For more fish keeping tips, check out these playlists: For "Best Fish Keeping Tips" click here: @t For tips and tricks with Fluval FX canister filters go here: @t For tips and tricks with SunSun canister filters go here: @t For videos on water changes and controlling nitrates, click here: @t For videos on general canister filter maintenance, click here: @t My Top 10 most popular videos of all time: @t
Okay. Back in the day 1970s, we used under gravel filters and a hang in the back filter for years on two 75 gallon tanks. We had crystal clear water and no fish issues.
Hello Mr Ben , Edwin from Costa Rica, i had 100 gallon used a hang in back filer with charcoal and cotton. That was all I used for filer , an inch from top of water change . Water was crystal clear . No fish loss and hardly no work , very cheap. Never worried about chemicals in water. Thinking about getting back in hobby. Enjoy life!!! Like we say here PURA VIDA !!!
Cool video, I used to like chemi pure blue. I ran out maybe 6 months ago and let it ride with filter pads and bio rings and I never noticed a difference
Adam C Adam, you and I have had a similar journey. I retired six recharged bags of Purigen and have seen no drop in water quality. Happy to see you drop by 😀👍🏻
IMO they use sponge filters because they do everything well. They provide filtration. The have sufficient beneficial bacteria, surface agitation, oxygen. They can do it all😶
That's a bad argument. People did all kinds of things before "fancy things" landed in the scene. Doesn't mean things can't improve. People used lead paint, asbestos, cocaine in cola, all kinds of weird stuff before we found out better ways of doing things.
@@omegachar4754 Pushback central missing the point over here! 🤣 Is all this fancy dog food out now any different from what people fed their dogs in the 70s? I don't see dogs living any longer. Or is any of the fancy coffee they sell any different from the coffee they sold in the 70s. No it's from the same bean except now it's just marketed and dressed up differently. Hopefully that helps you see my original point. 👌
Ben you totally correct , your analysis makes sense, always have the courage to speak what you believe, that is the only way you can help your subscribers, and all other viewers who look for advice. The manufacturers of these products may not like your comments, you never said stop using there products, But thousands of fish hobbyist might now be considering what I also believe to be many times unnecessary media and expense. From someone who has reared fish from about 7 or 8 years to his sixties. Trinidad West-Indies.
Hello Ben, I too have an Amiracle sump.. Was wondering if you had posted a video on how you set it up.. I'm about to set mine up but haven't decided which tank(s) to set it up under.. thanks in advance
Hallo Ben, I salute from Europe (i live in Slovak republic, it is between Poland and Hungary). Sorry for my english. I see your chanel and i thank you for your tips and help. Your advices are very helpful for me. I have a 130 galon freshwater planted tank with fishes, crabs and shrimps. Thank you and make a lot of videos. Peter.
Hello Peter and greetings. I've met very fine people from Eastern Europe and thank you for stopping by, watching and commenting, and I assure you that your English is far better than my Slovak 😉
Ben, have you watched Jay's Aquarium series on setting up a no water change tank? It's extremely informative and explains the process of achieving a full cycle (zero ammonia, zero nitrites, zero nitrates). I know you've heard Richard (Pond Guru) talk about this. These two fishkeepers are the only ones talking about this, to my knowledge. Water changes should always be OPTIONAL, not NECCESSARY. Deep substrate, and an adequate amount of the PROPER filter media are two of the keys to the process. Imho, those plastic balls should be tossed on the floor for the cats to play with. Their open structure doesnt allow anaerobic bacteria to colonize. So many fishkeepers do water changes as part of their routine and dont understand that they can achieve a full cycle. It's not talked about nearly enough on TH-cam. End of rant.
I have a feeling over that more fishkeepers have achieved a full cycle that didn't even no about a cycle than the fishkeepers fretting about it with crazy equipment and enough water changes to drain a lake. In my experience I use about 2L by Volume of lava rock per 50 gallons of Water. Small powerhead or just bubble some air through it. 4-5" gravel substrate some driftwood and plants. For top up I use RO water, and do a small water chacge every couple of weeks as I like to clean some debris off the gravel. My Nitrates are never above 5ppm, even without water changes.
@DLS Shares Inc Go to Jay's Aquariums TH-cam channel. He has a series of videos, I believe 7 in total. They aren't long and tedious. They go quickly and are very informative. It's called "How to build a no water change tank" The videos are numbered. Obviously, start with Part 1.
@@redsev4484 do you break up the lava rock into small pieces, or do you keep them the size you bought them from the bag? I am assuming you are talking about the standard red lava rock and not the lighter weight grey pumice stone?
Sewage processing plants make use of the sewage solids themselves, as a biological medium for organisms to colonise and munch into, with both Aerobic and anaerobic microbiota sharing the floating and circulating floc.
I run 3 aquariums without filters. The glass walls and substrate which has some flat rocks is enough to keep ammonia at zero so therefore I have enough bacteria. I also run plants to help.
