what is the best biofiltration media in your experience?

Scrubbies are good, and I also find that filter floss (also called polyfill) is an excellent media not only for housing a high concentration of BB but it is also an effective clarifier, trapping a great deal of minute unwanted particulate from the water coloumn. It can be purchased at any fabric discount store where it'e usually called polyester quilt batting. For $5. or less you'll get around a one square yard roll - that much lasts me a couple of months at least, replacing it often in my 2 AC 110's on my 75 gal. Just cut it to whatever size needed to fit your filter(s), and double,triple, or even quadruple layer it. I remove the bottom layer or two weekly, (the dirtiest - & it does get very dirty quickly) replacing it on top with new pieces, thus preserving most of the BB that are in the other layers. Works very effectively in HOB filters, but a caution - it may tend to clog up some canisters. An good inexpensive media.
 
Oh, and besides the scrubbies described by Jspigs, there is another somewhat similar product which can be purchased very cheaply at any Dollar store, and which also makes for a good filter bio-media & clarifier. They are dark green multi-purpose scrubbers (which contain no soaps or any other harmful material) - I get them in a pack of 10 pieces for $1 - they're 4" wide X 6" long X 1/4" thick, very concentated fine-mesh, felt-type fiber. Can't for the life of me remember what the material is called, but you'll recognize it because it's the same material that is commonly found as the top layer of a kitchen sponge. I used this stuff for years in smaller HOB filters - fits well in an AC 50 for example. I used it double-layered.
 
it's interesting to note that the stuff the industry sells as biological filtration (bio balls, biomax, quartz balls, lava rock, sintered glass) is probably nothing more than another thing to sell to beginner aquarists when you could use anything from kitchen scrunchies to filter floss. I even heard about this special lava rock for 50 bucks that is supposed to make your water crystal clear. The rock was ugly as <blank> too! Thank goodness for a forum like this to share ideas.
 
They all work and every company needs to fill out an entire line or stores won't usually carry their products.
An ideal fish shop would stock brand XXX filters and the ideal media for that filter regardless of where it came from.

Another two sources of filter media are
A) Scotch Brite pads. There are fine, medium, and coarse. They need to be spaced in a filter container. Scotch Brite pads for sanding have never been near detergents.

B) New floor buffing pads. "buffing wheels". Round shapes can be cut with a cut down "tin" can. Twist it around to saw through the material.
 
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Jspigs said:
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:
View attachment 172268
View attachment 172269

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
Click to expand...
im with you on the pot scrubbies
 
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