# Other Aquarium Forums > Equipment and Accessories >  What is your Favourite Bio Filter Media

## aquarius

I've enabled the poll to include multiple votes due to the fact that most of us use 2 or 3 different brands of medias. But what i would really like to know is what is your favourite Bio Filter Media and why?

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## stormhawk

Eheim Lav. I use this over other bio-media, since it doesn't cost a bomb like Biohome and does a decent job with filtration on its own.

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## BFG

Using Biohomme plus for my marine tank with no live rock.

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## framejumb0

Matrix, biohome and substrat pro

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## ciaossu

Hi, i was just wondering what are the differences between all these brands? has anyone tested the efficiency between all this brand?

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## tetrakid

Yes, and I thought it would be better if this discussion is about the types of media rather than what brand is better. 

It would be more useful to discuss the merits of the various types of media, eg. ceramic cylinders, porous gravel. cylindrical porous media, plastic bio-balls, coarse filter sponge pads, sintered glass, etc.

Of course we are only talking about bio media here, ie. the stage after all the mechanical particle-filtering or prefiltering stages.




> Hi, i was just wondering what are the differences between all these brands? has anyone tested the efficiency between all this brand?

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## aquarius

When looking for Bio-medias, it can be quite confusing with so many brands to choose from. To make matters worst, alot of the brands *don't tell you the specific surface area* of their media on their packaging and those that do, comes with measurements/infos that are not standardized. So it makes *quick comparisons* VERY confusing and difficult when you are at the LFS unless you go online to check and do some calculations before you're able to distinguish which brand has more surface area or is better. For me my favourite is Biohome which i bought many yrs back because based on the available infos that the few brands do provide on their packaging, Biohome seems to me at that time to have the largest surface area as compared to the other brands. But after doing a more detailed comparisons now, Seachem Matrix seems to be the Best. Below are some infos on the packaging of 3 good brands of medias.....

1. Seachem Matrix - a) 500ml treats 200L of water
b) 1L provides >~700meter sq of surface area
c) Can cultivate Nitrifying and Denitrifying bacteria

2. Eheim Sub Pro - 450sqmeter/L

3. Biohome - a) Can treat 3tons of water with 1kg/1.25L
b) 1kg/1.25L = 7300sq ft
c) Can cultivate Nitrifying and Denitrifying bacteria

Based on simple comparisons on point (a) ~
Secham Matrix	- 1L of media treats 400L of water
Biohome - 1kg/1.25L of media treats 3000L of water
OR 1L of media treats 2400L of water
Eheim Sub Pro - N.A

Point (b)
Seachem Matrix - 1L of media provides 7535sq ft of surface area
Eheim Sub Pro - 1L of media provides 4844sq ft of surface area
Biohome - 1kg/1.25L of media provides 7300sq ft of surface area
OR 1L of media provides 5840sq ft of surface area

Point (c)
Seachem Matrix - Can cultivate both Nitrifying and Denitrifying bacteria
Eheim - N.A
Biohome - Can cultivate both Nitrifying and Denitrifying bacteria

I hope i got my calculations correct. Please don't flame me if they are not correct.

By the way there is a product review on Seachem Matrix on this link http://theaquaticgazette.com/2012/03/08/seachem-matrix/

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## ciaossu

wow thanks for the details :Well done: . anyway, does it mean that the largest the sq ft surface area the better the BB is cultivated or rather the amount of BB that is cultivated are alot more? i don't really get what you mean by "Secham Matrix - 1L of media treats 400L of water"? anyway, this thread is very good for beginner and those who's interested about filter media. thanks for the effort :Wink:

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## tetrakid

It appears that Sintered Glass has the greatest surface area among all biomedia at the moment, hence it costs a bomb.  :Smile: 




> wow thanks for the details. anyway, does it mean that the largest the sq ft surface area the better the BB is cultivated or rather the amount of BB that is cultivated are alot more? i don't really get what you mean by "Secham Matrix - 1L of media treats 400L of water"? anyway, this thread is very good for beginner and those who's interested about filter media. thanks for the effort

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## framejumb0

Matrix is not a singered glass media. It is natural porous rock. It is cheper than substrat pro and biohome.

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## aquarius

ciaossu ~ The larger the surface area, the more BBs it can colonise on the media to help breakdown fish waste. This means that you can stock higher quantities of fishes in your tank. "Seachem Matrix - 1L of media treats 400L of water" means for 1L of Seachem Matrix bio-media it can treat 400L of tank water. The 1L, 2L etc etc refers to the amount of media in the packaging..... for some brands, the packaging indicates kg instead of litres but they should be about the same.

Some Ceremic Rings that comes in a pack with no brand name and is cheap, looks very porous but the quality feels brittle. I believe it'll crumble after sometime of usage but they are good if you're on a tight budget and want to use it on a temporary basis.

But if you need good quality and affordable biomedias, go get MrAqua ceramic rings cos they look very porous and from online info, for a 1L Small Sized CR it has 600meter sq or 6458sq ft of surface area while the Medium Sized CR has 500meter sq or 5382sq ft. Hmmm.... strange thing was that when i was looking at MrAqua CR when i was at C328 quite some time back, i didn't see anywhere on the box that tells me how much surface area it has.  :Confused:

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## .Hack

Currently using these in my sump tank:
- ANS Bacteria House
- ANS Mini Bacteria House
- Mr Aqua Ceramic Ring
- ANS Ceramic Ring

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## ciaossu

> ciaossu ~ The larger the surface area, the more BBs it can colonise on the media to help breakdown fish waste. This means that you can stock higher quantities of fishes in your tank. "Seachem Matrix - 1L of media treats 400L of water" means for 1L of Seachem Matrix bio-media it can treat 400L of tank water. The 1L, 2L etc etc refers to the amount of media in the packaging..... for some brands, the packaging indicates kg instead of litres but they should be about the same.
> 
> Some Ceremic Rings that comes in a pack with no brand name and is cheap, looks very porous but the quality feels brittle. I believe it'll crumble after sometime of usage but they are good if you're on a tight budget and want to use it on a temporary basis.
> 
> But if you need good quality and affordable biomedias, go get MrAqua ceramic rings cos they look very porous and from online info, for a 1L Small Sized CR it has 600meter sq or 6458sq ft of surface area while the Medium Sized CR has 500meter sq or 5382sq ft. Hmmm.... strange thing was that when i was looking at MrAqua CR when i was at C328 quite some time back, i didn't see anywhere on the box that tells me how much surface area it has.


thanks for the clarification  :Smile:

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## xconnect.

I use bio home plus. But I heard I forget who say that the biohome will like slowly clock up Then it will require washing

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## avex30

K1 media plastic media is the way no worried of a bad batch of ceramic or balls.

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## avex30

> Currently using these in my sump tank:
> - ANS Bacteria House
> - ANS Mini Bacteria House
> - Mr Aqua Ceramic Ring
> - ANS Ceramic Ring


I know it is cheap but I would watch the ph when using ANS. Till now
They have not answer me why a media product looking like ehiem substrate pro raise my ph.

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## cheetf

Sponge. Definitely inert.

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## xconnect.

> Sponge. Definitely inert.


Yeah but no space if got spam!!!

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## cheetf

You put luncheon meat in your filter? hahaha, don't really get what you are saying bro.

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## xconnect.

LOLS NOT LUNCHMEAT!
I mean if I had space( in my tank) i would spam alot of sponges because cheap
But due to space constraint I use bio home plus for my 2224

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## cheetf

Hahaha. Oh I see. Makes sense.

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## .Hack

> I know it is cheap but I would watch the ph when using ANS. Till now
> They have not answer me why a media product looking like ehiem substrate pro raise my ph.


I monitor my water perimeter regularly.
So far the ANS medias did not affect my ph level.
Could it be other reason that raise your ph?

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## cheetf

> I monitor my water perimeter regularly.
> So far the ANS medias did not affect my ph level.
> Could it be other reason that raise your ph?


How long have you been using the media? Does your tank contain PH lowering soil as well?

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## .Hack

> How long have you been using the media? Does your tank contain PH lowering soil as well?


Been using them for close to 3 months, ph maintained at around 6.5-6.8.
Tank is a bare bottom without any soil or substrate.

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## aquarius

> Matrix is not a singered glass media. It is natural porous rock. It is cheper than substrat pro and biohome.


Yah you're right.... I was at clementi earlier on, so decided to check out the price and after comparing all the infos and prices, Matrix is much more worth it than the other 2 brands. ONe thing about Matrix is that they look very ordinary - it looks like a small piece of rock/stone and the surface area doesn't look rough and porous like Eheim's Substrat Pro or alot of the other brands and somemore on close inspection, the media don't even look as if it is very porous on the inside, so it's very easy to dismiss it as a good media. Just looking at the Matrix will make you wonder if the claims made by Seachem about it's surface area is really true. But i'll believe their claims because they are one of the very few reputed companies that bothers to do and provide experiments to back up their claims.

It is only recently that i happened to read reviews on it and later went to their website to check things out that i realised that this is a Gem.  :Well done:

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## aquarius

I noticed something strange on the packaging of Mr Aqua. It has 2 different packaging, The boxed version which comes in only 1L and 5L while the round container version only has 3L. It is stated on the Boxed packaging that the S size has 600sq meter of surface area and the M size has 500sq meter BUT on the 3L round container one, both the S and M sized CRs is printed as having only 450sq meters of surface area, somemore there was a printing error on the S sized CR. It was originally printed as M size but had the correct size sticker pasted over it. Hmmm..... logically the S size should have more surface area as compared to the M sized right??  :Opps:

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## .Hack

Are Seachem Matrix and DeNitrate the same?
Read the labels apparently both does the same thing.
Only thing is DeNitrate more suitable for slower flowrate.