Good questions Ben - but isn't the bottom line them daang nitrates, and frequency of water changes to keep 'em low ?.. I'm a 'newbie' - just 6 months with my 90-gall / 350L cichi tank.. it's 'reasonably stocked wi' about 20 mainly nearly adult peacocks, including 3 yellow labs, and 'Stripey Joe' our 4 yr-old Frontosa ( he counts as two.. ).. and my weekly 50% water changes are barely keeping the nitrates below 40.. doh.. So, I guess my gravel substrate is not providing the requisite 'anaerobic' conditions for the final denitrification stage.. and neither is my bio media in the FX6 filter.. I've just ordered on E-bay, 10kgs of white pumice - the filter will take about 5kg - at a cost of £20..'cos my research tells me it's got them 'miles' of surface area combined with good porosity to enable them anaerobic bacteria to thrive and eat the nitrates - we'll see.. I've also watched many of Pond Guru filter vids, and wud like to believe his ' full-cycle de-nitrification' claims with his Biohome Ultimate, but 5 kgs in UK wud cost me £75 compared wi' the £10 for the pumice.. mebbe I shud change out my substrate with all pumice for the difference (?) and get the added bonus of ph boost.. 'cos we got soft water here.. do you think I'm on the right track pls ?
I have not been able to totally escape needing water changes to have healthy fish. I've seen some youtubers talk about hitting that de-nitrification ("full cycle") using biohome, but it is a costly solution (granted only a one-time cost). I like pumice and it is essentially Seachem Matrix which makes some pretty major claims. I think no matter what we do we ill continue to have to do water changes because: 1) nitrate reduction, 2) mineral addition and 3) because cichlids are pigs and produce a lot of waste. One tip of course is to cut back on the amount of food, but you don't want skinny looking fish, so you can't cut back too much.
Best talk on youtube I watched ever. Lot's of talks about filtration done by gurus nobody touched the most important and relevant "basic" information when come to filtration media. NO we don't need all that fancy stuff even though people might get excited when hear about redundancy. With a tank which have a substrate what you need is a sponge filter in normal conditions. WELL DONE Ben Orchart. MUST SEE VIDEO especially for beginners.
I have a feeling a lot of what we do in the hobby is overkill. Are we suckers for marketing? Probably. Personally, I'm willing to spend a few extra bucks to create a healthy environment for my fish based on the wealth of advice and information from others in the hobby. Is that always necessary? No. I've been in the hobby nearly 50 years. My first tank was a 10 gallon with a tiny clear plastic box that held some "angel hair" and a little bit of charcoal. For the most part it worked okay and I didn't lose many fish. In the early 80's when cannister filters were becoming popular I moved up to bigger tanks at one point having a 120 with three monster oscars, a huge arrowana and a clown knife. All those filters had was mechanical filtration and a lot of charcoal and they worked pretty well. And I used to rip that tank apart for a thorough cleaning at least once every six months. There was no concern for cycling the tank that I can recall. All I did was dump in a lot of Novaqua and it was good to go. Now I run two fx6's and one fx'4 on a 180 with a nice load of african cichlids. Overkill for sure but the tank looks amazing and the maintenance is minimal. So I can enjoy the look of the tank more now and not have to mess with it as much. The initial expense was substantial but once you have them established it isn't too bad. As a side note, the fx4 in my 180 runs nothing but sponge filters and water polishing media. It's a particular filter on steroids which allows me to put more bio media in the fx6's. Working really well. Apologies for the long post. It's 7:00 am and my caffeine level is high.
The issue Ben is that the Nitrifying bacteria will accumulate most where the oxygen level is highest (in a wet dry system the bacteria loves oxygen from the air as there is 11000 times more then in the water), where water flow is the fastest and where the food source is most abundant. This is why our filters contain most of the beneficial bacteria that stabilize the aquarium and that's where everyone sells the idea that they need filter media containing loads of surface area. The issue with this is that most mechanical filtration gets dirty and plugged and water being water it takes the path of least resistance, so without regular maintenance most filters will loose their effectiveness. But you're completely right. If you start a tank from scratch and introduce the bioload slowly, the nitrifying bacteria will accumulate anywhere there is surface area. If you just used excellent water circulation and enough flow to break the surface for gas exchange, you don't necessarily need a filter, just add more rock and substrate.
I got my first aquarium 50 years ago. I have had HOBs and canister filters in the past. Started out with a corner box filter years ago. I use nothing but sponge filters on my 26 tanks now - with one exception. On my tank with fancy goldfish, I have 2 sponge filters and a HOB. But the HOB is set up as mechanical filtration only, because goldfish are messy.
I've been breeding tropical fish since the late 50's and my default filter has always been under gravel. I've heard and read all; about all the disadvantages and dangers of under gravel filters and I'm certain that none of them are based on actual experience. The pet shop industry has sold everyone on this stuff because they get to sell supplies! I use HOB filters and sponge filters for special applications, like bare bottom tanks and cichlids that dig in the gravel, but for routine use nothing beats the UG filter. The only maintenance is occasional gravel vacuuming. Another advantage is that you can install an extra airlift tube extending above the water and use this for water changes. No worries about sucking up fry.
The big successful tank breeders have what we hobbyists lack...automatic daily water changes. That's why they can go with sponge filters and not have issues. We hobbyists rely on things like sumps because as you said, we need the water volume to reduce ppm. The common denominator has and always will be frequent water changes in order for the tank to thrive.
