# The order of filter media in Oase Biomaster



## Matti (29 Dec 2021)

Oase never explains  the order of their filter media in Biomaster canisters, Hel-X 13 and sponges.
After some research my believe is that the Hel-X -biomedia is placed at the bottom of the canister because that is where the incoming water is most oxygenated.
The Hel-X does the aerobic filtration. Above it are the sponge trays that do both aerobic and some anaerobic filtration.

What I don't understand why the Hel-X must be kept in the filter bag?


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## erwin123 (30 Dec 2021)

The good news for planted tanks is that it doesn't matter because we learn in UKAPS that "plants are the filter", and "flow is king".   You can follow the manufacturer's recommendation and use their supplied media in the order provided.

Since the pre-filter should trap all the large dirt, there doesn't seem any risk of the Hel-X becoming clogged by large debris so I guess placing it anywhere is fine. Of course, when you do your filter clean, you can verify whether this is the case.

But consider removing half of everything to improve flow.


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## dw1305 (30 Dec 2021)

Hi all,


Matti said:


> What I don't understand why the Hel-X must be kept in the filter bag?


I don't think it does, particularly if its kept out of the impeller by the sponges above?


Matti said:


> Above it are the sponge trays that do both aerobic and some anaerobic filtration.


I'm not keen on any fine PPI sponge, or floss, in filters. As soon as I hear any mention of <"anaerobic filtration"> or <"denitrification"> I begin to suspect a <"certain amount"> of <"_economy with the truth_"> by the vendor. 

Even if we take any claims of anaerobic filtration at face value, they are a massive own goal,  because

we have plants and 
plants take up all forms of fixed nitrogen and 
we can measure their nitrogen uptake by <"their growth rate"> 
and <"leaf colour">. 
cheers Darrel


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## Maf 2500 (30 Dec 2021)

Matti said:


> What I don't understand why the Hel-X must be kept in the filter bag?


It is quite floaty stuff, I figured it was to make things easier at filter cleaning time.


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## Wookii (30 Dec 2021)

Matti said:


> What I don't understand why the Hel-X must be kept in the filter bag?



If it wasn’t in a bag it would be a nightmare - it floats, so it’s tricky enough putting the filter back together with it in a bag, loose it’d be like herding cats!

That aside it’s great stuff, and the only filter media I ever intend to use.

In terms of order in your Oase filter, it’s always worth having sponge in the first (bottom) tray. The prefilters are great, and work really well, but there is always a certain amount of mulm that collects in the base of the filter, and that first block of foam kind of keeps it there for removal when you clean the filter.


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## Jaseon (30 Dec 2021)

So the Hel-x is used for biological filtration right? I like the pondgurus way of using the mechanical filtration in the order of course, medium, then fine, then your biological. You could then use another finer pad or floss (although i dont), but it dont make no sense to use fine as the first point of contact.

Ive never heard of that kind of plastic media used inside a canister filter before, but its quite common in fluid bed filtration systems where the media is in constant motion with the flow. I think the flow is more important than the type of media used and canister filters dont achieve that very well, (although i use them).


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## dw1305 (30 Dec 2021)

Hi all,





Jaseon said:


> So the Hel-x is used for biological filtration right? I like the pondgurus way of using the mechanical filtration in the order of course, medium, then fine, then your biological


The problem with any fine mechanical filtration is that it needs regular maintenance. As long as you clean it regularly it is fine. I'm not always able to do this, and it doesn't give you any wriggle room.

If the filter media clogs you get water bypass and your biological filter media becomes deoxygenated and nitrification stops.

This isn't disastrous in a planted tank, you still have the plants as your "sweeper", but in a non-planted tank it is disastrous because rising ammonia levels lead to a tsunami of death in a positive feedback loop.





Jaseon said:


> I've never heard of that kind of plastic media used inside a canister filter before, but its quite common in fluid bed filtration systems where the media is in constant motion with the flow. I think the flow is more important than the type of media used and canister filters dont achieve that very well, (although i use them).


We have a few threads which look at "floating cell media" in static situations, and it still works pretty well.

