Biofilter media blocks vs big block sheet

[bjmartie]

So i have a 90 gallon reef tank going on right at 2 years set up with a tsunami 40gallon sump.

First chamber of my sump is 2 filter socks, then middle chamber is skimmer, UV light, and a mesh basket with bio filter media. Third chamber is my return pump. And going from my second chamber to my third, i have put filter sponges and poly fill (in a mesh bag) stuffed between to filter more of the water out.

When i set up the tank. i added a few (i believe 6-8) little flower shaped bio media blocks into a mesh basket in my sump. It not a thin mesh basket. has great water flow through it. Also in that mesh basket i have a media mesh bag with some matrix in it.

In the tank i have aragonite as well as 100+ lbs of live rock

I have never rinsed off the bio media blocks, should I?
Would it be good if i added more bio filter media?

I recently seen they have a big block/sheet of the bio filter media, could i add that and switch it out with the smaller blocks?

 

[Spare time]

There really isn't a benefit to these in tanks with rocks and sand unless you try to make them anaerobic.

 

[exnisstech]

I have never rinsed off the bio media blocks, should I?

I don't clean anything in my sumps. I've never been a fan of the blocks and such. Nothing like good old live rock for bio media for me.

 

[Fenral]

I tried the blocks and all - they work but eventually stagnate - rather annoying have to bleach them out or peroxide them in cycles. So they are on their way out - wanted to go back to old school fluidized sand … less work

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I tried the blocks and all - they work but eventually stagnate - rather annoying have to bleach them out or peroxide them in cycles. So they are on their way out - wanted to go back to old school fluidized sand … less work

Nothing at all may be better than any sort of media for nitrifiers in a reef tank. In most instances, we should not be trying to boost them. They steal ammonia from corals.

 

[gbroadbridge]

So i have a 90 gallon reef tank going on right at 2 years set up with a tsunami 40gallon sump.

First chamber of my sump is 2 filter socks, then middle chamber is skimmer, UV light, and a mesh basket with bio filter media. Third chamber is my return pump. And going from my second chamber to my third, i have put filter sponges and poly fill (in a mesh bag) stuffed between to filter more of the water out.

When i set up the tank. i added a few (i believe 6-8) little flower shaped bio media blocks into a mesh basket in my sump. It not a thin mesh basket. has great water flow through it. Also in that mesh basket i have a media mesh bag with some matrix in it.

In the tank i have aragonite as well as 100+ lbs of live rock

I have never rinsed off the bio media blocks, should I?
Would it be good if i added more bio filter media?

I recently seen they have a big block/sheet of the bio filter media, could i add that and switch it out with the smaller blocks?

The Bio Media does pretty much nothing if you have rock in your tank.

I removed all the bio media from my sump as it was just collecting detritus.
It's a much cleaner sump and removing it had no effect on tank stability.

 

[Fenral]

Nothing at all may be better than any sort of media for nitrifiers in a reef tank. In most instances, we should not be trying to boost them. They steal ammonia from corals.

Randy, we had this debate, I think, 15 or 20 years ago.

The Bio Media does pretty much nothing if you have rock in your tank.

I removed all the bio media from my sump as it was just collecting detritus.
It's a much cleaner sump and removing it had no effect on tank stability.

What he says is correct, but there are all kinds of secondary conditions, like your active bioload in the tank and how much and how often you feed. And as Randy said, in most instances... If you are running lean on incoming fuel, you probably don't want to run additional biological filtration. If you have a lot of fish and feed heavily, or sloppy eaters, etc., the rockwork itself probably won't provide enough area to react rapidly, leaving you with more ammonia than you may want in your water, at least for some time (again how often do you feed and what you feed.)

Now, I will back away slowly - less I reignite a rather old debate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Perhaps an old debate with some new data from folks dosing ammonia seeing differences from dosing nitrate in low N systems.

 

[Garf]

All this porous love is delusional, I'm afraid.

 

[Fenral]

Perhaps an old debate with some new data from folks dosing ammonia seeing differences from dosing nitrate in low N systems.

As I did say - you are correct :) But it's all a matter of situation.