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## framejumb0

> Are Seachem Matrix and DeNitrate the same?
> Read the labels apparently both does the same thing.
> Only thing is DeNitrate more suitable for slower flowrate.


They are same material but vary in size only. So Denitrate requires a flowrate less than 200 Lph to cultivate Denitrifying Beneficial Bacteria. And Matrix is suitable for flow rates higher than 200 Lph but Denitrification is not optimal.

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## aquarius

> I know it is cheap but I would watch the ph when using ANS. Till now
> They have not answer me why a media product looking like ehiem substrate pro raise my ph.


ANS has a few "series/models" of media, so maybe that particular "model" of media happens to increase the ph?? Alot of companies out there don't tell you such things on their packaging so it becomes a trail and error experience. It's good that people like yourself come here and share stuff like that so that others will know instead of wasting money and getting frustrated with what they bought later. 

Please do continue to keep the comments and sharings coming in so that others will learn from your experiences of using whatever brands of media you're using.

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## aquarius

I've read somewhere in AQ that Biohome Plus disintegrates/breaks apart easily after about 1-2yrs of usage and that it feels slimy even after some time of usage....... I've used the normal Biohome media since 2007 and so far did not have any such problems. One thing i noticed about the media is that when i first wet the media, it feels very slimy even after about 3-4mths later when i do my filter maintenance, though the sliminess is not as bad as when i first wet it. But give it more time and it will go away. I would like to bring out a few points to consider before we jump into conclusion that it is a quality issue when it comes to breakage/disintegration issues :

1. What is your water Ph during the duration that you used your media?
Maybe the prolonged low Ph water conditions when using peat or ADA soil caused the media to "spoil" faster? My media is used in water whereby i buffer it regularly with a little sodium bicarbonate to keep my Ph stable and it's done in a tetra/pleco tank. 

2. Are the medias packed/put in a way whereby they will be crushed together in a certain height? 
If you're using the Eheim Classic filter which doesn't have trays like the Ecco or the Pro series, chances are that all the medias especially in the 2217 series will be stacked high up against each other, causing strain on the medias at the lower/bottom end of the filter, thereby making it break apart more easily? I'm using the Eheim Pro series so don't have such issues.

I hope to hear some views from others who have this problem.

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## tetrakid

Sponges come in various 'hole sizes', especially synthetic sponges, eg nylon, plastic which are sold for home/industrial cleaning purposes (scrubbing pads, etc). It is worth the effort of hunting around for the right sponge/s which suit one's needs perfectly, and they are perfect for experimentation too, at low cost (eg when comparing performance against sintered glass media). 



> Sponge. Definitely inert.

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## dc88

I vote for Bio Balls. I brought a pack of Dupla Bio Balls (the smallest one) 10 years ago (before the china duplicates floated the market), and being using it ever since. Loaded the whole canister with these and with only one coarse filter pad before the pump head. Never clog, no obstruction to flowrate, clean only once a year. According to Dupla, these bio-ball design is self cleaning and has the maximum surface areas than any other type of media.

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## tetrakid

Bioballs are internally robust and bio-friendly, and internally and externally offering a goodly amount of surface area. 

It is definitely one of the best among the many bio-media aound.

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## aquarius

Bioballs are made of plastic and the surface is smooth, so frankly i don't see how it can hold more bacteria than say a Bio ceramic ring. Based on the physical appearance, a bio-sponge would probably contain more bacteria than bioballs. Even if Bio ceramic rings or Biohome does clog up, it clogs up the internal surface area leaving only the external surface area for the bacteria to colonise and even than, it'll probably contain much more bacteria than the bioballs litre for litre. The good thing about bioballs is that because it's meant to be used in wet/dry filters, it creates excellent oxygenation for the tank. Other than that i'm really sceptical about it being a good medium for BB colonisation as compared to the other medias.

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## tetrakid

Probably what is needed is for the bio-ball makers to produce rough surfaces on the plastic rods and crevices in the plastic balls.

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## dc88

BB can cling to "smooth" surface liked nothing, think of your fish tank glass surface, there are plenty of them just our eye can't see. "Smooth" is relative to our human scale of perception.
One testimony is that I have this setup since 2000 till now and never bother to change them.
And it adds no load to the canister pump, no clog, or waste builtup.
I used ceramic ring before too, and it needs to be replaced sooner or later. May be a fresh batch of ceramic ring works more superior than bioball but soon the ceramic ring will run out of steam but the bio ball keep steady in the marathon.

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## felix_fx2

Anyone use k1 media?
Looking for feedback to add inside here.

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## dc88

found some old data on Dupla bioballs :
Dupla Minikaskade
surface area: 3900mm2/ball. 
Package: 70 balls recommend for canister filter upto 100L tank
273000mm2
I use 70 of these in a Ehiem Classic 2213 for a 80 L tank. Total surface area=70x3900=

Will check out hows the ceramic ring data to compare surface area,

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## SirBest

> Anyone use k1 media?
> Looking for feedback to add inside here.


@Felix: There is plenty of write up on this product on the other forum. I think you know as to where I am referring to and I dont know whether am I allow in this forum to reference another "competitor" forum.

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## tetrakid

Make no mistake about it. I will immediately without any hesitation or reservation, prefer bio-balls to anything else, 
not even the expensive sintered glass. 
But even if bio-balls are more expensive, I will still choose it. In my h opinion, nothing beats bio-balls.  :Smile:  



> BB can cling to "smooth" surface liked nothing, think of your fish tank glass surface, there are plenty of them just our eye can't see. "Smooth" is relative to our human scale of perception.
> One testimony is that I have this setup since 2000 till now and never bother to change them.
> And it adds no load to the canister pump, no clog, or waste builtup.
> I used ceramic ring before too, and it needs to be replaced sooner or later. May be a fresh batch of ceramic ring works more superior than bioball but soon the ceramic ring will run out of steam but the bio ball keep steady in the marathon.

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## ralliart12

So, a couple of qns:

Qn1: is K1 media a type of bio-ball?
Qn2: what brands/grade of bio balls are recommended/popular?

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## aquarius

> Probably what is needed is for the bio-ball makers to produce rough surfaces on the plastic rods and crevices in the plastic balls.


Yah you're right, unfortunately i've yet to see bioballs with rough surfaces. So far i've seen one brand of bioballs that comes with a bio-sponge in the centre of the bioball which to me is much better as compared to the normal ones.




> BB can cling to "smooth" surface liked nothing, think of your fish tank glass surface, there are plenty of them just our eye can't see. "Smooth" is relative to our human scale of perception.
> One testimony is that I have this setup since 2000 till now and never bother to change them.
> And it adds no load to the canister pump, no clog, or waste builtup.
> I used ceramic ring before too, and it needs to be replaced sooner or later. May be a fresh batch of ceramic ring works more superior than bioball but soon the ceramic ring will run out of steam but the bio ball keep steady in the marathon.


Smooth surfaces can also have BBs BUT it can't colonise as many BBs as rough surfaces eg. if you were to compare CR to Bio-sponge, you'll need to use very much more amount of bio-sponges to colonise the same amount of BBs as compared to CR medias. Which means you're not making efficient use of whatever limited spaces you have in your cannister or overflow filter.
As for replacing old filter medias.... If the media is clogged up internally, it is deemed not as effective as when new. Meaning the total surface area (internal and external) that is stated on the packaging of the media is now lesser due to the clog, thats why manufacturers recommends that consumers replace them regularly to maintain at optimum level all the time. But if you're kiasu like alot of us including myself, who pack our filters with as much good biomedias as possible, we may actually have more than enough medias to provide enough external surface area for the BBs to not bother about the clogged up internal parts of the media. Which means we actually don't need to change the medias. 




> found some old data on Dupla bioballs :
> Dupla Minikaskade
> surface area: 3900mm2/ball. 
> Package: 70 balls recommend for canister filter upto 100L tank
> 273000mm2
> I use 70 of these in a Ehiem Classic 2213 for a 80 L tank. Total surface area=70x3900=
> Will check out hows the ceramic ring data to compare surface area,


For easy comparisons of the different types/brands of biomedias, let us use m2 or sq ft since most manufacturers use these 2 units of measurements.
From the converter calculator,
273,000mm2 of surface area = 0.273m2 = 2.9385sq ft
As compared to Eheim Sub Pro's 450sqm = 4,844sq ft of surface area.

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## tetrakid

Bioballs will beat ceramic cylinders holllow.  :Smile:

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## dc88

> From the converter calculator,
> 273,000mm2 of surface area = 0.273m2 = 2.9385sq ft
> As compared to Eheim Sub Pro's 450sqm = 4,844sq ft of surface area.


"

Wow !!! Thank you, indeed CR is more surface area.
Didn't know this much different, hopefully not just for a fresh batch only  :Smile: 
How long the CR last ?

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## aquarius

A good quality CR should be able to last a very long time without breaking apart. There are those cheap brandless $5 a pack CRs which looks rather brittle, so don't know how long they'll last before breaking apart. Maybe people who have used them can share their experiences.

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## SirBest

> A good quality CR should be able to last a very long time without breaking apart. There are those cheap brandless $5 a pack CRs which looks rather brittle, so don't know how long they'll last before breaking apart. Maybe people who have used them can share their experiences.


Those "no frills" ceramic rings would always have the tendency of leaving a layer of reside at bottom where they are placed after a period of use.

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## felix_fx2

It is around 1 year you see them breaking up.

I had some mr aqua bought 2nd handed when i started hobby still good condition.