Cheers Darrel


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## Wookii (30 Dec 2021)

Jaseon said:


> So the Hel-x is used for biological filtration right? I like the pondgurus way of using the mechanical filtration in the order of course, medium, then fine, then your biological. You could then use another finer pad or floss (although i dont), but it dont make no sense to use fine as the first point of contact.
> 
> Ive never heard of that kind of plastic media used inside a canister filter before, but its quite common in fluid bed filtration systems where the media is in constant motion with the flow. I think the flow is more important than the type of media used and canister filters dont achieve that very well, (although i use them).



I think you can take anything Pond Guru says with a pinch of the proverbial.

It might be contrary to common practice, but having the finest foam as the first layer of filtration actually works really well in practice.

My low tech tank, which is admittedly only epiphytes and crypts - so no stem plants constantly shedding leaves - has fine black foam as the prefilter (Oase 600), and takes about 5 weeks or so to start to clog. I cleaned it today, and the foam was rock solid with detritus, but the internal filter tube it surrounds was almost completely clean.

The downside of fine filter foam in the prefilter it any complete clogging is a brick wall to flow
- the upside being is it keeps almost any solid detritus out of the main filter. I haven’t cleaned mine it almost 9 months, and likely won’t need to do so until the year is out.


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## Matti (30 Dec 2021)

Wookii said:


> If it wasn’t in a bag it would be a nightmare - it floats, so it’s tricky enough putting the filter back together with it in a bag, loose it’d be like herding cats!


Yes, that makes sense!


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## Jaseon (30 Dec 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> The problem with any fine mechanical filtration is that it needs regular maintenance. As long as you clean it regularly it is fine. I'm not always able to do this, and it doesn't give you any wriggle room.
> 
> If the filter media clogs you get water bypass and your biological filter media becomes deoxygenated and nitrification stops.
> ...



Yeah im talking from a maintenance point of view. If you have the inclination to be in there often fine. Im not a big fan of fine filters from a flow stand point. To me if the flow is reduced wouldn't oxygen levels be also? Thats how i picture it anyways. I wonder how detrimental periods of bad flow rate because of a clogged filter can have on the health of the system, and how could that be measured i dont know. I always thought good flow over the media was key, but if static works also maybe im looking at it wrong.



Wookii said:


> I think you can take anything Pond Guru says with a pinch of the proverbial.
> 
> It might be contrary to common practice, but having the finest foam as the first layer of filtration actually works really well in practice.
> 
> ...



If it makes sense to me ill take it on board, and use it, and im not fussed where or from whom the information comes from. I think people in the hobby who have made a name for themselves are sometimes onto a loser as everyone thinks they are out just selling a product. Sometimes that may be true, but if it works ill use it until proven otherwise.

I can see how a fine foam in front would work ok with a low bioload.

What surprises me is how much muck actually finds its way into sponges to the point it slowing down the flow. I used to think the majority of muck we are seeing is actually a mass of bacteria. Could bacteria actually grow like that to the point it could reduce the flow?


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## dw1305 (31 Dec 2021)

Hi all, 


Jaseon said:


> ..... To me if the flow is reduced wouldn't oxygen levels be also? Thats how i picture it anyways. I wonder how detrimental periods of bad flow rate because of a clogged filter can have on the health of the system, and how could that be measured i dont know. I always thought good flow over the media was key, but if static works also maybe im looking at it wrong......


Yes I'm only really interested in oxygen, it is <"the prime metric in biological filtration">. 

Have a look at Aquarium Science, the planted pages are <"interesting">, but he is very good <"on biological filtration">.







Jaseon said:


> Could bacteria actually grow like that to the point it could reduce the flow?


Yes it <"certainly can">, that is one advantage of Kaldnes type floating cell media, they are <"designed to shed excess biofilm">.  We don't need the <"thick and sticky biofilms"> that might be advantageous in heavily stocked non-planted situations. 

cheers Darrel


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## hypnogogia (31 Dec 2021)

So that suggests the media that comes with Oase filters is the best, foam and K1 and absolutely no need to buy expensive other media.


