ADA Bio Rio as biological media

[nkenyan]

Hello Experts,

I am new to marine/reef hobby. I am converting my 2ft planted tank to reef tank. I have ADA Bio Rio (bio media) in the canister filter, can I use the same media for marine/reef tank? Please advice.

Also, any issues when using canister filter for marine tank? I don't have the sump filter as of now.

 

[kharmaguru]

Pumice is ok in a reef tank but I would put new media since any fertilizers or other organics sequestered in the media from your plant tank will just cause problems in a reef tank ( mineral/nutrient imbalance, algae growth). So if you are replacing the media anyway switch to reef rubble for biological and barely touch it, or go mainly mechanical - foam, matrix, carbon, chemipure, purigen, etc., and maintain it like crazy. How big is the canister?

@OldReefGuy runs his tanks on canisters and could offer advice/experience.

 

[nkenyan]

Pumice is ok in a reef tank but I would put new media since any fertilizers or other organics sequestered in the media from your plant tank will just cause problems in a reef tank ( mineral/nutrient imbalance, algae growth). So if you are replacing the media anyway switch to reef rubble for biological and barely touch it, or go mainly mechanical - foam, matrix, carbon, chemipure, purigen, etc., and maintain it like crazy. How big is the canister?

@OldReefGuy runs his tanks on canisters and could offer advice/experience.

Yeah, I used fertilisers daily. I have canister with the outflow power of 1400L/h as per spec but with filter media the flow may be around 30-40% less than the original flow rate. I will replace the media as suggested by you. Thank you very much for your advice.

 

[OldReefGuy]

Good advice given....