Question about filter media

[thejtown]

Hello!

New here, I'm building a 30 gallon tank with the idea to house corals and a mantis shrimp. I have an Oase biostyle thermo 50, which has 3 removable cartridges holding filter fleece and foam, and 3 cartridges holding "biological" filter foam that are replaceable.

I purchased 3 custom cartridges and plan to fill those with ceramic rings for biomedia to replace the foam they provide, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with something similar and whether I should swap them in phases or just replace them all from the beginning prior to cycling the tank? From my understanding I can just rinse ceramic rings in tank water from time to time but ultimately don't have to replace them, but this biological foam would need to be replaced occasionally which doesn't seem as good for preserving healthy bacteria and it's an unnecessary added cost.

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

#WelcometoR2R

The sponges will certainly grow bacteria, but biofiltration is not their primary purpose, which is mechanical filtration - trapping suspended particles of detritus and what not. You do want to at least rinse these sponges out if not replace them weekly. I personally like to use Poly-Fil stuffing for mechanical filtration instead of sponges. Poly-Fil is typically used to stuff pillows and stuffed animals, and is exactly the same material as aquarium filter floss, it's just a lot cheaper since it doesn't have a picture of a fish on the bag You can find Poly-Fil at craft stores or in the craft section at your local Mega-Lo-Mart.

That said, you don't *need* mechanical filtration in the main canister, in my opinion. I think the Oase canisters have a mechanical prefilter, I would just go with that, and I'd load it with the Poly-Fil I mentioned. Swap it out every few days to a week or so; Poly-Fil is super cheap

And while you can run the canister with more traditional media, I'd suggest loading the main canister sections with just rock rubble. This will create something of a 'cryptic refugium', allowing animals like copepods to live in the rubble, and feed on the detritus that comes through the filter.

I would personally use rock rubble as mentioned or plastic bioballs instead of the ceramic rings, as at least some ceramic media has been shown to leach heavy metals like aluminum in saltwater tanks.

Keep in mind, if your goal is to house a Mantid and some corals, you'll have a fairly light bioload tank, and I don't think you'll need a whole lot of filtration. In fact, if you haven't purchased your canister filter yet, you could run this tank with little more than a circ pump or two, no filter needed

Certainly, you'll get other opinions I'm sure, but I hope that helps!

Good luck!

 

[nicisareefer]

Love mantis shrimps!

 

[thejtown]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

#WelcometoR2R

The sponges will certainly grow bacteria, but biofiltration is not their primary purpose, which is mechanical filtration - trapping suspended particles of detritus and what not. You do want to at least rinse these sponges out if not replace them weekly. I personally like to use Poly-Fil stuffing for mechanical filtration instead of sponges. Poly-Fil is typically used to stuff pillows and stuffed animals, and is exactly the same material as aquarium filter floss, it's just a lot cheaper since it doesn't have a picture of a fish on the bag You can find Poly-Fil at craft stores or in the craft section at your local Mega-Lo-Mart.

That said, you don't *need* mechanical filtration in the main canister, in my opinion. I think the Oase canisters have a mechanical prefilter, I would just go with that, and I'd load it with the Poly-Fil I mentioned. Swap it out every few days to a week or so; Poly-Fil is super cheap

And while you can run the canister with more traditional media, I'd suggest loading the main canister sections with just rock rubble. This will create something of a 'cryptic refugium', allowing animals like copepods to live in the rubble, and feed on the detritus that comes through the filter.

I would personally use rock rubble as mentioned or plastic bioballs instead of the ceramic rings, as at least some ceramic media has been shown to leach heavy metals like aluminum in saltwater tanks.

Keep in mind, if your goal is to house a Mantid and some corals, you'll have a fairly light bioload tank, and I don't think you'l need a whole lot of filtration. In fact, if you haven't purchased your canister filter yet, you could run this tank with little more than a circ pump or two, no filter needed

Certainly, you'll get other opinions I'm sure, but I hope that helps!

Good luck!

I really appreciate the advice, thank you!

I planned to change/rinse the filter floss as often as needed, it's these orange "bio foam" slots I was hoping to switch for ceramic rings or balls like you mentioned to avoid having to change these as well. Photo attached, I should have added that to the original post. There are 3 sets of these in the filter, 6 slots in total. I want to replace the 3 "bio foam" slots with something more permanent like the rock rubble or balls. Should I phase them out one slot at a time or just go for it from the beginning?

 

[Fish Fan]

Love mantis shrimps!

Me too!

 

[Fish Fan]

I really appreciate the advice, thank you!

I planned to change/rinse the filter floss as often as needed, it's these orange "bio foam" slots I was hoping to switch for ceramic rings or balls like you mentioned to avoid having to change these as well. Photo attached, I should have added that to the original post. There are 3 sets of these in the filter, 6 slots in total. I want to replace the 3 "bio foam" slots with something more permanent like the rock rubble or balls. Should I phase them out one slot at a time or just go for it from the beginning?

I thought your tank was brand new, and if so, then just replace them all from the beginning. If you've cycled your tank, then replace them like one every couple weeks or so I think would be a good plan

 

[thejtown]

New tank is correct, thanks! Wasn't sure if these biofoam pads would help with the initial cycling process and I should wait to change them out, but that's all I needed to know. Again, thanks for taking the time!

 

[Fish Fan]

New tank is correct, thanks! Wasn't sure if these biofoam pads would help with the initial cycling process and I should wait to change them out, but that's all I needed to know. Again, thanks for taking the time!

Oh no, start your filter out with the biomedia you want long-term (rings, if you still want to use them, or rock rubble, plastic media, etc.). Don't think of the pads as biomedia or that they'll help with the cycle. They will grow bacteria (almost everything will), but it's not their purpose, and you'd want to rinse or replace them frequently. If you don't rinse or replace them, all the material they capture just breaks down inside the filter, leading to high nitrate and phosphate anyway. Add your biomedia of choice at the start, and then cycle the tank so this media becomes established with bacteria.

But, it should be noted that while your filter can contain bio media, in saltwater tanks the real biofilter is your rock and sand in your tank. These will grow more beneficial bacteria than you'll ever need, as well as other beneficial organisms. No "extra" biofiltration is typically needed.

That's why I suggested before that you could run this tank without a traditional filter, using just a circulation pump or two, with the tank's rock and sand acting as the main biofilter

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The rocks are the biomedia of the tank, no other bio media is needed. You can add if you want, but I don't believe it provides additional benefit. My 32 gallon has a tidal 75 mainly to run carbon and provide mechanical filtration and also run a protein skimmer. The hob filter does not export nutrients which is what you want your filtration to do. So on my tank the skimmer and water changes are the main filtration.