Best Filter Media

[Aqua sobriquet]

I’ve just done some maintenance so took a couple of pictures. The Siporax is still pretty clean in the Eheim. The stuff in the Biomaster has been in there a lot longer but I remember being disappointed at how quickly it got dirty. I’ll monitor how things go in the Eheim as time goes by.

 

[Bradders]

On any other canister I’ve had, including the Biomaster it seems to happen all too easily.

Interesting. Why do you think bypassing occurs on non-EHEIM equipment?

I’ve just done some maintenance so took a couple of pictures. The Siporax is still pretty clean in the Eheim. The stuff in the Biomaster has been in there a lot longer but I remember being disappointed at how quickly it got dirty.

Very interesting that the EHEIM is clean, and the Biomaster tray is covered. I can't figure out why that would be the case. Are these filters on the same aquarium?

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

Interesting. Why do you think bypassing occurs on non-EHEIM equipment?

I don’t think it’s specifically Eheim equipment, but rather the design. On an Eheim Classic, or an ADA Superjet (and the copies), the water can’t really bypass the media in the canister. It has to flow through it. On various other designs the water has other routes it can take. I found this out on my Eheim Classic 250. It came with a basket so I used it. I found very dirty water at the top of the media which suggested to me some of the water was flowing outside the basket. Once I took out the basket and made my own - which is a snug fit in the canister - the issue went away. I’d be surprised if later Eheim designs didn’t suffer from bypass like most of the others out there.

I believe there’s a good reason for this though. With a design like a Classic or a Superjet the flow drops significantly as the media gets clogged. With some other designs it’s not quite so noticeable as a percentage of the flow goes around the media. I’m not suggesting this in itself is bad, it depends on your perspective.

 

[Bradders]

OK, I think I get what you are saying. Some designs always allow a degree of 'flow through' to minimise clogging. Is that basically your view?

I think the only question I would have around that was why the EHEIM tray looks untouched and the Oase looks touched. Surely something can only get 'mucky' if there flow is going through it?

 

[hypnogogia]

I've emailed them and asked for a reference.

Here’s a copy of the article kindly sent to me by Sera.

 

[Bradders]

Great stuff!

So, how do we equate that to Siporax being effective in freshwater aquariums?

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

OK, I think I get what you are saying. Some designs always allow a degree of 'flow through' to minimise clogging. Is that basically your view?

I think the only question I would have around that was why the EHEIM tray looks untouched and the Oase looks touched. Surely something can only get 'mucky' if there flow is going through it?

I think the reason in this case is that I have a foam “pre filter” on the inlet pipe for the Eheim. I believe that some of the flow on the Biomaster bypasses its internal pre filter.
This could be checked I suppose by doing the same on the Biomaster inlet.

 

[Bradders]

Here’s a copy of the article kindly sent to me by Sera.

Funnily enough, I looked at the Aquarium Science website and contacted Dave, who is into media pros and cons. He pointed me to this link, which has his view on Siporax - moreover, in the denitrification claims. Certainly an interesting read. (Siporax section is quite a way down).

7.5. Denitrifying Media, Biohome and De*Nitrate in the Aquarium

Denitrifying media like Biohome and De*Nitrate simply do not work. They do NOT remove nitrate.

aquariumscience.org

 

[Wookii]

I think the only question I would have around that was why the EHEIM tray looks untouched and the Oase looks touched. Surely something can only get 'mucky' if there flow is going through it?

Any biological media well populated by microbial mulm will (and should) go brown. The ceramic media in the lower picture has a good (and what I would consider correct) layer of microbial film over it. The media in the upper image is still clean, and has next to no microbial film, suggesting very little bacterial population.

 

[Bradders]

Any biological media well populated by microbial mulm will (and should) go brown. The ceramic media in the lower picture has a good (and what I would consider correct) layer of microbial film over it. The media in the upper image is still clean, and has next to no microbial film, suggesting very little bacterial population.

I agree. I was thinking that the brown is good stuff and it shows that the media is populated well. i.e. I am reassured when I see it!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I was thinking that the brown is good stuff and it shows that the media is populated well. i.e. I am reassured when I see it!