Water flow and water changes and my corner matten filter in my 135 is all I do. One large Oscar Texas cichlid three feather fin catfish and a large red tail shark.
Great vid Ben...I've ran tanks just with airstones...healthy fish. Had a large stingray tank system just based on water flow and oxygen...super healthy system.
What do you think of aquaclay pebbles or hydroton in sumps ?An the second question when do we need to change or clear them or do we need to change or clear?
I run 20+ aquariums of mainly africans and I run sponge filters. In the past I ran cannisters but after following Cory became more conscious of the mighty power of the sponge, including ease of "instant cycling" new tanks by running additional sponges that you can transfer across instantly. You just need to make sure to give them a squeeze in a bucket every now and then.
On my 4ft tank I run an eheim 2217, an internal filter with 2 sponges and a medium sized air sponge filter for 30 rummy nose, 20 cardinals, 4 SAE, 10 cory cats, 2 Albino short finned BN and 4 L270 pleco's... on the 3 of my 2ft tanks I run 2 medium sized air sponge filters in each with approx 20 or so small fish like guppies, endlers, Peppermint Bristlenose, danio's etc each tank has lots of live plants... Ben just wondering, what is the pleco in the tank that you feature here ?? great subject...
Compared to how much the fish cost, I find the bio media to be cheap piece of mind. It is also great to be able to move media around and instantly cycle a tank. Agreed I likely have 10x what I need at the moment but if the bio load were to suddenly increase, for example a dead fish that I did not get out of the tank right away, I am pretty sure my tanks will be able to ramp up quickly.
I agree with you. Marketing, marketing, and more marketing. Filtration needs are based on the fish load. It is just to difficult to determine that need so most people, like myself, decide to play it safe. I guess your pocketbook decides.
You are right but you don't have to guess or worry if you know the basics. A canister or HOB filter can use cheap media and you will be fine. If you have a monster tank with a sump, the game changes and you would want the expensive stuff...it's all relative to the ecosystem.
Personally, I think the most important thing for a cycle is actually good water flow through the whole tank. The bacteria needs oxygen and oxygen as well as fish waste are the limiting factors of bacteria growth (NH3 to NO2 requires oxygen). Sponge filters are good, but they aren't the best with generating circulation around the whole tank. That may be good for some fish species, but I do saltwater and the flow is necessary. Even though us salty folks realize 90% of our filtration lives in the rocks anyway.
It was visiting salty sites that got me thinking about the substrate working as the home for BB. The oxygen point and circulation are key. I tell people when they are starting up a tank to start the powerheads and bubblers. That new BB will come along better with a lot of O2 available. Thanks for stopping by Marina.
Very interesting Ben. I suppose to really know you'd have to take on a science project. Set up a tank with some grown mature fish to keep things consistent. Pick your media, say sponges as in your question. Test the water, IDK, maybe daily or weekly for some given period of time, record the data. Then with the same tank and fish set it up with bio media, let it cycle, remove the sponge filters, let it stabilize, test the water over a period of time. Then compare results. All the while keeping everything consistent, feed exactly the same quantity daily, water changes, etc... Yes, alot of effort/work. Something like this would give us some interesting information to discuss for your CONVO GANG😊
Great video Ben. Yes I think we do need all that media. Pond Guru has a formula for how much media by volume of water. I couldn’t get my heavily stocked 90 gallon tank to fully cycle until I increased my media. I went from 4 pounds to 10 pounds of biohome ultimate for my setup & the tank has been running for month & a half no water change & now my ammonia is zero also nitrite & nitrate are zero. I got a full cycle. I feed twice a day 9 am & 9 pm. I drive a truck over the road so everything is automated & I was happy when I checked my water to see that my bacteria is working. I couldn’t achieve that w/o the extra 6 pounds of media. So yes all of it helps in my opinion.
That's awesome. You might want to still do a once a month WC to add minerals that can settle but if the fish look great and tests are coming back perfect ... continue with what you're doing. Sounds perfect.
I have been keeping and breeding fish for over 55 years. I use only an undergravel filter, with a 3 inch substrate of coarse river sand. and plants in the tank and give only occasionally a 30% water change. With this filtration the fish droppings are drawn into the sand providing biological and fine particle filtration and easy access for the plant roots. I have recently changed from an air pump, to provide the water lift in the tubes, to low capacity power heads on the tubes. The plants are unbelievably healthy, the fish never get sick and virtually only die from old age. The water is crystal clear and, when it does start to appear a little cloudy, I do an alternate form of water change by attaching a hose to one of the water lift tubes and siphoning out 30 % of the water. This clears out all of the mulm that has collected under the sand. This is only necessary once a year or, sometimes, considerably longer. I am too old and experienced to fall for the manufactures and fish sellers hype and BS. They are only trying to line their own pockets. I also think that it is their advertising crap that caused undergravel filters to fall out of favour, as they were extremely popular years ago.
