Media

[josiah1914]

I’m in the process of a newer tank. Has been running for over a month with live rock and sand. I do have clown fish and sand starfish. Is it nessarcy to have a media sock/bag correct? Right now all I have is bio-filter balls in the filter and the water is clear. Just trying to figure out what’s the best to have.

 

[Quietman]

There really is no best and depending on what you're trying to do, and no, media bags aren't required but can be helpful.

If you're talking nitrites/ammonia - the sand and rock will be fine.

If you're getting into nitrate/phosphate - you'll need some import/export management - up to you what works best. But will need something (Algae export, Food selection, Skimmer, PO4 media, etc) And of course...all bad stuff is made better with a good water change schedule.

Lastly - if you're worried about clarity/toxins - bag of GAC is a good insurance policy. I've always run at least a little GAC and/or equivalent - don't over do it though.

 

[josiah1914]

There really is no best and depending on what you're trying to do, and no, media bags aren't required but can be helpful.

If you're talking nitrites/ammonia - the sand and rock will be fine.

If you're getting into nitrate/phosphate - you'll need some import/export management - up to you what works best. But will need something (Algae export, Food selection, Skimmer, PO4 media, etc) And of course...all bad stuff is made better with a good water change schedule.

Lastly - if you're worried about clarity/toxins - bag of GAC is a good insurance policy. I've always run at least a little GAC and/or equivalent - don't over do it though.

Okay thank you very much for the information

 

[A2dahlberg]

There really is no best and depending on what you're trying to do, and no, media bags aren't required but can be helpful.

If you're talking nitrites/ammonia - the sand and rock will be fine.

If you're getting into nitrate/phosphate - you'll need some import/export management - up to you what works best. But will need something (Algae export, Food selection, Skimmer, PO4 media, etc) And of course...all bad stuff is made better with a good water change schedule.

Lastly - if you're worried about clarity/toxins - bag of GAC is a good insurance policy. I've always run at least a little GAC and/or equivalent - don't over do it though.

Ok I'm a noob what is GAC?

 

[Quietman]

Ok I'm a noob what is GAC?

Granular Activated Carbon. Standard Carbon type used for aquarium filtration. By equivalent - I'm trying out Chemipure Blue last few months. Supposed to last longer but it's more expensive. Not sure I see much difference, probably more important just to have something handling the chemical filtration. But I do like having a pre-made bag to drop in once every few months instead of filling a media bag every few weeks.

 

[Reef.]

Granular Activated Carbon. Standard Carbon type used for aquarium filtration. By equivalent - I'm trying out Chemipure Blue last few months. Supposed to last longer but it's more expensive. Not sure I see much difference, probably more important just to have something handling the chemical filtration. But I do like having a pre-made bag to drop in once every few months instead of filling a media bag every few weeks.

I’ve read different reports on the life of chemipure blue, some claim it’s good for 2-3 months, seems to me that is unlikely.
Recently I read, believe it was someone from chemipure that in salt water the chemipure blue is good for 1-2 months depending on tank loads, which is more inline with carbon, with many thinking 2 months for carbon is excessive, 1 being more reasonable.

If it’s true that chemipure blue is just carbon and purigen with a little PO4 remover then separate media bags would work better for the media and be way more cost affective, but yeah the drop in option is a big plus with this product.

 

[Quietman]

I’ve read different reports on the life of chemipure blue, some claim it’s good for 2-3 months, seems to me that is unlikely.
Recently I read, believe it was someone from chemipure that in salt water the chemipure blue is good for 1-2 months depending on tank loads, which is more inline with carbon, with many thinking 2 months for carbon is excessive, 1 being more reasonable.

If it’s true that chemipure blue is just carbon and purigen with a little PO4 remover then separate media bags would work better for the media and be way more cost affective, but yeah the drop in option is a big plus with this product.

Exactly! How do you prove what's really working better on which chemicals/nutrients? Organic molecules are not easily tested.

My water is crystal clear (but it was with GAC and now I have UV so, who really knows). Sometimes I let my carbon go for month or more and some periods I changed it every 2 weeks (running less). Used to add Phosguard to the media as well (run in high flow sock holder). Sometimes I had issues with PO4, sometimes not. Really haven't since the Chemipure - but I think that's more to do with shifting food to frozen.

So...I'll very likely keep using the Chemipure Blue - but not because I see great improvements over GAC/Phosguard. But because I like the concept, don't see any negatives, everything looks good and happy and water is clear. And every 2-3 months beats 2-3 weeks. And...it's not broke. :)

 

[AirIck]

Hello, I'm a newb here! My tank has been running for about a month now and I have been researching when to change out the media. I have a question that may seem dumb for experienced hobbyists, but I want to make sure I do not destroy my newly cycled tank when the time comes. The packaging for the media says do not replace all media at the same time. I have a Fluval Flex 32.5, so it comes with 2 media chambers. Does this mean that I only replace 1 chamber at a time OR do I replace the carbon on both sides, then wait, and at another point in time replace the biomax for both?

 

[Reef.]

Hello, I'm a newb here! My tank has been running for about a month now and I have been researching when to change out the media. I have a question that may seem dumb for experienced hobbyists, but I want to make sure I do not destroy my newly cycled tank when the time comes. The packaging for the media says do not replace all media at the same time. I have a Fluval Flex 32.5, so it comes with 2 media chambers. Does this mean that I only replace 1 chamber at a time OR do I replace the carbon on both sides, then wait, and at another point in time replace the biomax for both?

the idea is you don’t want to do any big changes to a tank in one go, the tank gets in a rhythm changing things spoil that rhythm, that is when thing can go wrong with the tank, so with media try and only change a little at a time, doesn’t matter what, so if you have 4 bags of media, change one then a few days later change another, chances are media will need changing at different times anyway as they all last different lengths of time...saying that it’s only a rough guide, if for any reason you need to change the media as you need to fix an issue, don’t put it off, change the media as leaving it could cause more harm than good.