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## framejumb0

CR is better for mechanical filtration. It has limited biological filtration compared to Biohome or Substrat pro. 
It is quality and price.
High quality, high price

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## bravobb

I am currently using alot of CR (about 90%) and 5 kg of biohome... and i realised some CR starts to chip off and they are only used less than 2 months... 

Also, i have once spoke to a veteran farm worker, and he told me their farm use jap mat or similar to cutivate BB..... and told me using those expensive stuff is good in theory, but not in practical use... 
But the amount of jap mat used was not mentioned, and it would require maintenance to clean them from time to time...

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## bravobb

> I am currently using alot of CR (about 90%) and 5 kg of biohome... and i realised some CR starts to chip off and they are only used less than 2 months... 
> 
> Also, i have once spoke to a veteran farm worker, and he told me their farm use old fish net or similar to cutivate BB..... and told me using those expensive stuff is good in theory, but not in practical use... 
> But the amount of fish net used was not mentioned, and it would require maintenance to clean them from time to time...


Correction in RED.

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## aquarius

> CR is better for mechanical filtration. It has limited biological filtration compared to Biohome or Substrat pro.


There are CRs made for mechanical and biological filteration. CRs made for mechanical filteration has smooth surfaces eg Eheim's Mech, while those for biological purposes have rough and porous surfaces to enable it to colonise much more BBs. Using either the mechanical or biological CRs for purposes other then the intended purpose it was manufactured for, will not give you the results it was intended for and is in my opinion a waste of money.




> I am currently using alot of CR (about 90%) and 5 kg of biohome... and i realised some CR starts to chip off and they are only used less than 2 months... 
> 
> Also, i have once spoke to a veteran farm worker, and he told me their farm use jap mat or similar to cutivate BB..... and told me using those expensive stuff is good in theory, but not in practical use... 
> But the amount of jap mat used was not mentioned, and it would require maintenance to clean them from time to time...


In farms where very large volumes of water is used, farmers won't use most of the "traditional" medias that hobbyists like ourselves would use because of the very high cost involved, that's why he says it's not practical and not because it's no good. That's why you'll see them using cheap made in china type of jap mat or bio-sponges and also improvised materials like old fish nets etc etc. IMO most of the time it's not important for them to use the best available bio-medias because they change water everyday or every other day due to the very high stocking densities in their tanks, so even if the medias do not have enough BBs to remove the ammonia, their regular water changes would have eliminated most or all of the ammonia in the water.

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## newlife

Currently using biohomme,Eheim sub pro...
It works pretty well in my shrimp tank...

Powerhouse seems to be popular now...but costly...

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## Jalal

I use seachem matrix, fluval Gnodes (got them for free  :Cool:  ) eheim substrat pro. 

Out of them, I like the matrix and substrat just cause they are easier to clean and unlike the Gnodes, they dont break apart when I give them a good shake during maintenance. If I had to choose between matrix and substrat pro, I'd go with matrix just because I can get it cheaper and IME is just as good as substrat pro.

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## bravobb

I just added Sponge in the sump compartment after some research that it is good for BB cultivation plus cheap. And in order to prevent them from breaking off, i have combine 10 over pieces together in a washing bag. However, it is difficult to make it sink, i even try putting a 1kg rock on top but it is still floating on top. So currently, they are floating on top the sump compartment.
Anyone knows how do you implement Sponge correctly into the sump ?

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## ralliart12

1 thing I realized about _Biohome+ is that it really needs to be rinsed before 1st use_, otherwise all the fine red powder caused by the pieces grinding against one another while in the box, will really just gather in your canister compartments when you are using it. A few days back I tried rinsing some "_fresh-out-from-packaging_" Biohome+ media in a pail of (de-chlorinated) water by pouring the entire (plastic) bag contents into filter media mesh & thrashing them in the pail of water, I was surprised how red the water turned.

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## aquarius

I want to check whether is anybody using Bacter Rio 9000 biomedia? The packaging is silver in colour at the back while the front allows you to see the media, it looks abit like Biohome, is red in colour, looks very very porous and claims to have far-infrared capabilities. I was wondering whether does it disintegrate or break easily after some time of usage cos it's not cheap but it looks to be a good alternative to Biohome?

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## VSGenesis

You know this media got me very interested a couple of months ago. I'm pretty interested to learn more and experiment with Seachem Matrix. The statement they made is pretty bold. Bolder than Duracell vs Energizer but then both does the same thing. Just which one is better. I'm using Eheim Subtrat Pro and Mech Pro. I did not dwell or read much into them...yet.
Substrat Pro: a square looking media (it seems to break down after after a few months.)
Substart Pro: small tiny balls
Mech Pro: a black spiral plastic

I've yet to research more into them. I do however am intereted to learn exactly what they really do to proof a better product that provides bacteria to colonise. Stormhawk post on Eheim Lav is getting me interested.

The media have done its job for my tank even when i add more fauna or when i feed more than usual.

I have a Fluval C4 which uses a media call C nodes. Seems similiar in material to the Eheim Substat Pro square media but it doesnt diintegrate as fast. The c nodes has done its job in cycling my tank with ammonia higher than 8ppm. 

Though it might not be a fair conclusion of this two but both did their job. Managing to get to the parameters of 0,0,5-10ppm. And cycling the tank within 22 days. So how do i tell whether duracell or is it energizer better? They both did their job.

I would like to try my hands on matrix this weekend. Anyone has any real experience with them?

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## framejumb0

The square white media is 'Eheim bio mech pro'
It is act as both mech and bio media.
I'm using eheim substrat pro, bio
Mech pro n mech pro along with matrix 2L in 2075. Other than that have 2028 in same tank with substrat pro and mech.
Addition of 2L really helped to control NO3 levels. I cant say for sure but now my tank is havin 20-30ppm of NO3. Before adding Matrix it was 40-50ppm.
But i should admit the bio load is not so high. And i dont overfeed. Siphon out poo daily too.

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## aquarius

VSGenesis ~ Eheim Lav is a good and very much cheaper bio-media for use in a large tank but if i remember correctly, the packaging doesn't state how much square ft or square meters of surface area is in that 1L or 2L pack of Lava Rocks. So you can't compare it with the other bio-medias to know which is better. I'm guessing why Eheim didn't give the total surface area in it's packaging is because it may be very difficult to accurately estimate how much surface area is in that 1L/2L pack unlike the other mass produced bio-medias which is very uniformed. Because of this, i'd give Lava Rocks a miss when considering what type of bio-medias to buy but that is my personal opinion only. I've also come across some medias which claims to have 1000 plus square meters of surface area for that 1L box/pack which to me is highly questionable since a similar looking one from a reputable brand has a much lower surface area. 

Anyway, i look forward to your review of the Matrix if you had bought it.  :Wink:

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## ralliart12

Have got some questions:

Qn1: What advantages does "Eheim-branded" lava rocks hold over "normal" lava rocks?

Qn2: For rough mechanical filtration, will "Eheim Mech" or "Eheim lava rocks" be superior?

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## aquarius

Qn 1 : From what i've read, Eheim Lava Rocks is harder than the normal Lava Rocks, so it won't break apart or disintegrate as easily over the same period of usage.

Qn 2 : Eheim Mech is made for mechanical filteration purposes while the Lava Rocks is for biological filteration. But having said that, lava rocks can also be used as a mechanical media on top of being a biological one. It's just that because of the physical structure of the lava rocks, when you pour them together into the filter compartment, they'll be more compact as compared to the Eheim Mech and will therefore cause the flowrate of water to slow down further especially when you take into considerations your other bio-medias in the filter. And since you should already have enough surface area from your other bio-medias for the BBs in your other filter compartments, it doesn't make sense to further “clog up” your filter with the lava rocks.

That's why it is good to get bio-medias that not only provides very large surface area for the bacteria but yet have physical structures like the Eheim Substrat Pro, Biohome or Mr Aqua CR that will not slow down the flowrate of the filter as much as if you were to use bio-medias like the ADA Bio Rio or the Eheim Substrat.

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## framejumb0

Given that most bacterias are micron size, if the pores in media are too small, it is hard to colonize in pores. So even manufacturers stated high number of surface area, effective area will be less than that.

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## aquarius

What you're saying is true.... The below is taken from Seachem's website ~ 

_For biological filter media, specific surface area (measured as surface area per gram of material, or surface area per some specified volume of material) is very important. These products provide surface sites for bacteria to attach and do their work. The greater the surface area per gram of medium, the greater the number of bacteria that can attach. Thus a high specific surface area is desirable.

There is a second consideration, and that is the size of the pores in the medium. Generally, with very large pore diameters, we have smaller specific surface area, so that is not good. This generally rules out pores above 10 microns in diameter. But we can go too far in the other direction. If we have a very large number of very, very small pores, then our specific surface area number will be phenomenal, but the medium will not work very well as a biological medium. This is due to physical limitations, specifically too small a volume to support bacterial growth, and the decreasing efficiency of fluid transport (necessary to carry nutrients to the bacteria and waste away from the bacteria) with very small pore sizes. (Small pores still play important roles in physical and chemical processes, such as adsorption.)

Practically all the specific surface area of both Substrat Pro and MicroMec are in the range of pore diameters to be biologically useful, while some of the surface area of Matrix is in pores that are reserved for physical and chemical processes, not biological processes_.

The issue for us is at what total amount of surface area does some of that surface area then become not biologically useful and are reserved for physical and chemical processes ??

