Marinepure spheres

[saullman]

I just purchased a box of Marinepure 1.5" sphere's to add to my Reefer 350. I just upgraded from a 45 gal JBJ to a 90 gal Red Sea Reefer 350. I moved rock and water (approx 35 gal) to new tank so I wouldn't have to go through another cycle. I do have a small bag of the ceramic media rings in the Red Sea now that I also transferred over from old tank. I have a few questions.

1-Any harm in moving from the ceramic rings to the larger sphere's?
2-What kind of bag does everyone use to keep them in?
3-Do you rinse them off before putting them in the tank?
4-Should I be adding some bacteria to the tank for the new media and if so, what do you recommend?

 

[AutumnReefs]

You can add these but don't remove the current biomedia.

Any bag should work so long as it is large. I woul try to make it so they can't tumble agains't eachother if you move the bag (ie keep it tight if possible but just enough to keep them in place). This isn't 100% necessary but these medias are fragile so I like to keep them secure and then pretty much not touch them afterwards

Yes rinse them well

You don't have to seed them if the tank is already up and going.

 

[Scorpius]

Don't these leach aluminum as well just like the brick verison?

 

[saullman]

You can add these but don't remove the current biomedia.

Any bag should work so long as it is large. I woul try to make it so they can't tumble agains't eachother if you move the bag (ie keep it tight if possible but just enough to keep them in place). This isn't 100% necessary but these medias are fragile so I like to keep them secure and then pretty much not touch them afterwards

Yes rinse them well

You don't have to seed them if the tank is already up and going.

Thanks for answering my questions. I value everyone's opinions even though there is no end all be all at the end of the day.

 

[Azedenkae]

I just purchased a box of Marinepure 1.5" sphere's to add to my Reefer 350. I just upgraded from a 45 gal JBJ to a 90 gal Red Sea Reefer 350. I moved rock and water (approx 35 gal) to new tank so I wouldn't have to go through another cycle. I do have a small bag of the ceramic media rings in the Red Sea now that I also transferred over from old tank. I have a few questions.

1-Any harm in moving from the ceramic rings to the larger sphere's?
2-What kind of bag does everyone use to keep them in?
3-Do you rinse them off before putting them in the tank?
4-Should I be adding some bacteria to the tank for the new media and if so, what do you recommend?

1. Unless the ceramic rings were contributing significantly to handling ammonia in the old tank/necessary for the filtration capacity of the new tank, no, replacing ceramic rings with these spheres is fine.
2. I don't have them in a bag, just chuck them in wherever they need to be. But any kind of bag really should be fine, especially the ones with big 'pores' just to prevent clogging of detritus.
3. You don't need to. Well I don't.
4. No, you do not need to add bacteria. Your current biomedia (including live rock) will seed these spheres. But if you want to be surer, you can dose bottled bac near to the spheres just to speed up the process. If you really want to.

 

[Azedenkae]

Don't these leach aluminum as well just like the brick verison?

I think the consensus was, yes some products leached alu regardless of which type (brick, plate, spheres, cubes, etc.) but either way does not seem to be material enough (nowadays) to cause issues.

 

[Scorpius]

I think the consensus was, yes some products leached alu regardless of which type (brick, plate, spheres, cubes, etc.) but either way does not seem to be material enough (nowadays) to cause issues.

I'll pass on elevated aluminum levels. Other ways to safely increase biological surface area.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Yep like good ole live or dry rock rubble.

 

[Azedenkae]

I'll pass on elevated aluminum levels. Other ways to safely increase biological surface area.

But not as effective. MarinePure is from my personal experience the most effective at squeezing the most amount of nitrifiers within the smallest area.

With that said, No other biomedia except live rock is probably necessary for most tanks anyways, given that live rock is pretty much already porous enough to house plenty of microbes, and most tanks should have enough live rock.

So yeah, I do fully understand if one just wants to pass on MarinePure (or non-live-rock/sand biomedia completely), because it could just be overkill anyways.

 

[AutumnReefs]

Don't these leach aluminum as well just like the brick verison?

It doesn't seem to harm anything. Plus, people may be dosing aluminum into their tanks through impurities in dosing products, through, food, etc..