Hi Ben. I love your channel! I have been fish keeping for 45 years. I still feel I am learning. I do think the surface area is good to have in our canister and HOB filters. Because it is concentrated. This is important. The bacteria is spread out in the aquarium but weaker. Thats my thoughts. Thanks. Keep up the excellent videos!
So i mentioned recently in one of your videos that i have gone to all sponges. I have an hob and just got rid of the cartridges now i have 40ppi sponge in the hob with a course pre intake sponge, then i have an actual sponge filter in my 75g. I have nothing else in my hob and its been over a mth. But tank and fish look so far so good. Ive been tempted to buy actual bio media as well but haven't and sponge seems to be working just fine. One lady argued with me that replacing cartridges i would be losing my good bacteria but ive never had a tank crash from replacing cartridges. So im a believer of the tank itself having great beneficial bacteria but now i have sponges that i dont need to throw away i think it will add the extra stability. Im sure many products work and all the companies are in business to make money but im totally believing that sponges alone are good enough and perhaps very underrated.
I was thinking about buying Matrix of seachem (btw I think that is just pumice processed or something like that) to upgrade my biomedia and to set up a new tank. But I'll buy some kit to test the water first, that way I will know exactly if I need to.
Lots to consider here @Ben Ochart, my thoughts: - What does it take to achieve a "steady-state" biological environment? That is, does a particular aquarium environment have the capacity to handle the variations in ammonia/nitrite producing sources. - Ammonia: our feeding patterns and number of fish control this. But can we control the feeding and fish waste so closely as to control the production of ammonia? It seems from a practical point of view this is not going to happen. - Ammonia and nitrite consuming bacteria: Two things come to mind here. How effective are our aquariums in getting the ammonia/nitrite in contact with the bacteria. Seems like they are only somewhat effective. So the more biologics the better. And of course higher filtration rates will help. How fast do biologics grow, reproduce, and die. What can affect the lives of the bacteria? Given the uncertainty here for most aquarists the move biologics the better. - Does the bacteria tend to consume more or less ammonia/nitrite as these chemicals rise and fall, and still remain alive? Or another way, can the biologics handle varying levels of ammonia/nitrite and still remain active. It seems the more biologics in an aquarium the more probable the aquarium is to handle rises and falls and remain stable biologically. Seems to me that having "too much" biologics would enable our aquariums to function in a more balanced state. However, determining just how much is enough to provide a so called "bio-buffer" is more or less a trial and error exercise. I tend to error on too much and I have had what I feel are stable aquariums.
I too prefer to error in the direction of too much instead of not enough. It's a balancing act between bio load (fish and food) and water circulation, oxygen levels and bio availability. Fun to create a big enough sweet spot so that we have wiggle room. Room to occasionally feed heavy protein like frozen krill or add 4 or 5 fish and not worry about the tank restarting a cycle. Thanks Roger!
Simple answer: it depends. You need a lot of Biomedia in an unplanted tank with sand or even without any kind of ground substrate. You don't need any Biomedia in a mature, planted tank. It can be even counterproductive for planted tanks because nutrients for plants can be reduced in the filter
Absolutely correct, here Germany where I live, a microbiology called Diana Walstat has amply demonstrated, and without more, aquariums with "unfiltered" aquatic plants of any kind, the only filter are the plants and sometimes roots of terrestrial plants placed in emergent form, on TH-cam you can see wonderful aquariums, without mechanical filter, in which the filter is the water, the substrate, the plants and for example, the roots of 2 titled boniatos on the aquarium cover, and you can see the progress of that aquarium and Its inhabitants from the first day, until more than a year later .... Many people who have paid hilarious prices for low quality pumice stone like Matrix, never in their life will get aquariums such as the one you can see on TH-cam, and uses stones, plants, substrate, sand and the roots of two Boniatos as a filter. People repeat like parrots what the advertising and marketer industry of the big Companies like Seachem tell them ... Fortunately, some of us, in our youth, study Biology, and to deceive us, they need to "lie better, and more imagination"
@@PerplexiaX Yes friend !!! LOL!!! Let's go to buy!!! Buy buy buy!!! What we buy? What is this that we buy??? Eeeehhh 🤔... I don't know... But that ist not important now ☝️😅!!! Buy buy buy!!!! Loooool!!! You made me laugh a good time !!! Have a nice day 👍
@@Iron-cesc LOL Yeah, and you notice how expensive everything is now... I Finally found a place that sells Nox-Ich... $4.00 for the tiny little bottle... I used to pay like 50 Cents for that thing! Yeah, I'm Old! LOL
Hey Ben ordered one of those hydor powerheads just like urs how low can I put it that it would move all the waste towards the intake on my filters without blowing the sand away ?
Depends on the type of substrate. Mine is like 2" off the bottom, but that tank has heavy coral/shells as substrate. With something like beach sand, and looking at what the SunSun powerhead does in my 100gal, I would suggest 6'' - 10" up, but you'll need to play with it until you dial it in just right and it's not making pits and mounds in the sand.
The only other media is the substrate in the tank.it is a 90g with 4 angelfish and 4 German blue rams. And a few plants. Just hornswort and jungle val.