If you look at the surface area of Biohome which has 5840sq ft and Matrix's 7535sq ft, both these 2 medias claim to be able to colonise both Nitrifying and Denitrifying Bacterias. But from Seachem's research, _"Although the surface area that is taken up in pores too small to be biologically useful is a little more than half the total, Matrix still has available for biological processes a greater surface area than either Ehiem Substrat Pro and JBL MicroMec."_ Unfortunately in Biohome's case, we're not able to determine what's the exact amount of surface area that is availiable for Biological/Nitrification processes after you minus off the surface area for Denitrifying processes. Anyway, the link is here if you're interested http://www.seachem.com/support/SpecificSurface.pdf

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## framejumb0

Actually this whole surface area theory can be marketing strategy. But so far seachem provided some research papers about this. But there are other alternates such as HMF filter which very low cost yet effective. I already moving out of canisters for smaller tanks with hmf. Still operating two eheim pro 3 and ecco pro filled with eheim media.

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## aquarius

Whether it's marketing strategy a not, when you compare and ask questions before buying, you'll have a rough idea whether some of these claims are genuine a not. For brands like Mr Aqua CR whose claimed surface area is (S-size) 6458sq ft, (M-size) 5382sq ft and yet do not claim to have Denitrifying capabilities despite it's very high surface area, can we than take it to mean that all that sq ft is only for the colonization of Nitrifying bacterias ?

IMHO the answer would likely be Yes cos unlike the fully cyclindrical and round-shaped structure of Biohome and Matrix, Mr Aqua's Ring-shaped physical structure limits or prevents the colonization of Denitrifying bacteria. I would also like to highlight that for Mr Aqua CR or PowerHouse CR to have that high amount of surface area, the media will likely or need to be porous both in it's internal and external Ring-shaped structure, just like Biohome and Matrix but unlike Biohome and Matrix, it's difficult for any Ceramic Rings to have the Denitrification capabilities.

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## dc88

"Nitrifying" and "Denitrifying" are not the same  :Smile: 
One is the reverse process of the other.

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## dc88

Correction. Nitrification is to turn NH4+ into NO2 then NO3
Denitrification is to turn NO3 into N.
Not entirely "reverse".

The brand of bio media you mention is it "nitrify" or "denitrify" that was mentioned?

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## aquarius

Biohome and Matrix can have both Nitrifying and Denitrifying bacteria but for Mr Aqua CR, PowerHouse CR or any other brands of CR, it is very likely that they can ONLY HAVE Nitrifying bacteria due to their physical structure.

Sorry to confuse you cos after reading my post again, i realised that it's rather confusing to understand what i'm getting at  :Razz:

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## aquarius

Just to elaborate further....... we cannot assume that just because Mr Aqua and PowerHouse ceramic rings both of which have surface areas comparable to Biohome and Matrix, it does not automatically mean that they can also have both Nitrification and Denitrification capabilities because the physical structure of ceramic rings prevents or does not fully allow it to happen.

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## madscientist

It also depends on your filter flow rate and o2 saturation levels in your water. 

Bio rings can also have denitrifying zones. A few mm thick is all it needs for aerobic bacteria to use up most of the oxygen. The anaerobic area will be at the center of the material thickness. 

Np bio pellets are usually less thick than bio rings and there's cases of hydrogen sulfide in bio pellets

It would be unfair to say bio rings do not support denitrifying area

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## Cyberkinetic

Hi, 

I just got myself a Eheim 2224 which comes with the Eheim Mech. I was wondering if it is ok to swap it with Mr Aqua "S" size CRs which I have some leftovers. It still allows water to flow through based on the hollow centre of the CRs and should function similar to the Eheim Mech if not better(due to surface area for BB to grow) right? 

I don't have the full amount to fill up the tray, but probably it will be 50% Mr Aqua CRs and 50% Eheim Mech in the same tray meant for mechanical filtering media since I'm not planning to buy anymore bio media for now. 




> Qn 2 : Eheim Mech is made for mechanical filteration purposes while the Lava Rocks is for biological filteration. But having said that, lava rocks can also be used as a mechanical media on top of being a biological one. It's just that because of the physical structure of the lava rocks, when you pour them together into the filter compartment, they'll be more compact as compared to the Eheim Mech and will therefore cause the flowrate of water to slow down further especially when you take into considerations your other bio-medias in the filter. And since you should already have enough surface area from your other bio-medias for the BBs in your other filter compartments, it doesn't make sense to further “clog up” your filter with the lava rocks.

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## madscientist

> Hi, 
> 
> I just got myself a Eheim 2224 which comes with the Eheim Mech. I was wondering if it is ok to swap it with Mr Aqua "S" size CRs which I have some leftovers. It still allows water to flow through based on the hollow centre of the CRs and should function similar to the Eheim Mech if not better(due to surface area for BB to grow) right? 
> 
> I don't have the full amount to fill up the tray, but probably it will be 50% Mr Aqua CRs and 50% Eheim Mech in the same tray meant for mechanical filtering media since I'm not planning to buy anymore bio media for now.


Eheim mech is thinner, smaller, hence more space for more media than aqua crs. For canisters, flow is not much of concern as canister is designed to force water through the stages.

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## Cyberkinetic

Hi madscientist, 

yup, noticed that. Primarily, as what I understood about the use of the Eheim mech is that the hollow structure allows for water flow properly, so as not to restrict the water movement through the filter. Thus I figured if i use the Mr Aqua CRs, should serve same purpose with the added bonus of having more surface area for BB to grow(anyway, have some lying around so why not?).

Anyway, think I will go ahead and try this setup and see how it goes. Guess it shouldn't be too much of an issue I suppose. Thanks.

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## ralliart12

> ...I don't have the full amount to fill up the tray...





> ...For canisters, flow is not much of concern as canister is designed to force water through the stages.


Just fyi, I completely (_even the empty space at the very bottom of the canister_) fill up my 2224 with media & the flow rate is severely affected. But it's al right with me as I require the slow water flow (_unless it gets even slower_).

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## aquarius

*@ralliart12* ~ by doing what you did, you'll need to do more filter maintainence as compared to if you were to restrict the flowrate by using the outlet control valve and slowly adjusting the flowrate higher as the filter gets clogged up with debrise.  :Wink:  My philosophy in fish keeping is to keep things as simple and effective as possible so that you can spend more time admiring your aquascapes or fishes instead of constantly meddling/washing your equipments.  :Grin: 

Actually you don't need to use alot of bio-medias to breakdown the same amount of waste into less toxic substances if you have medias that have very large surface area..... it is when your bio-medias don't have enough surface area to cope with the waste load that you need more of them. 

*@cyberkinetic* ~ It should be fine but you need to understand that biological medias are usually placed in compartments of the filter whereby clean water flows through it and not dirty/debrise filled water flowing through it. The reason is so that debrise won't clog up the very fine pores of the bio-media thereby preventing it from performing at it's optimum level. Doing so will render Mr Aqua CR into more of a mechanical filter media first and than a biological media second. However if you're comparing it to the Eheim Mech, Mr Aqua's CR will probably house more BBs than the smooth surfaced Eheim Mech in the mechanical filter compartment.

The issue is, Will Mr Aqua CR be able to provide the optimum level of BBs if in the future you decide to use them for only biological purposes? The reason is because the fine pores of the bio-CR would have been very clogged up to make it useful for a large amount of BBs to be able to live in it. 

*I'm wondering whether is there any good and effective way of "reconditioning" clogged up bio-medias to it's original state/condition instead of changing them after a period of time as recommended by manufacturers?*

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## Cyberkinetic

Hi bro aquarius, 

thanks for the explanation. I'm just thinking since I have some Mr Aqua's CRs lying around, I might as well use it with the Eheim Mech compartment. I understand this part of the filter will be the mechanical filtration area and the CRs won't be efficient for bio filtration. But as you've said, it will still give more surface for BBs to grow. With time, it will likely downgrade to be more of mechanical only, but I'm ok with that. Biological filtration is not on the top of my mind putting them there. It's more of a bonus for initial since Mech and Mr Aqua are round cylinder-like. Without affecting water flow, i can get some bonus BBs.. fair deal i suppose. 

Cheers.

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## Cyberkinetic

Hi bro ralliart12,

slow is ok, I just hope the reduction in flow would not affect the motor by it having to operate harder than usual. But then unlikely since normal conditions with dirty/clogged media, the same restricted flow is experienced as well. Or will it? 




> Just fyi, I completely (_even the empty space at the very bottom of the canister_) fill up my 2224 with media & the flow rate is severely affected. But it's al right with me as I require the slow water flow (_unless it gets even slower_).

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## ralliart12

> *@ralliart12* ~ by doing what you did, you'll need to do more filter maintainence as compared to if you were to restrict the flowrate by using the outlet control valve and slowly adjusting the flowrate higher as the filter gets clogged up with debrise...


Yes, you are right, I have to perform more filter maintenance. But for this specific setup of mine, I have to, as my biolaod is extremely high. I'm viewing it from another perspective: if the net result of both choices is a reduction in flow rate, why not gain something along with the reduction, i.e. increased bio-media?




> *@ralliart12* ~ ... My philosophy in fish keeping is to keep things as simple and effective as possible so that you can spend more time admiring your aquascapes or fishes instead of constantly meddling/washing your equipments. ...


Very true; I have this habit of being obsessed about every single details of my setups, overcomplicating things, & giving myself more chores to do than admiring my scapes. But then again, I am quite new to all these, so my scapes aren't much to look at.




> *@ralliart12* ~ ... Actually you don't need to use alot of bio-medias to breakdown the same amount of waste into less toxic substances if you have medias that have very large surface area..... it is when your bio-medias don't have enough surface area to cope with the waste load that you need more of them...


I'm not sure whether my bio-media has adequate surface area, as I do not know how to determine surface-area-per-unit-of-bioload? My canister is composed of _2_ full trays of Biohome+, the empty space being filled up with one bag of Eheim Mech (ceramic rings that arrived with the stock 2224), & then some generic-branded ceramic rings that came with my ol' Eden 501.