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## Wookii (31 Dec 2021)

hypnogogia said:


> So that suggests the media that comes with Oase filters is the best, foam and K1 and absolutely no need to buy expensive other media.



That’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Went around the houses buying Eheim coco-pops, and Seachem Matrix to get there though! 😆


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## hypnogogia (31 Dec 2021)

Wookii said:


> That’s the conclusion I’ve come to. Went around the houses buying Eheim coco-pops, and Seachem Mateus to get there though! 😆


Me too.


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## Jaseon (31 Dec 2021)

hypnogogia said:


> So that suggests the media that comes with Oase filters is the best, foam and K1 and absolutely no need to buy expensive other media.


Wouldn't that put the ceramic media last in the test? Or are you referring to foams?...K1?

I wouldn't mind trying a combination of the best there although im sure other factors are important to achieve similar results. Those pot scrubbers sound good as ive heard them being used before. Cant get any cheaper either.

A lot of it seems to be marketing hype. Media being porous doesnt seem to be a good idea either according to the tests done, and seems to clog way to easily.


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## LondonAquascaper (31 Dec 2021)

I just use the prefilter foam, and then one small layer of finer foam and then filter wool. I realised the rest of the foams were pointless because every time I cleaned them they had basically zero dirt in.


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## hypnogogia (31 Dec 2021)

Jaseon said:


> Wouldn't that put the ceramic media last in the test? Or are you referring to foams?...K1?
> 
> I wouldn't mind trying a combination of the best there although im sure other factors are important to achieve similar results. Those pot scrubbers sound good as ive heard them being used before. Cant get any cheaper either.
> 
> A lot of it seems to be marketing hype. Media being porous doesnt seem to be a good idea either according to the tests done, and seems to clog way to easily.


Oase come with foams (20ppi and 30ppi) and K1 media.


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## hypnogogia (31 Dec 2021)

LondonAquascaper said:


> I just use the prefilter foam, and then one small layer of finer foam and then filter wool. I realised the rest of the foams were pointless because every time I cleaned them they had basically zero dirt in.


They may not have dirt in them, but will have nitrifying bacteria in them.


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## Jaseon (31 Dec 2021)

I think if you were to stick with a porous media etc you would need to filter out the majority of the muck with efficient pads first for them to be affective. Even then the size of the bacteria means that they are not very good at colonising inside the media as much we are being lead to believe.


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## Jaseon (31 Dec 2021)

hypnogogia said:


> Oase come with foams (20ppi and 30ppi) and K1 media.


Just looking on their site now. Id really like to try the K1. I was worried that the media needed to be in motion to be affective, but the static results are very good also.


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## LondonAquascaper (31 Dec 2021)

hypnogogia said:


> They may not have dirt in them, but will have nitrifying bacteria in them.



Yeah, but in that case, why use foam - you'd be way better off filling that basket with a quality filter media.


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## LondonAquascaper (31 Dec 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Yes I'm only really interested in oxygen, it is <"the prime metric in biological filtration">.
> 
> ...



Also, are we taking Aquarium Science at his word...... I'm highly dubious of that site!


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## dw1305 (31 Dec 2021)

Hi all,


Jaseon said:


> Wouldn't that put the ceramic media last in the test?


It does, but one thing you have to bear in mind is that the author of Aquarium Science has <"insane stocking rates">.


Jaseon said:


> Those pot scrubbers sound good as ive heard them being used before. Cant get any cheaper either.


A lot of <"Monster Fishkeepers use pot scrubbies">, mainly because of their non-clog nature.


Jaseon said:


> A lot of it seems to be marketing hype.


That is the real issue, <"no scientific data"> and a lot of statements that are <"dubious at best">.  I just use <"whatever I have to hand">, it all "works" and once you know that it is oxygen that is the important bit everything else is just <"re-arranging the deck-chairs on the the Titanic">.


LondonAquascaper said:


> why use foam - you'd be way better off filling that basket with a quality filter media.


I'd say foam can be a <"quality filter media">. The <"majority of serious fish-keepers">, who have fish-houses, use an air pump, air ring and foam filtration.