Those breeders also do daily water changes which is why It works for them. If I ran sponge filters on my heavily stocked tank, id have to do change water a lot more regularly. I believe the marine pure and biohome is worth it compared to sponge filters for me because I dont like changing water more than once a week.
Someone should make a video of an experiment. Take 2 equal sized tanks same species of fish(same size, amount) same exact set up. Just filter one with sponge filters and filter the other one with a HOB or something and test the water see which one works better
With sponge filters comes lots and lots of water changes. Let those top fish keepers skip water changes for 3 to 4 weeks and see what happens. With enough substrate inside the tank, all that"s needed is mechanical filtration. That is where the external filters come in.
Hey Ben , setting up a 125 for my clown loaches and thinking of setting up a canister filter like a FX 5 and filling it just with bio balls. Then leaving it alone. I was going to hang a small hanging filter on the back with floss and stuff and just change that . How does that sound ? Thoughts ?
I see a lot of the comment refer to water changes as the stabilizing element to balance the media volume and type. But my main argument is how close and consistent can you be with matching the water parameters your fish thrive with? I think good media helps retain stability.
Interestingly I've noticed a lot of fish death stories start with, "I had just done a water change..." so I think you make a good point. In some parts of the country, if there's been flooding, as a precaution, water treatment plants will increase the amount of chemicals in the water and this can shock fish (as one example).
Great question Ben. Things have changed since I last had a tank some 20 years ago. I just ordered bio hoime yesterday for my canister. I do have a small sponge filter in my tank too. I have been wondering about all this stuff too.
the biohome it is suppose to harness Aerobic is for ammonia nitrite and nitrates, and the Anaerobic bacteria is the one we need to get rid of nitrates.
Good question Ben, i think it all depends on what type of tank you going for....size, stocking, etc. But we really don't need half the products on the market being sold.
Like you videos, they always release a question in the end, for us to vonder over. One of the most scary things is waking up the next day and all is gone. Is this the reason behing us trying make it as good as possible, and thereby we have an over capasity in filtration. My tank is a 200 US gallon and the sump 26 US gallon, the biggest thing is the mechanical filter that is 8 by 20 inches, and is devided up in fine and course, each is 4 inches thick, and then some fine filter, then 2,5 US gallon bioballs wit a moving bed included, and then 2 US gallon ceramic rings. Next in will be Biohome Ultimate from Pond guru to replace some of the medis, to get rid of the Nitrates.
One thing I've been noticing is that a lot of the breeders do use just a sponge filter but they also run auto daily water changes. I ain't doing that. So I guess I'll always be looking for the "best" way to help clean my fishes live-in toilet.
@@BenOchart Yeah but I'm currently researching the best ways to convert my 55 Gal over to an Am Cichlid tank and looking into the different substrates, filter media, water conditioners, etc,etc,etc and I am afraid that my head is going to explode any minute now. Seriously, Thank You for ALL your knowledge and information you put out here. I love your style of not only saying what works but why it works (or doesn't) for you.
I had a sponge filter and a Ziss filter in my male guppy tank..nice clean water but I got fed up with poo everywhere..so changed it for a cheap canister..I could not get over how much cleaner everything was within hours..it's fine changing water and using the vac but really I just wanted to enjoy my fish...I have a mix of alsorts...HOB sponge Ziss...I make filter media last a long time..I think last year it cost me $12 and I have 6 tanks of different sizes...
Hi Ben In regards of filtration, it depends on the water changes you do and if you have a sump with sponges that have really good surface areas I believe that bio balls are not needed! Canister filters I believe you need both!
Nope! As a matter of fact Ben, I am on a mission to remove all the filter media ( ceramic dodads and charcoal pellets) from my Sunsun canister today. I've some cheap pink filter in a roll coming from eBay to replace it. I've been waiting all week to do this. I have 2 turtles in a 60 gallon tank and all of that 'good' bacteria are smelling up my house. As I've fought the smell I've come to realize my canister filters have become a holding tank/breeding ground for noxious bacteria. All 4 of my canister filters are getting a makeover this weekend. It's nice to see a well known and respected aquarist come to the same conclusion I have. Thank you Ben.