> ...*I'm wondering whether is there any good and effective way of "reconditioning" clogged up bio-medias to it's original state/condition instead of changing them after a period of time as recommended by manufacturers?*


Actually, can we rinse & then soak them in _boiling water_ to ''reset'' them?




> Hi bro ralliart12,
> 
> slow is ok, I just hope the reduction in flow would not affect the motor by it having to operate harder than usual. But then unlikely since normal conditions with dirty/clogged media, the same restricted flow is experienced as well. Or will it?


Can't give you a definite answer on this; I shall wait for the veterans to comment, if they do.

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## aquarius

ralliart12 ~
I assume that you're using your 2224 for a 2ft tank with fishes that do not eat alot and poop alot? Though i don't know how to determine the surface-area-per-unit-of-bioload, i believe that as long as you don't keep fishes like plecos and african cichlids than it's safe to say that it should be ok even if you have just one tray of Biohome. 

BTW I just had an idea that we can soak the old clogged up medias in hydrogen peroxide for about 15-20mins to unclog it !! After that rinse the media over running water to clear out the ramnent waste that is still in the pores of the medias.  :Idea:  From my understanding from my mom who is a retired nurse, they use hydrogen peroxide to clean difficult to clean wounds which have alot of puss like bed sores or sores due to diabetes and she says that it is very effective in clearing up the puss from the wound. I believe the solution should be able to do the same for our biomedias and somemore, the solution is safe for our fishes.  :Angel:

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## madscientist

> ralliart12 ~
> I assume that you're using your 2224 for a 2ft tank with fishes that do not eat alot and poop alot? Though i don't know how to determine the surface-area-per-unit-of-bioload, i believe that as long as you don't keep fishes like plecos and african cichlids than it's safe to say that it should be ok even if you have just one tray of Biohome. 
> 
> BTW I just had an idea that we can soak the old clogged up medias in hydrogen peroxide for about 15-20mins to unclog it !! After that rinse the media over running water to clear out the ramnent waste that is still in the pores of the medias.  From my understanding from my mom who is a retired nurse, they use hydrogen peroxide to clean difficult to clean wounds which have alot of puss like bed sores or sores due to diabetes and she says that it is very effective in clearing up the puss from the wound. I believe the solution should be able to do the same for our biomedias and somemore, the solution is safe for our fishes.


Yup, hydrogen peroxide or citric acid should do the trick

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## ralliart12

> ralliart12 ~
> I assume that you're using your 2224 for a 2ft tank with fishes that do not eat alot and poop alot? Though i don't know how to determine the surface-area-per-unit-of-bioload, i believe that as long as you don't keep fishes like plecos and african cichlids than it's safe to say that it should be ok even if you have just one tray of Biohome...


au contraire, my fishes eat a lot of live food & I have many of them in this one tank, so there's the "eat-alot-&-many-"small"-poop" factor.




> ...BTW I just had an idea that we can soak the old clogged up medias in hydrogen peroxide for about 15-20mins to unclog it !! After that rinse the media over running water to clear out the ramnent waste that is still in the pores of the medias.  From my understanding from my mom who is a retired nurse, they use hydrogen peroxide to clean difficult to clean wounds which have alot of puss like bed sores or sores due to diabetes and she says that it is very effective in clearing up the puss from the wound. I believe the solution should be able to do the same for our biomedias and somemore, the solution is safe for our fishes.


I frequently use H2O2 to clean my aquarium equipment & occasionally use it to kill algae. But if I were to use it to mass-reset my media, I'll need a lot of $6-bottles from Guardian/Watson's.

Actually, I don't really know how H2O2 can *unclog* "pores"?

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## aquarius

The only way to know for sure whether your biomedias are enough a not is to test for ammonia. Do post your results here if do you decide to buy a test kit to test it out.  :Smile:

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## aquarius

ralliart12 ~ Because Hydrogen peroxide has the ability to clean wounds and sores very thoroughly, IMHO it will likely be able to do the same by going into the tiny pores to get rid/breakdown the dirt in there, thereby "unclogging" the pores. Anyway i'd advice against fussing too much about it or giving yourself extra work by doing regular unclogging of the medias because we should be spending more time admiring our fishes and plants, instead of always doing extra/unnecessary maintenance work.  :Wink: 

Something i want to highlight........ For a VERY long time, i've noticed that alot of people using the stackable transparent type Overhead Filter, do not stick a black oyama sticker around the filter casing/box to prevent light from getting onto the medias. After some time, the medias become badly infested with algaes thereby competing with the BBs for space. I can understand that it is nice to see the water dripping down over the different levels of filter medias but IMHO this makes all the biomedias badly clogged and defeating the purpose and efficiency of the biomedias. Another thing is it also makes the job of unclogging the medias with hard-to-clean or get-rid-off algaes much more difficult/troublesome, thereby wasting your money.

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## Navanod

Hi guys,

I have a big bag Eheim Substrat (not pro) that looks like broken white pieces of corals which I dare not use because I really thought they were corals. Recently, I test it with vinegar (together with real coral for control) and found it to be inert (did not bubble like the coral) but I'm still not fully convinced if it'll increase pH in the tank.

According to Eheim's website, 

http://www.eheim.asia/prod_e_media_bio.html

It states that Substrat Pro and Lav are "pH neutral" but did not state so for the Substrat and Biomech.
Any thoughts?

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## Cheesetian

Has anyone ever had adverse changes in canister flow rates when using ADA Bio-Rio? I just got myself an Eheim 2217 and 6L of Bio-Rio. But after realizing how fine it is, i'm afraid it'll seriously kill the flow rate.

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## aquarius

Navanod ~ If you've tested it with vineger and there is no bubbling, then it is inert..... no worries about it.  :Wink:  For Ehiem brand of medias, i believe if it increases the ph, it'll definately indicate it in the packaging but you'll need to be more cautious especially with those brandless or asian brand medias.

Cheesetian ~ I believe if you're using the ADA Bio Rio, the flowrate will slow down more than if you're using brands like Ehiem Substrat Pro, Bio-rings, Seachem Matrix or Biohomme (just to name a few brands), if you were to compare them litre for litre. I don't know how much it'll slow down cos i don't use ADA medias but for me it becomes a hassle because you'll need to do more regular filter maintenance.

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## gid

I just bought a 1L pack of Power Material Bio-Ceramic, anybody using this CR? Let me know your thoughts, tks!

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## astro

> I just bought a 1L pack of Power Material Bio-Ceramic, anybody using this CR? Let me know your thoughts, tks!


 I'm using it on a HOF on a 1ft tank. Water stabilized in 1 week

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## bravobb

This PM Bio-Ceramic look like mini biohouse... and biohouse is more effective in wet/dry situation and CR more effective submerge.
Sometimes, i wonder why they function so differently yet look so alike in structure....

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## limyw

Hi sorry if I am off topic, but I am looking for coral chips to be placed in my HOF. I read that this helps to increase PH (I dnot want to use chemicals). I went to C328 but could not find this. can bros advise where I can get these and brand/cost?

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## bravobb

Hi limyw, 
First, the coral chip helps to stabilized PH, not increase it so don't expect to see high PH after using it... 
Second, you can always ask the shop owners for coral chips... i am sure they will tell you where to get if they want business... open your mouth please.....  :Grin:

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## Shingen

> Hi sorry if I am off topic, but I am looking for coral chips to be placed in my HOF. I read that this helps to increase PH (I dnot want to use chemicals). I went to C328 but could not find this. can bros advise where I can get these and brand/cost?


the coral chips at c328 are at the rack on the left outside the shop where the small tanks are. walk in and look down  :Wink:

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## sraddy

Does Anyone know where is the cheapest lfs do sell Biohome plus after reading all the reviews from the seniors here?? I saw some places sell like 50 over?? damn exp

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## aquarius

To be honest don't waste your money on Biohome Plus. According to the product info, the difference between the Standard and the Plus version is that the Plus version comes with nutrients to speed up bacteria colonisation. When the manufacturer says "nutrients", I take it to mean that the media is seeded with Ammonia which acts as food for the fast establishment of BBs upon contact with water. If that is the case, you might as well use mulm from an old filter to seed the media and it's free. Save that money and use it to buy some nice fishes.  :Wink:

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## [email protected]

Ok, so I am new and have been looking around for a thread that has attracted some 'media' guru's.... This one fits the bill!
So, I think after all the videos on youtube and reading this thread I think I know what media is.... But how do you know when you need it? And how do you know what you need?
Like Up there  :Well done:  I saw stuff about ceramics, I know that in that area it is either ceramics or plastic and that plastic stuff is worthless unless it is moving up against one another. 
I also saw sponges and... luncheon meat? What exactly are all these different things used for, and how do you know all of these types of water readings? I know how to get the pH useing a formula from chemistry.. but they never did teach us how to get it out of the water... 
Soo I'm kinda lost, and it's all my pump's fault because it stopped working and then I tried to learn how to clean it and found all of this, and then my mom got home, tapped it, and it started going full force again!!!  :Exasperated:  
By the by, the big compartment in my pump, it's just a normal walmart hangon pump(I think, it was a gift from a friend)... something is supposed to go there, riiiiight? Because I was kind of wondering why there is just a big empty spot... Oh and any suggestions for flat filters? My filter is one of those worthless wheel things and I wanted to put together my own.. just better.
Also I'm sorry if I make no sense or if this is alot at once, it's just that once I find something that I don't know, I really want to know.
Plus i think it is worth it, considering how much I stare and laugh at my guppies and loaches.  :Grin: 
And wow, I go off topic really fast, sorry for the bother... :Opps:  Should I copy this and split it up then post it in several different questions in different places...? Again sorry...

