Bio blocks / Filter Media - New vs "pre-populated"

[reefdiver73]

Hi all, we are setting up a new 300g aquarium with live rock, fish, and a couple anenomes to start. Corals to come. We were thinking of adding some bio blocks to the sump and a LFS near us is suggesting we buy some from them that have been pre-populated (by them) with beneficial bacteria. I didn't ask how much more they wanted for the ones they were "making" in the store over the new ones that have to develop bacteria over time, but, setting price aside (since we don't know at the moment), is this a good or a bad idea? I'm struggling with the suggestion primarily because it means I have to trust that the LFS doesn't have anything undesirable going on in their systems. My secondary question might be answered just by knowing how much they are asking for their blocks. I don't know if this is just a sales pitch or not. They are circulating a few thousand gallons and are selling their pre-populated media right out of their system.

What do you all say?

P.S. New member here!

 

[Spare time]

I would only use them if they come from a system free of disease, aiptasia, etc..

You can do a diy version in a bucket. with a heater and pump. I like to use seachem matrix as it is durable. You just need some ammonia, fish food, and a cocktail of bacteria. You can also do this in the tank before you get any fish.

 

[brandon429]

Dont buy either option, not needed in a successful reef at all. The tank already will have plenty of surface area

another handy retail option is to continually dose a bacterial support product for a better reef, don’t buy into that as well is my best offer. Focus on fish disease preps, the real hidden killer, you can’t go wrong with the degree of live rock you have planned.

 

[Adamantium]

Dont buy either option, not needed in a successful reef at all. The tank already will have plenty of surface area

You don't like bio media?

 

[brandon429]

No I’m currently on a rant against it lol


reason why: not one example can be linked for a reef aquarium unable to control its ammonia (other than api posts admitted) from having too little surface area. There’s mass fish death examples of crashes but those had extra surface area too, and didn’t help when help was promised


a typical system absorbs a dead fish easily without the extra area. As soon as ten fish die due to brook / skip qt then any system is overcame and the extra cleaning hassle to keep pores unclogged wasnt worth it, the bricks will sit there doing nothing extra

(but the free nitrate removal)
- live rock was already claimed to do that, now something new is for sale

- who believes anyone’s nitrate readings from color tube kits? it’s a bad rant. That and fish disease, we need to steer the hobby away from retail dependence and into self control of the reef, and we need much better fish disease preps advocated than is currently happening. Bottle bac is for cycling initially, don’t get tricked into retail repeat dosing fair handy offer.

 

[Adamantium]

No I’m currently on a rant against it lol


reason why: not one example can be linked for a reef aquarium unable to control its ammonia (other than api posts admitted) from having too little bioload. There’s mass fish death examples of crashes but those had extra surface area too, and didn’t help when help was promised


a typical system absorbs a dead fish easily without the extra area. As soon as ten fish die due to brook / skip qt then any system is overcame and the extra cleaning hassle to keep pores unclogged wasnt worth it, the bricks will sit there doing nothing extra

(but the free nitrate removal)
- live rock was already claimed to do that, now something new is for sale

- who believes anyone’s nitrate readings from color tube kits?

Well, I hear you, but I bought a denitrate bio block and took my nitrates from a steady 40ish down to 5ish. Nothing else was changed. I'm a believer haha

 

[brandon429]

I agree they have patterned reports of lowering nitrate agreed they do

whether that's needed or beneficial still leads back to the retail side vs patterned outcomes we can track. not any invasion threads I can think of were changed by any degree of bricks used, increased bioloads couldnt be fit into the tank due to behavior or disease preventions.

 

[srobertb]

Hi all, we are setting up a new 300g aquarium with live rock, fish, and a couple anenomes to start. Corals to come. We were thinking of adding some bio blocks to the sump and a LFS near us is suggesting we buy some from them that have been pre-populated (by them) with beneficial bacteria. I didn't ask how much more they wanted for the ones they were "making" in the store over the new ones that have to develop bacteria over time, but, setting price aside (since we don't know at the moment), is this a good or a bad idea? I'm struggling with the suggestion primarily because it means I have to trust that the LFS doesn't have anything undesirable going on in their systems. My secondary question might be answered just by knowing how much they are asking for their blocks. I don't know if this is just a sales pitch or not. They are circulating a few thousand gallons and are selling their pre-populated media right out of their system.

What do you all say?

P.S. New member here!

I have or have used bio blocks, bio balls, and bio bricks (all the ceramic/pumice kind). The bricks melt. The balls don’t melt but I removed a lot to change them out (2 years) and it had 0 impact on my tank so I didn’t bother

All of these ultra pourous media items they sell have a lifespan. Ultra tiny holes means ultra easy to clog and so (if they are useful) won’t be forever. They need cleaning and if you believe they do anything, they need gradual replacement.

I might say buy one or two for seeding if you’re going to run with it but it would be a bit like paying extra for a used car because it’s been “broken in.”

I also believe they’re largely unnecessary if you have sand and adequate live rock.

 

[Spare time]

They are a convenient way to add more "rock" without cramming the display with hundreds of pounds of solid stone that lacks pretty much any pore network. If the media gets clogged, then you are doing a poor job at filtering particles out of the water. I am for biomedia as you can save a lot of money on rock OR you can make up for the lack of a sand bed. If you are looking for denitrifying possibilities, that is nearly impossible with rock these days. Rock today is probably the least efficient way to add surface area to a tank. Trust me, not everyone has lots of rock in their tan.. I work at an LFS so I have dealt with an extreme range of customers and tanks and there are tanks where adding this media helps and there are tanks where it won't do anything special. I can't explain how difficult it is to convince some people that they need more than 1-2 rocks in their tank.

Another benefit is you can cycle a bunch of media in a small bucket fairly easily vs rock you need a massive tub.


The media is useful and not useful. It is a tool. Tools have uses.

 

[reefdiver73]

Thank you everyone. I think we're going to hold off on the bio-blocks and see how the tank does without them first. Even if we do eventually add the blocks I think we'll start with brand new as opposed to ones that have been pre-populated with bacteria from another aquarium.