout, spigot or other conduit, just the open top of the can, even all 'round)

jammed the outlet of the powerhead into the hole,

Jammed some poly-fil into the bottom,

Poured sintered glass rings on top,

Super-glued two suction cups to the can,

Placed the filter in the tank, suctioned to the back wall and just deep enough that the top of the can was around 1/8" or 1/4" below the surface,

and then I plugged it in!

The filter is placed just barely underwater so its outflow turns over the surface to expose more water to the air, producing a very gentle, low turbulence aeration.

I'm hoping these rings have the right structure to encourage denitrification in the conditions my filter creates. The specifics of the biomedia can greatly affect the functioning of my filter since I'm trying to maintain a pond-like stillness while at the same time supporting lots of fish 'n other critters. So very good nitrification/denitrification in a small volume (small tank) was an important goal for this little filter.

So if substrat pro works better and Odyssea bio glass is inadequate, I'd like to know ahead of time instead of having to start with the cheapest biomedia I guessed could handle it and using the stuff for a while until I could tell if it works or not and then maybe having to buy and try out a more expensive alternative.

More thorough knowledge of one's tools and materials expands one's imagination. I mean, fish keeping is more than a hobby, it is truly a very broad craft and craftspersons, even hobbyist-craftspeople, should know the properties of what they have to work with.

DIYers CREATED this "hobby." The industry should honor us with a little more data.:wall:
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Pics...please..

Sounds like a Very Nice DIY article... I would love a visual, as I might try this..

While one may be a little better than an older version, there is no real BREAKTHRU.. Just slightly better flow with a compartment of spheres.. more physics than Bio-Chem..
 
BBs equals bio balls!!!!!
 
I made a little DIY thread called "Quick 'n' Dirty Filter" that shows my filter design.
 
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