what is the best biofiltration media in your experience?

Absent rigorous scientific studies, which will only be valid for a specific production lot of a specific media, all you can get is opinions.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for polyester filter material. It's cheap, effective, and time tested.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for synthetic sponge filter material. It's cheap, effective, and time tested.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for Poly Bio Marine's Poly Filter. It's not cheap. It is however supremely effective and time tested. If I could afford to, I'd use it in every tank I have, all the time.
 
It is a matter of opinion but I prefer dollar store plastic pot scrubbies first, bio balls second, and the fine pore structure super-high surface area medias third (such as ceramic rings, quarts, etc.).

I do not place the fine pore structure medias first because I am not convinced that the pores don't clog up quickly and leave the media as effective as similar sized rough rocks.

I place bio balls second because most have a relatively high surface area while still having a low potential for clogging, they are not first because they are also relatively expensive.

I place dollar store pot scrubbies first because the have a higher surface area than most bio balls, have a low potential for clogging (though still higher than bio balls), and they are dirt cheap (usually $1 for six-eight scrubbies which is a lot of bio media for the price).

Here are pics (from google) of the scrubbies I am talking about:
pot-scrubber.jpg
istockphoto_5312669-nylon-pot-scrubbers-various-colors.jpg

Here is a link to a post that has a chart about the surface area of various medias: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1279931&postcount=4

pot-scrubber.jpg istockphoto_5312669-nylon-pot-scrubbers-various-colors.jpg
 
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dbosman said:
Absent rigorous scientific studies, which will only be valid for a specific production lot of a specific media, all you can get is opinions.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for polyester filter material. It's cheap, effective, and time tested.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for synthetic sponge filter material. It's cheap, effective, and time tested.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for Poly Bio Marine's Poly Filter. It's not cheap. It is however supremely effective and time tested. If I could afford to, I'd use it in every tank I have, all the time.
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I gotta agree with all of these :thm:
 
dbosman said:
Absent rigorous scientific studies, which will only be valid for a specific production lot of a specific media, all you can get is opinions.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for polyester filter material. It's cheap, effective, and time tested.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for synthetic sponge filter material. It's cheap, effective, and time tested.

If opinion is acceptable, I'll argue for Poly Bio Marine's Poly Filter. It's not cheap. It is however supremely effective and time tested. If I could afford to, I'd use it in every tank I have, all the time.
Click to expand...

Very hard to disagree with all of these.
 
I agree with the pot scrubbies, especially if you have some polyfill on top for polishing the water. MFK has a thread on showing off your filtration and there is a rather large percentage that relies on pot scrubbies for all their bio media.
 
Any media that isn't submerged but has water trickle over it is several times as effective as the same media submerged. A rotating bio-contactor,aka bio-wheel is the standard in the aquaculture industry where stocking levels are computed in POUNDS of fish per gallon, not inches.Any argument against them is based on personal opinion and not on hard science.
 
I can't find those danged scrubbies anywhere! I really hope i don't have to invest in bio balls >:l
 
TabisFish said:
I can't find those danged scrubbies anywhere! I really hope i don't have to invest in bio balls >:l
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Check your local Dollar store. Usually a stock item.

In most of my tanks the bio material is whatever I use for substrate, plants or mechanical media. I have no dedicated bio media as such, which is not to say it doesn't accumulate in the mechanical media. Since I use 2 filters on a tank, only 1 per tank is cleaned each week. That allows for accumulation of bb on a regular basis. No, I have no bacterial blooms nor any heath issues with my fish.

That being said, I believe after having tested the idea, that the amount of plants in ratio to the amount of fish plays a very large role, since they can have a huge uptake impact. The water column feeders do a much better job at it than root feeders. They too help but IMO the impact isn't quite as large (simply stated as anecdotal and not scientific proof)
 
I'll take a look at the dollar store on wednesday. HOPEFULLY THEY HAVE THEMMM
 
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