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## pufferlover

I have personally used quite a number of medias over the years started out with sponge as a filtration media, move on to cheap cr and slowly was exposed to many filtration biological media with fanciful writings as to how much of water it can treat , surface area the amount of nitrification it can handle and etc etc etc. I will say it all depends on your bioload and the kind of filtration system you have to out the filter media to good use, so much so i trusted Bh plus i did a test by removing my cheap cr and replace with Bh plus result was good no3 reduction , i move on to build a monster fish community thinking all those fanciful big names in media players, matrix which was being run in a incline canister environment worth slow flow rate to my surprise there's not much of differences in nitrification at all so Google and found many people in the west found the, are good in packaging but not to used, sold introduce to a expensive bio volca media and fantastic water achieve , did some search its because of the bacteria that's lives in the volcanic rock which sets this apart from normal rocks, and i decide to decomm all the exp rock n use those cheapo rocks and indeed there are differences.

My personal preferences is this bio volca rock, momotaro, bacteria house , pot scrubbies in my canister so far so good, only will say put the right media in the right filtration system know hoe they work you can turn pot scrubbies to a inexpensive bio media .

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## johnchor

hey guys

i am using only coral chips, jap matt and mika wool for bio media in my OHF.
my tank is 4ft 67 gallons.
i keep my fishes for 4 years laio, all havent die yet. they die due to fighting instead.
is this ok? i ask bcos i wanted to keep more fishes. now 12 cichlids , i want to up to 15 cichlids. so i am worry jap matt cant do the job.
i saw some cheapo china brand CR can i use them? i am very cheapo too... i always buy cheap cheap things...  :Grin:  and i enjoy to see them work.  :Grin: 

thanks

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## armageddon

> Ok, so I am new and have been looking around for a thread that has attracted some 'media' guru's.... This one fits the bill!
> So, I think after all the videos on youtube and reading this thread I think I know what media is.... But how do you know when you need it? And how do you know what you need?
> Like Up there  I saw stuff about ceramics, I know that in that area it is either ceramics or plastic and that plastic stuff is worthless unless it is moving up against one another. 
> I also saw sponges and... luncheon meat? What exactly are all these different things used for, and how do you know all of these types of water readings? I know how to get the pH useing a formula from chemistry.. but they never did teach us how to get it out of the water... 
> Soo I'm kinda lost, and it's all my pump's fault because it stopped working and then I tried to learn how to clean it and found all of this, and then my mom got home, tapped it, and it started going full force again!!!  
> By the by, the big compartment in my pump, it's just a normal walmart hangon pump(I think, it was a gift from a friend)... something is supposed to go there, riiiiight? Because I was kind of wondering why there is just a big empty spot... Oh and any suggestions for flat filters? My filter is one of those worthless wheel things and I wanted to put together my own.. just better.
> Also I'm sorry if I make no sense or if this is alot at once, it's just that once I find something that I don't know, I really want to know.
> Plus i think it is worth it, considering how much I stare and laugh at my guppies and loaches. 
> And wow, I go off topic really fast, sorry for the bother... Should I copy this and split it up then post it in several different questions in different places...? Again sorry...


Hi wheelz,

firstly, welcome to AQ, what you have read actually over here in Singapore are very much easily accessible by many of us. after reading your post, realised its merely a misunderstanding of language.

i may not assist in your answering in sequence but hope i can clear some of your doubts here.
sponges and luncheon meat. there is no connection. its just an analogy and certain ways of fun chatting here.
all those parameters you have seen are usually measured by test kits. pH, simple, we use pH meters, pH pen or test kits which uses various ways of measuring (pH "liquid", and, litmus paper? hope i do not remember the name wrongly)

the pump that you have mentioned we have no idea what it is, wallmart is in US and we do not have them here. Locally, to speak of a western common aquarium brand that we use alot is eheim. But we do have a fair share of other brands from various countries and they work as well. It is also to my understanding, in fact locally (or in fact in asia), aquatic products are cheaper than some other countries (considering they are "imported goods"). If you like to, i do see that ebay have a fair share of aquatic products that you can purchase from and your local shipment and freight is much more cheaper than overseas international shipping. 

as for ceramic rings of plastic stuffs. this are very personal and everyone have their own way of set up. many types of filters etc. all works in their own way and all are effective in their own areas of usage. 

hope i am able to open the door to our local scene of fish keeping. cheers!

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## armageddon

of course, not forgetting, you have come to the right place where there are many experts to answer your queries out here and share their experiences. ^_^

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## Redember

I'm using ISTA quartz rings on the first tray of my Fluval 306, Matrix on second and ISTA lava rocks on the third. Thinking of removing my first tray to use BioFoam instead, The prefilter is still course sponge and i have twin sponge filters on the intake pipes.

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## tousan

Does the order of the media in sump tank matter? I have bio home , ceramic ring, coral chip and oyster shell in my sump tank

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## Redember

Only chemical media placement is critical. The rest are not really critical.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

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## Mookie

I just got a new canister filter- ehiem 2213, is there a need to change the media in it?

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## Mystikboy

Nope. Eheim media is really good (:

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## sthh

Using only cheap Japanese mat as bio medium, and blue mat and white foam as mechanical filter. 
The order of placement of medium does matter for me, as i remove the white foam from the top layer regularly, but the bottom layers of blue mat and japanese mat are not touched, except maybe once a year for rinsing. These japanese mat seems to last for a long time without breaking down.
I find mats and sponge cheap and efficient and easy to maintain for stackables and overhead filters, where they are not soak in water, and get oxygen all the time.
These mats can also accommodate very high rate of flow without being choked.

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## Lim PK

Eheim Substrat Pro is still my favourite!!

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## aquarius

From the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGP_qoIVmz8 you can see that it's incredibly porous!!  :Shocked:  The great thing about this media is that unlike a lot of other very porous medias out there, it claims that it won't clog up, so you not only don't need to change them, the efficiency of the media is maintained at near 100% all the time.

Some info on the media http://cermedia.com/blog.php?p=60

By the way has anyone seen them in LFS?

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## rak3nn

any more media i can mix with seachem matrix? right now only that and the usual white foam sponge and some charcoal. any more media i should add?

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## urbach

skip the charcoal and replace with Purigen. Matrix with fine white filter will do fine.

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## rak3nn

^ ok i will try to replace charcoal with purigen. from seachem also correct?

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## KongSK

> ^ ok i will try to replace charcoal with purigen. from seachem also correct?


If you add any med or black water into fish tank, please remove as it will absorb it's coloration.

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## blu3her0

> From the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGP_qoIVmz8 you can see that it's incredibly porous!!  The great thing about this media is that unlike a lot of other very porous medias out there, it claims that it won't clog up, so you not only don't need to change them, the efficiency of the media is maintained at near 100% all the time.
> 
> Some info on the media http://cermedia.com/blog.php?p=60
> 
> By the way has anyone seen them in LFS?


This product seems promising, but have not heard about if before. Can anyone who is in the know share more about it?

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## Suzerolt

Marine Pure is actually quite popular in the marine fish hobby world. I've seen it at Iwarna (@pasir ris). They come in slabs, cubes or balls. This appears to be harder to pack into a canister filter. The shape seems more suitable for a sump....Probably the reason why it's less popular in the freshwater hobby.


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## aquarius

Thanks for the info. At least we now know where it's sold in s'pore.

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## titusxc

> Thanks for the info. At least we now know where it's sold in s'pore.


Hi actually I'm using the cube ones for my shrimp rack setup too. Can get it from aquarist chamber .
they have the one in ball shape also.  :Laughing:

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## revo79

> Hi actually I'm using the cube ones for my shrimp rack setup too. Can get it from aquarist chamber .
> they have the one in ball shape also.


Hi, what do you think of this filter media? Is it good?

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## titusxc

I find it very porous... I like the cube shape of the media which allow to lay neatly and filing the gaps above my UGF.. So I guess make all water to flow through the media.. Only been a week since my setup.. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1414115465.275320.jpg

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## Cryok95

I use ANS Sinthered glass and sponge in my jebo 838.

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## aza

Biohome Plus & Eheim Substrate Pro for my canister filter.

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## johnchor

Hi bros i am using a small air bubble corner filter. Was thinking seachem denitrate. Any bros use and can feedback. Tks

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## Phillipians

Interestingly for my 2217 i try to get the best of ALL worlds by adding in
Eheim Substrate Pro 1L
Biohome 1L
Seachem Matrix 1.5L

That way I have the best of all the brands. LOL
Has been working well so far for the past 1.5 years

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## tropic

Just using biomech and seachem matrix.

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## johnchor

Hi bro is seachem matrix or denitrate better for a slow air bubble corner filter? Those old school green and blue guppy corner filter. I want to minimize wc for a small 1.5ft tank tks

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## 2ringcreatures

Marine pure. Never look back

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## Redember

Denitrate requires very low flow rate for denitrification. Otherwise it will just be another expensive biomedia. Else you try eheim substrat pro. I use a combination of Matrix, denitrate & substrat pro in my 2211. In another HOF, i uses blue filter wool and substrat pro. Both did a good job of keeping my overstocked 40liter tank clear and nitrates around 15ppm.

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## lohpaul9

Use matrix and biohome here

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## tetrakid

I only use simple bio media, which is old-fashioned sintered glass rings plus kitchen scrubber pads. 
It may look silly, but does the job excellently. :Smile:

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## FluffyBunny

Azoo media works pretty well for me

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## Dscheng

Seachem martix. 2 week WC, nitrates always 0.