i've been called far worse things than a sucker, lol!!!! I understand exactly what you are saying Ben. The following is just my opinion after being in this hobby for a very long time. You can use hundreds, thousands of different media that will allow the good bacteria to call it home. What many don't realize is that this bacteria is constantly being replaced as it gets older by younger and stronger bacteria. It's also true that the amount of bacteria that you have depends more on the fish and quantity and size of these fish than it does on the amount of media in your filter. One of my tanks is a 55 gal planted tank with Rainbows and other community fish and it is lightly stocked. I have much larger tanks but this is one of my favorites. For filtration I am using an FX4 that is packed with bio home ultimate and one sections of sponges going from coarse to fine. There is enough bio home media in that filter to support a heavy stocked Koi tank that's 4 times the size. I could have used one of the other thousands of media choices for the bacteria to colonize on but when I set the tank up I was getting back into the hobby after a decade off due to severe health issues, and Pond Guru provided a lot of good info and I was curious, so I gave it a shot. When I finally get my 240 gal up and running with a 75 gal sump and an FX6 I would have to refinance my home to load it up with Bio Home the way the FX4 is now, lol!!!! The main reason why so many fail in this hobby has nothing to do with the media they used, it has everything to do with the media between their ears that caused the failure. I can't begin to count how many times I helped people out on fish forums that were having nothing but problems and ready to give up. It amazed me how little they truly understood about what is actually going on in the tank and filter that is never seen by the human eye. Once you truly understand this the success rate soars. Today we have this thing called the world wide web, there is no excuse to not know what is going on in the tank and it won't cost you a penny. When I first got into the hobby over 30 years ago, nobody at any of the fish stores in So.Cal that I went to weekly ever said anything about the nitrogen cycle in my tank. I wonder how much they knew. Your average fish keeper will take a water sample to Petsmart for a free water test and let the person there tell them how many fish they can buy. Just for fun I had a 10 gal tank that I set up so the ammonia was off the chart high and took it into Petsmart to be tested. I was told my water was perfect, I was doing everything right and I could add as many fish as I wanted. This really happened and I am not saying that every Petsmart is like this either. What I am saying is that if you want to be successful in any hobby, but especially in fish keeping, you need to first feed and fill the media between your ears before you ever attempt to do it in your tank and filter. Keep up the great work. Over and Out from NC. Later
I know this much keeping tanks of all sizes close to 30 years with some pretty big fish over the years and I have run about every filter there is and I have run some with a hang on back and cartridge filters only with big fish and once tank is matured I have seen no ammonia in over 20 years even on tanks I let slide for few months do to burn out .I thank we all just love the hype new thing and there glad to take are moneys
There's truth in that. Otherwise there wouldn't be lines of people ready to turn in their working-perfect iPhone 10 for the iPhone 11 ... just because they got to have it. LOL!
In regards to media I think is boils down to reducing nitrate. Can media effectively host anaerobic bacteria to reduce nitrates (biohome, matrix, marine pure etc)? if not then just use sponges.
Hi @@BenOchart I just put 3 liters of matrix in a sun sun 302 with Pond Guru's foam and floss strategy. According to Pond Guru The setup (with bio home ultimate) should get a full cycle on a 60 gallon community tank, so I hope matrix can do a 30 gallon with 2 cichlids. We will see... Right now the only full cycle tank I have is a low bio load (20 shrimp, 2 pair fish Trichopsis pumila, and a lot of plants) 10 gallon with 3 inches of crushed lava rock as substrate. no detectable ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate under 1 ppm.
Your Elite Cichlid Plants look awesome! I love your aquariums. Im keeping all of my bio media just to be safe! LOL But I totally understand what you're saying!
I believe that is unnecessary. Vacuuming out visible detritus/ waste often and doing more water changes is all you need. Water circulation and simply removing particulates is the most important. I've recently discovered that sponges or simple minimal filter media is all that's necessary to keep the water healthy and clear along with partial water changes to keep down ammonia and hormone levels which are released by the fish and stunts their growth. The gravel substrate I use in the tank provides plenty of surface area for the beneficial bacteria to thrive on as long as you don't take it out and overclean it. My water always looks the best and is crystall clear when I simply vacuum out visible particulates, do frequent partial water changes, use minimal filter media and make sure the flow of the filter isnt slowed by detritus/ waste by rinsing it out which keeps the water circulating. Wasting money on all types of filter media is unnecessary. Trust me I've done it and my water still became cloudy unless I was doing the things mentioned above!
It's interesting I was just wondering if two trays full of bio media in my canisters was excessive and then I saw this video! I'm tempted to use one more tray for medium sponges, and then just the final tray for bio media, I figure that setup would allow for less frequent canister maintenance as each canister would handle additional waste and I could go much longer between canister cleaning sessions. But I have Biohome ultra in the top two trays, and I feel as if I'd be wasting such a valuable commodity lol! In some ways many of our aquarium setups are like a complicated science project, but having too much of things is often better than not enough... 4:34 keep in mind "just sponges filters" and no canisters would probably be fine for the fish to survive, but it would not lead to the clearest water for a show tank due obviously to the turnover rate you get with canisters. My tanks are much clearer than the tropical fish store tanks that use just sponge filters connected to an air pump, that's another reason for canisters.
Hi Ben! I know this video is 8 mos old but hopefully I’ll get a reply. I’m battling nitrates at a constant 20ppm in my 30 gallon planted community. I want 0 nitrates. I use hob filters and just bought some biohome plus. Supposedly they recommend me using 2 lbs of this media for a 30 gallon tank. My filter is just not that big (aquaclear 50). What would you do in my situation?
Just saw vid I'm wondering if a person ran say 2 canisters on a 125 one all sponge and the other with floss, rings or bio balls would that work or does all media have to be in same canister
Kevin, watch my video dropping on Tuesday. I believe that a pre filter on the intake and medium/fine sponge in the canister would allow all the rest to be bio media, and because of the pre filter, only need a cleaning every six or so months.
