media, getting down and dirty?

[da1jewfish]

I know a descent amount of you use it, but what kind?
do you use the biological cylinders (ie: by fluval)?
lava rock?
bio balls?
filter pads (fiber)?
or anything else?

the reason I am asking is I have the penguin 330 as 1 of my filters and it has the media baskets. I am currently using lava rock mixed with the bio-cylinders and my nitrates have been high, 50ppm... I'm sure if I'm attributing the nitrates to them but its up in the air. I do use the filter cartridges to- which I havn't changed in many months.

also, how do you all get rid of detritus? do you use the filter fiber or strictly clean up crew?
lets talk filter guts yall.

 

[da1jewfish]

hey moderators, is there a way we can make this a poll that can have multiple votes per person?

 

[carlso63]

Kind of a tough "poll" as I think most people probably use a few of the choices listed and not just one...

Anyway, as far as filter media go IMO if you have a canister or cylinder filter w/ baskets do not use any kind of "bio" media in them...while they are great at turning ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate they do nothing for removing nitrate and may, in fact, cause elevated nitrate levels...

I myself use Fluval canister filters and what I do is set mine up with just 1 "pad" to act as a prefilter and keep gunk off of my filtration media; in my baskets I run carbon in one Fluval and a phosphate remover in the other ( I have 2 units). All remaining baskets I leave empty, so they are basically just a mechanism to run chemical filtration media (like carbon and PO4 removers).

You really don't need (or want to) pack a filter full of media and fiber in a SW setup; if you do you end up with nitrifying bacteria colonizing your media and either elevated nitrates, or a "spiking" problem every time you clean the filter - since you end up throwing out a good portion of your biological filtration every time you change media...

As far as detritus removal, a clean up crew is a better long-term solution than running more flitration. Again, once the detritus gets caught up in the fiber media it will then decompose and add to your bioload and encourage the growth of nitrifying bacteria inside your filters and on the media itself. Better to keep most of your biological filtration capacity in / on your rock and sanbed...

 

[da1jewfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10092139#post10092139 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carlso63
Kind of a tough "poll" as I think most people probably use a few of the choices listed and not just one...

Anyway, as far as filter media go IMO if you have a canister or cylinder filter w/ baskets do not use any kind of "bio" media in them...while they are great at turning ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate they do nothing for removing nitrate and may, in fact, cause elevated nitrate levels...

I myself use Fluval canister filters and what I do is set mine up with just 1 "pad" to act as a prefilter and keep gunk off of my filtration media; in my baskets I run carbon in one Fluval and a phosphate remover in the other ( I have 2 units). All remaining baskets I leave empty, so they are basically just a mechanism to run chemical filtration media (like carbon and PO4 removers).

You really don't need (or want to) pack a filter full of media and fiber in a SW setup; if you do you end up with nitrifying bacteria colonizing your media and either elevated nitrates, or a "spiking" problem every time you clean the filter - since you end up throwing out a good portion of your biological filtration every time you change media...

As far as detritus removal, a clean up crew is a better long-term solution than running more flitration. Again, once the detritus gets caught up in the fiber media it will then decompose and add to your bioload and encourage the growth of nitrifying bacteria inside your filters and on the media itself. Better to keep most of your biological filtration capacity in / on your rock and sanbed...

good info. yea it would be nice if a moderator could allow multiple votes so we can allow a more accurate poll.

as far as the colonizing bacteria in the media, I havn't removed the 2 media baskets in at least 2 years. Since I have not thrown it out the bacteria has not gone with it. This I guess, is where the nitrates are building up.
But what I don't understand is what difference does it make if the bacteria are colonizing in the baskets or in the tank itself like the rocks and sandbed?

do you change/ clean ur filter fiber?

 

[da1jewfish]

come on we can do better than 8 votes.
no need to post if you don't want to just vote.

 

[da1jewfish]

bump