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## happydanio123

My favourite would be simply basic ceremic rings and occasionally some activated carbon. Nothing too sophisticated.

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## Mr Ironiic

Sponges and pot scrubbers 

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk

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## tetrakid

After having used ceramic rings and sintered glass rings of different sizes, I find that the walls of the rings are too thick, thus wasting a lot of space. Now I am trying out using drinking straws.

I cut the black straws into small pieces about 0.5cm long, which makes them into tiny plastic rings. Then I fill up a nylon netting bag with these rings. I find that the surface area is increased tremendously as compared with even the smallest ceramic or sintered glas rings.

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## antjoey1122

> After having used ceramic rings and sintered glass rings of different sizes, I find that the walls of the rings are too thick, thus wasting a lot of space. Now I am trying out using drinking straws.
> 
> I cut the black straws into small pieces about 0.5cm long, which makes them into tiny plastic rings. Then I fill up a nylon netting bag with these rings. I find that the surface area is increased tremendously as compared with even the smallest ceramic or sintered glas rings.


Hi tetrakid,

Can show us the diameter of the black straw, this sounds like an interesting project to take on. Cheers!

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## loyxl

My favourite biofilter is sera siporax. A really under rated biofilter imo. Was totally sold by their demonstration video on youtube.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

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## Jimmy

> My favourite biofilter is sera siporax. A really under rated biofilter imo. Was totally sold by their demonstration video on youtube.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk


This is one of the best!

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## ZIr

30PPI and above HMF sponges  :Smile:

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## BFG

> My favourite biofilter is sera siporax. A really under rated biofilter imo. Was totally sold by their demonstration video on youtube.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk


I agree too! Wanted to buy the larger box but not available locally hence I went for the MarinePure block version for my next tank change. Seen the youtube demo too for this media. Google it. Was using Biohomme pro currently for my 4ft marine tank with 0 live rock.

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## tetrakid

> Hi tetrakid,
> 
> Can show us the diameter of the black straw, this sounds like an interesting project to take on. Cheers!


I have forgotten where the black drinking straws were bought, but they are good quality ones with a section ribbed for bending.

The diameter is about the same as those straws at Macdonalds. I suppose any type of drinking straw will do as well. Cutting up the straws into small beads/rings is a laborious process but enjoyable if one thinks of the final product.  :Smile: 

PS> Perhaps we can also cut up our air tubing in the same way and try it.

----------


## cosmico

Seachem matrix and sera siporax. 2 of the best.


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## skytan

Was thinking of buying Mr Aqua for my sump, after reading i guess another tub of seachem matrix will just do the job

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## jc92195

hi bros

how about those bio-rods... dog shit imitations? $2 only...not too x???
thanks

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## skytan

> hi bros
> 
> how about those bio-rods... dog shit imitations? $2 only...not too x???
> thanks


Those are used mostly in sump and ohf i believe. 
Lots of people are using Marine Pure Bio Balls now and there is the moving bed media , K1 recently there is a new type of biochip.

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## Kazuo

I know this may sound silly but are these media suppose to be in the filter?

I've seen photo of tank setup which the pack of media is just placed in the tank.

Does it still works that way?

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## Urban Aquaria

> I know this may sound silly but are these media suppose to be in the filter?
> 
> I've seen photo of tank setup which the pack of media is just placed in the tank.
> 
> Does it still works that way?


They can be used either in a filter or just placed in a tank... the difference is in a filter the tank water is constantly recirculating and flowing through the media, so the beneficial bacteria that live in the media get a more constant supply of waste/nutrients and oxygen to process, hence performing more effective filtration and nitrification work.

If just placed in a tank, beneficial bacteria will still colonize the media (as they do on all surfaces of the tank), but as the supply of waste/nutrients and oxygen may not be as consistent, the bacteria's overall efficiency may also tend to be reduced.

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## ryangiggs

Wanted to replace one of the tray of Eheim Mechpro in my Eheim 2075 with a biomedia... went to seaview to check out Biohome Ultimate which seems highly recommended... But one of the staff hard sell me with the Azoo 4 in 1... he says Matrix, Marinepure and Biohome all outdated liaoz... these can only trap waste but the bacterial cannot break it down... In the end i told him i go back research more first... but during my brief 10 mins at the biomedia sections, i saw quite a number of pple grabbing this Azoo 4 in 1... 

btw, he says this Azoo will lower the ph... and must take out the white color type from the 4 in 1 if want to keep dwarf shrimps

Seems like seaview pple keep recommending Azoo products... which is much cheaper than other brands...

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## tetrakid

One of my favourite home-made media is air tubing cut into beads. If we check old air tubing, we can find that the inner walls are usually covered with a layer of dirt or algae. I suspect there are also bacteria colonies. This led me to think that it is a good media material. I had previously used cut up drinking straws in the same way, but I found that they are a bit too flimsy to handle. Cut up air tubing is much to my liking as it has more weight and a nice thickness, unlike ceramic or other rings, they being too thick and thus wastes space.

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## Urban Aquaria

> Wanted to replace one of the tray of Eheim Mechpro in my Eheim 2075 with a biomedia... went to seaview to check out Biohome Ultimate which seems highly recommended... But one of the staff hard sell me with the Azoo 4 in 1... he says Matrix, Marinepure and Biohome all outdated liaoz... these can only trap waste but the bacterial cannot break it down... In the end i told him i go back research more first... but during my brief 10 mins at the biomedia sections, i saw quite a number of pple grabbing this Azoo 4 in 1... 
> 
> btw, he says this Azoo will lower the ph... and must take out the white color type from the 4 in 1 if want to keep dwarf shrimps
> 
> Seems like seaview pple keep recommending Azoo products... which is much cheaper than other brands...


Well, i've no comment on whether the Azoo 4-in-1 media is better than the other brands of media or not (its up to buyers to research and make their own decisions), but as someone who has worked in sales and sales management for many years before, that type of super keen product recommendations by shop staff usually tend to be greatly influenced by... *ahem* "incentives".

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## fai

> Wanted to replace one of the tray of Eheim Mechpro in my Eheim 2075 with a biomedia... went to seaview to check out Biohome Ultimate which seems highly recommended... But one of the staff hard sell me with the Azoo 4 in 1... he says Matrix, Marinepure and Biohome all outdated liaoz... these can only trap waste but the bacterial cannot break it down... In the end i told him i go back research more first... but during my brief 10 mins at the biomedia sections, i saw quite a number of pple grabbing this Azoo 4 in 1... 
> 
> btw, he says this Azoo will lower the ph... and must take out the white color type from the 4 in 1 if want to keep dwarf shrimps
> 
> Seems like seaview pple keep recommending Azoo products... which is much cheaper than other brands...


Try google for the review. I remember reading on some oversea forum saying the Azoo dont last very long as it break down.

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## BFG

Guys, remember to keep your media in a dark area . I have read about bacteria not performing well in lighted area so my theory is even if you are using cheap media , it may work well if they are kept performing in a dark area .

Right now trending in the saltwater forum , the Marinepure Ceramic Block measuring 8x8x4 is the go to media for sump tank usage , with the ball version follow closely behind. HOWEVER , the block version will crumble overtime , so user should use the set and forget method , meaning after placing it in the sump , to not move it often. 

Another trending media in the saltwater forum is the old classic Sera Siporax 15mm or 25mm sized filter media used for Pond usage . A Brazilian forum exposes the benefit of using this classic media for successfully keeping hard coral and this method is being followed in the US forum too . A liter of Sera Siporax will treat 100 liter of seawater in removing phosphate and nitrate . How the Sera Siporax user found out that by arranging the media vertically and using egg crate or light diffuser , it provide the ideal space for bacteria instead of haphazardly throwing the media in the sump. Meticulous arranging of this media is the key to success found by their user . Maybe Eheim media user might have to relook to re-arranging their o-ring media vertically instead of dumping it in the media tray . Use a satay stick to assist in arranging the media .

As for Azoo 4 in 1 , I have a colleague using this solely in 4 of his canister filter for a single 4ft community tank but I do not see any advantage . Myself , I am hunting for the Sera Siporax Pond media for my reef tank . Looking at purchasing the 50 liter pack as I want to try keeping hard coral too . May approach the distributor and ask if they could ship in this version .

For those keeping community tank fishes might look into Sera Siporax to reduce their phosphate and nitrate level efficiently. Look for the Pond version 15mm or 25mm size. Do not expose the media to fish waste solid , instead use the filter wool or even a pre filter to capture the solid. The media is there to house the bacteria and shouldn't be clogged by fish waste or uneaten food as it might clogged the media pores . Look at the linked image below for in sump use .

https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=s...yRhEqr3ss_M%3A

Hope this helps !

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## seudzar

> Guys, remember to keep your media in a dark area . I have read about bacteria not performing well in lighted area so my theory is even if you are using cheap media , it may work well if they are kept performing in a dark area .
> 
> Right now trending in the saltwater forum , the Marinepure Ceramic Block measuring 8x8x4 is the go to media for sump tank usage , with the ball version follow closely behind. HOWEVER , the block version will crumble overtime , so user should use the set and forget method , meaning after placing it in the sump , to not move it often. 
> 
> Another trending media in the saltwater forum is the old classic Sera Siporax 15mm or 25mm sized filter media used for Pond usage . A Brazilian forum exposes the benefit of using this classic media for successfully keeping hard coral and this method is being followed in the US forum too . A liter of Sera Siporax will treat 100 liter of seawater in removing phosphate and nitrate . How the Sera Siporax user found out that by arranging the media vertically and using egg crate or light diffuser , it provide the ideal space for bacteria instead of haphazardly throwing the media in the sump. Meticulous arranging of this media is the key to success found by their user . Maybe Eheim media user might have to relook to re-arranging their o-ring media vertically instead of dumping it in the media tray . Use a satay stick to assist in arranging the media .
> 
> As for Azoo 4 in 1 , I have a colleague using this solely in 4 of his canister filter for a single 4ft community tank but I do not see any advantage . Myself , I am hunting for the Sera Siporax Pond media for my reef tank . Looking at purchasing the 50 liter pack as I want to try keeping hard coral too . May approach the distributor and ask if they could ship in this version .
> 
> For those keeping community tank fishes might look into Sera Siporax to reduce their phosphate and nitrate level efficiently. Look for the Pond version 15mm or 25mm size. Do not expose the media to fish waste solid , instead use the filter wool or even a pre filter to capture the solid. The media is there to house the bacteria and shouldn't be clogged by fish waste or uneaten food as it might clogged the media pores . Look at the linked image below for in sump use .
> ...