I think sponge filters are great, I think when you start to hit the 80 gallon mark is when you start using 2. I think the reason the pro breeders use sponge filters is due to the fact that there won't be a fast current for fry, or they won't get sucked up by an intake. Also it keeps detritus and uneaten food on the sponge filter for fry which is why it's a safer filter for fry.
filter media like Marine pure blocks are actually different. they convert Nitrates into nitrogen gas, that does reduce nitrates and it makes a difference vs other medias that will just convert into nitrates.
Great Video Ben, your a youtube legend. Using just sponges will work fine but downside to that would be the larger volume of water you need to change. 😎
I agree with Ben. The amount of bacteria that will be produced is dependent on the bio load. Once the maximum amount of BB has grown based on the bio load present, additional biological media is a waste of critical space. Instead, focus on mechanical filtration at that point. The more efficient the mechanical filtration is, the least amount of debris will collect on the biological media, enabling it (Biological media/beneficial bacteria) to do its part optimally. While there is BB throughout the aquarium (gravel, decor, etc...), these areas typically lack adequate circulation to nitrify at an effective level as compared to biological media in our filtration system.
That is a great question... Since Aerobic BB does exist inside the aquarium (glass, ornaments, plants, etc...) I suspect an increase in flow could result in more Aerobic BB since more oxygen will be recirculated, however, the bio load must be there to support growth. The other limiting factor would be the available (and favorable) surface area for colonization. As for gravel and sand being densely packed, even with an increase in flow to a specific area of substrate, Aerobic Bacteria is unlikely to populate, especially deep within the substrate bed devoid of oxygen where Anaerobic Bacteria thrives. I like your videos ( I am a subscriber as well). You provide excellent information and ideas. Your tanks and fish look amazing as well! Very Impressive !
' Consumption ' This word it's the main title of this era In values, principles, ethics and of course ' money' And, publicity, social media, are the means to impose the policy of consumption to withdraw money from people's pockets I'saw people made home filter and cost them only 20$ and ìt's work in effective way just like a'commercial filter cost about 200$ .
I only use sponges and nothing else in my canister filter. Crystal clear water and absolutely zero issues with my 9 plecos in a 40 gall tank. It's been quite a long time since i removed all the ceramic media away.
main thing IMO is redundancy... that doesn't mean "all" systems are equal, only that having multiple biological filtration features to a system is smart
I don’t think its any better to go out and buy the bioballs or blocks of highly porous materials. When u can keep it very inexpensive by buying a bag of lava rocks, plain sponges and plastic pot scrubbies from the dollar stores and a huge bag of polyester pillow floss from Michaels. These have been working for me for years. Also instead of chemicals to heal, u can use garlic cloves chopped fine and added to bloodworms and using aquarium salt to heal bacterial, infections in and on fish.
The hobby will go full circle and eventually we will all do it inexpensively and naturally. Like using algae and plants to consume nitrates and add oxygen. Just like nature.
Hi Ben, I think the guys that use only sponge filters in there big tanks are on auto water changes. So the water is getting changed completely every so many hours.
I am young to this hobby and young in general. I am guilty of over building. I have grown to love Lava Rock for decor and filter media. there is a ton of surface area within each rock and thus more in the tank and in the filter. I have a 54 with a sponge and a UGF that has no (filter media bio balls etc..) so my gravel is the bio media along with the rocks and decorations. That tank is crystal clear for about 50$ between pvc, glue, a power head, the sponge filter, and pump. I also have a canister on a 10g and that is also crystal with lava rock in the filter. I know canister on a 10 (i was new and didn't find these videos yet...) My 80g that I was fortunate enough to acquire from a great friend for the hefty price of come get it, Is using a sunsun canister with bio sponge, floss, and 2 trays of lava rock. probably over kill but better then killed fish. I too have been seeing videos of pet stores on all sponge and breeders on all sponge. My thoughts on that come in several parts. Breeders and stores are dedicated to those tanks because to them that is a living, OR that is their passion and they have whole rooms dedicated to it. While it is likely the sponge is more then enough, I feel that us as hobbyists don't necessarily have the amount of time to keep up on maintenance as the stores and breeders do. Thus our tanks build up more waste then a bare bottom breeder with a sponge etc. breeders and stores are on auto water changes at 10% a day! I personally keep a check on parameters and change when my nitrates get out of hand or once a month which ever comes first. So i think that us having many more miles of Beneficial Bacteria is a good thing for the longevity and ENJOYMENT of our tanks that we like to look at from the couch. I personally am very attentive to my tanks and notice issues before they are issues and do my best to prevent problems now that i have gained a much broader knowledge base to do so. Ben thank you for your videos. You have inspired me and taken away my fears about a cichlid tank. My 80g will ke that tank!
Hi thanks for this info. Please advise me I have external filter and I want to start lava rocks as biological media!does it has any effects on water parameters such as Ph GH Please advise Thanks
I totally agree sir. Sponges are way better than spending unneeded money on biohome or even growstone which I personally have 50 lbs of. I've started adding an additional tray of Sponge in my canisters, yes it's a big jump, but 2 trays of Sponge and 2 trays of media seems to be working better actually. The water clarity is definetly better and the fish seem happy. Daddy is happy too, lol.