Same for me.

cheers Darrel

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

The media in the upper image is still clean, and has next to no microbial film, suggesting very little bacterial population.

You might assume that but if that was the case why is the aquarium not suffering high nitrite or ammonia levels?
I strongly suspect the brown stuff is just detritus.

Edit: Just to add, when the Biomaster had plastic media in it as well at the same time, it was not covered in brown detritus. I suspect because it couldn’t so readily stick to the media, the Siporax does after all have a much rougher surface.

 

[Wookii]

You might assume that but if that was the case why is the aquarium not suffering high nitrite or ammonia levels?

Most likely because the majority of the ammonia processing is being conducted by the substrate and plants (assuming its a planted tank). Our filters take something of a back seat role in the nitrogen cycle on planted tanks.

At the end the day though, a well seeded filter media should never look that clean - I'd only ever expect it to look like that after a bleach dip. How long has it been in the Eheim filter?

I strongly suspect the brown stuff is just detritus.

There may be a bit in there, but most of it isn't. Any solid detritus will also just wash straight off under the tap, so any that remain is largely microbial film.

Edit: Just to add, when the Biomaster had plastic media in it as well at the same time, it was not covered in brown detritus.

It still should have been fairly brown - all mine is, even in my wet/dry trickle filter that has a 25 micron fleeces roller ahead of it. The plastic media is great because it agitates in the flow and the microbial film gets constantly renewed. The ceramic media in the image can't operate in that way and is static, so the film just continues to build up.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Most likely because the majority of the ammonia processing is being conducted by the substrate and plants (assuming its a planted tank). Our filters take something of a back seat role in the nitrogen cycle on planted tanks.

You might assume that but if that was the case why is the aquarium not suffering high nitrite or ammonia levels?

What @Wookii says, because the plants (and microbes in the pre-filter and substrate) are sucking it all up.

I strongly suspect the brown stuff is just detritus.

At the end the day though, a well seeded filter media should never look that clean

The brown colour will be a microbial biofilm, the colour is mainly the <"difficult to decompose"> carbon compounds. I like brown, but I don't like the <"biofilm to get too thick">

The plastic media is great because it agitates in the flow and the microbial film gets constantly renewed.

and that is <"the great advantage"> of <"Kaldnes type floating cell media">. There are some scientific references in <"Is expensive bio media worth it?">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

It still should have been fairly brown - all mine is, even in my wet/dry trickle filter that has a 25 micron fleeces roller ahead of it. The plastic media is great because it agitates in the flow and the microbial film gets constantly renewed. The ceramic media in the image can't operate in that way and is static, so the film just continues to build up.

Looking back, none of the plastic media I’ve used in the past has discoloured much if at all. In fact when I used ceramic media many years ago any obvious discolouration largely washed off that as well.

I took out the Ziss media that was in the Biomaster (along with the Siporax) and replaced it with some Eheim Substrat Pro I happened to have. It will be interesting to see if this turns brown. Although being grey to start with it may be difficult to tell.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that some bio media doesn’t discolour over time. What I am suggesting is that due to the design, the Siporax in my Biomaster got dirty much quicker than in the Eheim. You could regard this as a good thing but at this point I don’t.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

Have any of you seen the top, half height, foam filters in anything other than 30ppi?

I ask as I use the top foam to hold a bag of Purigen in place. Just wondering if another 20ppi might be better?

 

[hypnogogia]

Nope not seen it. I also wish that Oase did 20ppi pre filters...

 

[Maf 2500]

Have any of you seen the top, half height, foam filters in anything other than 30ppi?

You can easily cut down the 20ppi blue foams to half height by dampenening them (damp not soaked) and then freezing them for a couple of hours. The frozen foam will stand up to some pressure so now you can cut it with a large and sharp unserrated knife such as a Japanese Yanagiba.

I originally thought that a bread knife might be good to cut filter foam as both substances have a similar internal structure. Unfortunately it seemed to catch teeth at every opportunity. Similarly I did not have good results with trying to use hacksaws or other saws.

 

[LMuhlen]

I use scissors... But I never had to cut the broad side of the sponge to change its thickness.

 

[fredi]

I use “segmented” blades as below

Spare Segmented Retractable Knife Blades, 18mm (Pack of 10)

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