Eh, I don't quite understand when you mean arrange the siporax vertically..... Can show a picture?

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## AQFan

Biohome is such an awesome product. They have my vote  :Smile:

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## BFG

Here it is.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/s...-u-not!/page80

I meant stacking the media .

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## seudzar

> Here it is.
> 
> http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/s...-u-not!/page80
> 
> I meant stacking the media .


Thanks for the link man...!

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## RenesisTurbo

Hi,I have 2 filters which are 2075 and 2236.

Filter arrangements for 2236 are...

Top tray-white filter wool
Eheim Bio Mech

Middle tray-Eheim Substrat Pro
Seachem Purigen

Bottom tray-Seachem Matrix

Media arrangements for 2075...

Top tray-white filter wool
Eheim Bio Mech

2nd tray-Eheim Substrat Pro
Seachem Purigen

3rd tray-Seachem Matrix

4th tray-Seachem Matrix

I am getting interested in Eheim Lav and considering the possibility of putting them in my 2236 and 2075.Which filter media do I need to phase out if I decide on putting the Eheim Lav in my filters?

Is the Eheim Lav good enough to replace any of the filter medias in my Eheims?

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## BFG

I have not tried the Eheim Lav before .

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## RenesisTurbo

Oh I see,is it a relatively new product?

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## Urban Aquaria

> I am getting interested in Eheim Lav and considering the possibility of putting them in my 2236 and 2075.Which filter media do I need to phase out if I decide on putting the Eheim Lav in my filters?
> 
> Is the Eheim Lav good enough to replace any of the filter medias in my Eheims?


Since Eheim Lav is a bio-media, it should be a substitute for bio-media in your filter... like the Seachem Matrix.

Any particular reason why you'd want to change your existing bio-media?

Doesn't seem like many people use the Lav bio-media though, i guess most people tend to go for the "better" versions like Substrat Pro or Seachem Matrix (or any of the other more expensive brands of bio-media).

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## BFG

> Oh I see,is it a relatively new product?


Have not found a need to use it yet .

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## madhav96001

1) Biohome Plus
2) Eheim Substrat Pro
3) Seachem Matrix

Biohome Plus is my absolute favourite, a sure winner for its surface area and porous structure.

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## skytan

I added MarinePure (Block and Sphere) to my sump, that is also pretty good.
When i do some cleaning of my sump i lifted the block up, i feel alot of water inside dripping out of the big block.

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## BFG

Do not handle the block too often as it gets brittle as time goes by , you might break it the next time you handle it .

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## skytan

> Do not handle the block too often as it gets brittle as time goes by , you might break it the next time you handle it .


Yup, not going to touch it often as I felt the edges shed/break off a little while i removed it that day during cleaning.
Hopefully, i will touch it less than once a year.

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## tetrakid

All kinds of biomedia serve only one function, which is to provide a suitable platform for good bacteria to cling on to.
The more surface area available, the more bacteria can reside within. Since bacteria builds up in time, they will clog up the tiny pores in certain media, making it difficult for water to flow through to nourish the bacteria. Because of this, I prefer simple ceramic rings or similarly structured media, my favourite being small-sized ceramic rings.

Another of my favourite medium is sponge. With sufficient water pressure to effect good flowthrough it is a wonderful medium.

I never clean the buildup on my media except to siphon up the muck settled on the bottom, since the buildup on media are dense with bacteria.

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## takaco

Lava rock cheap cheap good for budget fish keeper.

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## madhav96001

though slightly off topic, 
I just would like to check with follow hobbyists on effectiveness of eheim Mech pro or any brand ceramic rings for mechanical filtration. are these useful?
every time i clean the filter I wonder what good they are doing in the filter I don't see any dirt or debris in those compartments, I feel coarse filter foam is much better than these rings.
I already removed these rings from 2080 and planning to replace it with a coarse foam or sponge in my 2075.

any thoughts?

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## SGDiscus

I have previously used ehiem mech pro with my ehiem filter and I am now using Azoo media in a sump tank. To be honest, I am not able to provide an independent assessment which of these two are better because I can't setup controls properly to do the comparison. (However there is an interesting thread over at plantedtank.net 'Matrix without Seachem' where a guy tried to measure the difference between Seachem Matrix and normal pumice stones.)

But I am beginning to subscribe to the theory that since we can't decide which media has got more surface areas therefore I am adopting the approach used by some of the hobbyists here and elsewhere - which is to over-filter. Do check out this - http://www.oscarfish.com/water/179-a...lony-size.html

Also different mechanical media have different functions. I used coarse wool at the start of the filtering so that I can trap the large particles and prevent them from clogging the surface areas of my other media.

Thereafter the rest of the filtering compartments are filled with as much filter media as I can put in so that they provide the housing for the bacteria. 

Sorry to OP.. did not mean to hijack the thread. Just wanted to share as I am also on the eternal quest to hunt for the best media!  :Smile:  

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

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## tetrakid

@SGDiscus

I absolutely agree with your ideas about 'over-filtering'. Actually, I tend to think that there's no such thing as 'over-filtering'. To me, having a huge reserve capacity of surface area, as in a big sump, is a plus. When the bioload is low, excess bacteria simply dies off. When the bioload increases, thus creating more available nutriment, the bacteria colonies will propagate accordingly. Thus, a big sump is the ultimate in fish water filtering.

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## Dscheng

> @SGDiscus
> 
> I absolutely agree with your ideas about 'over-filtering'. Actually, I tend to think that there's no such thing as 'over-filtering'. To me, having a huge reserve capacity of surface area, as in a big sump, is a plus. When the bioload is low, excess bacteria simply dies off. When the bioload increases, thus creating more available nutriment, the bacteria colonies will propagate accordingly. Thus, a big sump is the ultimate in fish water filtering.


 Sump is good, i agree with you. But occasionally need to suck up the dirt that build up over time. I just dont like the water level of the sump and tank. Need to align properly and easily overflow.

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## tetrakid

Yes, the most pekchek thing about sumps is the water overflow and flooding in the event of pump failure. It is possible to create a vertical sump with two tall barrels, with one barrel acting as a standby overflow receptical.

If I have a sump, I will not suck up the bottom dirt, because I treat that dirt as a precious adfitional medium for bacteria. Since the sump is hidden from view, that dirt won't make any difference.

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## skytan

Digress a bit, which is the same reason why i opted for a overflow system and my inflow (oppsite end) have a small hole drilled to create airlock in case of pump failure.

Return compartment with the max lvl operating water lvls marked.

Only downside is the bottom of the tank under the overflow will accumulate debris from the wave maker under the overflow. Still trying to slove this , i even added a eheim internal filter there.



Purigen is also a good addition.

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## Dscheng

Internal filter in the sump? Wow, can post a picture of your sump setup? I also mark my water level lol. Trying to align the water level.

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## SGDiscus

> Digress a bit, which is the same reason why i opted for a overflow system and my inflow (oppsite end) have a small hole drilled to create airlock in case of pump failure.
> 
> Return compartment with the max lvl operating water lvls marked.
> 
> Only downside is the bottom of the tank under the overflow will accumulate debris from the wave maker under the overflow. Still trying to slove this , i even added a eheim internal filter there.
> 
> 
> 
> Purigen is also a good addition.


Nice. I agree with you. My tank maker also has a hole drilled to break the siphon. Also he measured properly so that the return compartment is enough to handle when the pump stops. In fact, i always switched off the pump when I change water.

I also added an internal filter (cheap one) at the return compartment for final filtering. 



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## aquarius



----------


## gimhchng

I just bought biohome to replace my normal ceramic rings in canister filter. Seachem matrix claim 1L treat 200L water, S$19. Biohome claim 300g treat 900L water, S$10. Not sure which is better, but decided to try biohome.

Sent from my HUAWEI KII-L22 using Tapatalk

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## BFG

There are 4 types of Biohomme available as far as I know . Cant remember the type though as I have not been to the lfs for a long time and had not have an active tank right now . I know this as I saw all 4 types of Biohomme media at the Jalan Kayu lfs ( forgotten the name though ) .

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## medium

the 4 types are 1)Biohomme , 1) biohomme plus , 3) biohomme ultra , biohomme ultimate

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## jyn1989

> 


very imformative. Thanks for sharing

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## RenesisTurbo

Hi...I am using Ecco Pro 300.

Are my placements of the filter media correct?

Top Tray-White fine sponge
Eheim Substrat Pro
Seachem Purigen

Middle Tray-Eheim BioMech

Bottom Tray-Seachem Matrix

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## Jules

I'm currently using a mixture of plain sponge, Seachem Matrix and Biohome Plus. Considering my stocking levels, I probably could have not bothered with the Biohome Plus, but found it really stood the test of time and my water perameters always come back perfect (as long as I keep up with my water changes!)

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