Hello RTR, I have a couple of questions concerning Dupla's Minikaskade. I know that you use these bioballs and the Eheim classic canister filters. Approximately how many of these bioballs would I need to fill a 2217? A 2215? I talked to a supplier that has this product and will ship to Canada, and he told me that the Minikaskade is sold in a package size rated on the amount of water in liters of an aquarium. He told me that he has the 100 liter and 200 liter sizes available. Are you familar with these package sizes? How many of these should I use for two 2217's and one 2215? Thanks.
RTR, I have a question.
- Thread starter goldfish freak
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I'm very familiar with that packaging - there is a row of stacks of those strange triangular boxes in the closet beside the fish room - I mean who packs spheres in triagular boxes? 
I use the tank volume (in liters) plus a 50% margin. As they already have a margin built in, I'm doubless way over-providing biosubstrate, but I am very conservative. I also have/had some very messy fish (puffers, the only fish that make Oscars look neat) in the tanks I used to develop the proceedure.
Don't forget the prefilter -that is a good part of the trick to the technique- have self-cleaning biomedia and keep the biomedia clean from incoming debris which could suffocate it.
Good luck with it... I love not having to clean my biofilters often.
I use the tank volume (in liters) plus a 50% margin. As they already have a margin built in, I'm doubless way over-providing biosubstrate, but I am very conservative. I also have/had some very messy fish (puffers, the only fish that make Oscars look neat) in the tanks I used to develop the proceedure.
Don't forget the prefilter -that is a good part of the trick to the technique- have self-cleaning biomedia and keep the biomedia clean from incoming debris which could suffocate it.
Good luck with it... I love not having to clean my biofilters often.
Thanks RTR. So then you use what ever size canister(s) that holds what you deem to be the appropriate amount of bioballs? In your experience how many boxes fill an Eheim classic 2217 filter? I want to get an idea as to how many boxes I will need to buy for my canisters. Thanks.
My canisters having the minikaskade are not full - they all have empty space at the bottom. The ones with the Ehfisubstrat are more nearly full, as I have no accurate surface area for that, I just run it most of the way up. But I much prefer the minikaskade - it really is self-cleaning.
I really do go by the tank volumes I'm using the units on more than the canister itself. But the Eheim site gives the contained volume of the units, and if Dupla does not give the volume of the packaging in space required, I'll measure the boxes and get an approximation for you tomorrow.
I really do go by the tank volumes I'm using the units on more than the canister itself. But the Eheim site gives the contained volume of the units, and if Dupla does not give the volume of the packaging in space required, I'll measure the boxes and get an approximation for you tomorrow.
Thanks RTR. I looked in the Dupla web site and I could not find any information as to the volume of the packaging in space required. Also what do you mean by: " I am using the units on more than the canister itself" ?
RTR: so the primary reason you choose Minikascade is that it is self-cleaning? In other words, all bio-balls can be colonized by bacteria equally well, but the Dupla product clogs less and thus requires less maintenance?
Exactly Harry - of all the media I've tested, this one (or these two, I use the Biokaskade in my W/Ds) is the best self-cleaner. It also does the job on the manufacturer's suggested volumes for biofiltration.
GF - apologies, I missed your last post, sorry.
I use circulation numbers more than the internal volume of the canister. If Eheim says canister model 1234 is good from 50-75 gallons, and I'm setting a tank in that range, that is the canister I use. This is wasteful of canisters, but I don't want to shortchange my tanks on turnovers for biofiltration - Eheim is not a high number of turnovers per hour company.
GF - apologies, I missed your last post, sorry.
I use circulation numbers more than the internal volume of the canister. If Eheim says canister model 1234 is good from 50-75 gallons, and I'm setting a tank in that range, that is the canister I use. This is wasteful of canisters, but I don't want to shortchange my tanks on turnovers for biofiltration - Eheim is not a high number of turnovers per hour company.
Harry - I realized I did not fully respond to your question. It has been some time since I did all my bioball tests, and most were done on W/Ds. For submerse use, I only tested the Minikaskade at first, because I liked the larger version best of the emerse bioballs. When Dupla became unavailable in the USA, I tried Eheim's Ehfimech (it works), fired clay balls (need the fine floss after, defeated my purpose), and large pea gravel (not self-cleaning at all) for submerse use, so the field was much narrower. I can't say about the efficacy of current brands for submerse use other than Dupla as I have not tested them. Any established company should give pretty reasonable estimates of voume or numbers need per tank volume.
GF - I finally measured the internal volume of the 200 liter (52.8 gallons) Minikaskade box. It is about 82.25 cubic inches. Dupla rounds off freely, they call 200 liters =~50 gallons.
GF - I finally measured the internal volume of the 200 liter (52.8 gallons) Minikaskade box. It is about 82.25 cubic inches. Dupla rounds off freely, they call 200 liters =~50 gallons.
Thanks for getting that information for me RTR. Call me slow but I am a bit confused as to the 82.25 cubic inches of internal volume. Are you saying that the amount of bioballs that are in the 200 litre size box take up approximately 82.25 cubic inches in any given space? If this is so then what ever amount of bioballs there are in that size box would fit in a box that measured approximately 4.35"x4.35"x4.35". That seem like quite a small amount of bioballs to support a 50 gallon tank. Please enlighten me.