LondonAquascaper said:


> are we taking Aquarium Science at his word...... I'm highly dubious of that site!


Yes I'd agree the planted tank pages are <"interesting">, but the pages on aquarium filtration are (in my opinion) pretty good.  I've done some work on the <"bioremediation of landfill leachate"> so I have some scientific understanding of the processes involved.

If you are asking me whether his opinion, or that of <"Stephan Tanner">, <"Timothy Hovanec"> etc are more likely to be right than that of the <"vendor of Biohome?"> I would say they definitely are.



> I do have some issues, I've just looked at the <"Biohome media page"> and it says:





> "_Please note: Tanks with heavy stock and feeding (e.g. cichlid, goldfish, predator or fry tanks) and marine tanks may require 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres to achieve the full cycle filtration which will result in the reduction of nitrates. Do not worry about plant growth being affected in a tank which reads zero nitrates - _*the nitrate is processed into soluble nitrogen which is easily used by plants, boosting their growth."*





> Which would ring all sorts of alarm bells for me.



cheers Darrel


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## hypnogogia (31 Dec 2021)

LondonAquascaper said:


> Yeah, but in that case, why use foam - you'd be way better off filling that basket with a quality filter media.


How do you define quality media?


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## LondonAquascaper (31 Dec 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> It does, but one thing you have to bear in mind is that the author of Aquarium Science has <"insane stocking rates">.
> 
> ...



Interesting, what is the long and short of the research then - basically that we should just fill our entire filter with foam?


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## dw1305 (31 Dec 2021)

Hi all, 


LondonAquascaper said:


> basically that we should just fill our entire filter with foam?


I honestly don't think it matters that much what you use. If some-one else is buying I'll have <"Eheim Coco-pops">, mainly because they aren't made of plastic and will last eternally. If I'm buying my own? Generic Kaldnes type floating cell media, <"Alfagrog or Hydroleca">. 

You don't need to fill the filter body with foam, but you need to make sure you don't have any bypass. My main use of foam <"is as a pre-filter">, usually <"as a DIY version">. In recent times I've mainly used the <"Koi type drilled sponges">, they are cheap and they work effectively.

cheers Darrel


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## Jaseon (31 Dec 2021)

LondonAquascaper said:


> Interesting, what is the long and short of the research then - basically that we should just fill our entire filter with foam?


Yeah well its an interesting question. Why are HMF successful when they don't seem to function as typical biological media do ie your k1, and ceramics etc.


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## Jaseon (31 Dec 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> In recent times I've mainly used the <"Koi type drilled sponges">, they are cheap and they work effectively.
> 
> cheers Darrel


I bought a few of those pool filter sponges, and inserted a cheap filter.  I cut them in half then block off the other end with some fine pad. I have one running in a small shrimp tank, and it works great.


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## hypnogogia (31 Dec 2021)

Jaseon said:


> I bought a few of those pool filter sponges,


Where do you get those then? I’ve been looking for some with a large enough hole to accommodate my 25mm intake pipe.


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## Jaseon (31 Dec 2021)

hypnogogia said:


> Where do you get those then? I’ve been looking for some with a large enough hole to accommodate my 25mm intake pipe.


I found them on Amazon. Just search for 'pool filter sponge'.


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## dw1305 (31 Dec 2021)

Hi all,


Jaseon said:


> Yeah well its an interesting question. Why are HMF successful when they don't seem to function as typical biological media do ie your k1, and ceramics etc.


It is different for HMF (and trickle filters etc.). In a canister type filter <"a finite amount of oxygen"> enters the filter and it can only be replenished as new water flows in.

The problem is that if the <"BOD exceeds the oxygen supply"> aerobic nitrification will be compromised and levels of ammonia and/or nitrite will rise.

In an HMF it is in contact with the atmosphere at its top and the oxygenated tank water bathes it.

There is a description of how an HMF works in <"on Aquarium biofiltration">, in our terms it is <"fulfilling the role of both filter and substrate">.

The latest incarnation of the <"Kaldnes media"> includes some <"carrier biochips"> that are designed to support and protect Rotifers, Protists etc.

Cheers Darrel


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