For more fish keeping tips, check out these playlists:
For "Best Fish Keeping Tips" click here:
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For tips and tricks with Fluval FX canister filters go here:
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For tips and tricks with SunSun canister filters go here:
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For videos on water changes and controlling nitrates, click here:
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For videos on general canister filter maintenance, click here:
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My Top 10 most popular videos of all time:
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You can make this hobby as easy or difficult, as cheap or expensive as you want.
That's one of the best comments on here, thanks!
Indeed one of the best and straightforward comment I've seen on any Aquarium related video.
True👍
It's like having a friend with a pool. It's a lot more fun using it when not having to deal with the cost and maintenance time.
Okay. Back in the day 1970s, we used under gravel filters and a hang in the back filter for years on two 75 gallon tanks. We had crystal clear water and no fish issues.
Yes exactly 👍✌️🇨🇦
As my dear ol' granpappy used to say,
"Keep It Simple, Stupid"
HORNET1 I would have gotten along well with your granpappy 😉😀👍🏻
HORNET1 Yep, the more complicated, the more that can go wrong! :-)
I use lava rock in one of my canister filters and it keeps the level right and the tank clean
Lava rock is great...in a canister filter, you don't need anything more.
All I use in my three canister and my bettas aquaclear 30
Agreed! Negative on the $$$ Biohome 'Ultimate.' Absolutely like burning your cash.
Joey, the "King of DIY" did a video on lava rock. He loved it.
@@fhpd350 I think Lava rock is the best
Hello Mr Ben , Edwin from Costa Rica, i had 100 gallon used a hang in back filer with charcoal and cotton. That was all I used for filer , an inch from top of water change . Water was crystal clear . No fish loss and hardly no work , very cheap. Never worried about chemicals in water. Thinking about getting back in hobby. Enjoy life!!! Like we say here PURA VIDA !!!
Cool video, I used to like chemi pure blue. I ran out maybe 6 months ago and let it ride with filter pads and bio rings and I never noticed a difference
Adam C Adam, you and I have had a similar journey. I retired six recharged bags of Purigen and have seen no drop in water quality. Happy to see you drop by 😀👍🏻
IMO they use sponge filters because they do everything well. They provide filtration. The have sufficient beneficial bacteria, surface agitation, oxygen. They can do it all😶
I remember when I started in the hobby under gravel filters was the way to go with 1 HOB for some additional flow.
Me too. Aquaking hob and a UGF. That was it. Zero issues. Lol
People have been keeping fish long before all this fancy bio media landed on the scene 👌
Truth.
@@BenOchart I still got 4kg of it in my filters though and 2kg in the post coming on Wednesday 🤣
That's a bad argument. People did all kinds of things before "fancy things" landed in the scene. Doesn't mean things can't improve.
People used lead paint, asbestos, cocaine in cola, all kinds of weird stuff before we found out better ways of doing things.
@@omegachar4754 Pushback central missing the point over here! 🤣
Is all this fancy dog food out now any different from what people fed their dogs in the 70s? I don't see dogs living any longer. Or is any of the fancy coffee they sell any different from the coffee they sold in the 70s. No it's from the same bean except now it's just marketed and dressed up differently.
Hopefully that helps you see my original point. 👌
@@KeyMacGamingKeyz We have nearly tripled our average life expectancy over the last 1000 years.
Ben you totally correct , your analysis makes sense, always have the courage to speak what you believe, that is the only way you can help your subscribers, and all other viewers who look for advice. The manufacturers of these products may not like your comments, you never said stop using there products, But thousands of fish hobbyist might now be considering what I also believe to be many times unnecessary media and expense. From someone who has reared fish from about 7 or 8 years to his sixties. Trinidad West-Indies.
Hello Ben, I too have an Amiracle sump.. Was wondering if you had posted a video on how you set it up.. I'm about to set mine up but haven't decided which tank(s) to set it up under.. thanks in advance
Watch the most recent videos which include conclusions after making some mistakes.
Here's the link: th-cam.com/play/PLr8ew8o8WXoAauuwfrkrtlo99xiuBEtjz.html
Hallo Ben, I salute from Europe (i live in Slovak republic, it is between Poland and Hungary). Sorry for my english. I see your chanel and i thank you for your tips and help. Your advices are very helpful for me. I have a 130 galon freshwater planted tank with fishes, crabs and shrimps. Thank you and make a lot of videos. Peter.
Hello Peter and greetings. I've met very fine people from Eastern Europe and thank you for stopping by, watching and commenting, and I assure you that your English is far better than my Slovak 😉
I guess it depends on how often you want to do water changes.
Do you know why you need to do a water change?
Ben, have you watched Jay's Aquarium series on setting up a no water change tank? It's extremely informative and explains the process of achieving a full cycle (zero ammonia, zero nitrites, zero nitrates). I know you've heard Richard (Pond Guru) talk about this. These two fishkeepers are the only ones talking about this, to my knowledge. Water changes should always be OPTIONAL, not NECCESSARY. Deep substrate, and an adequate amount of the PROPER filter media are two of the keys to the process. Imho, those plastic balls should be tossed on the floor for the cats to play with. Their open structure doesnt allow anaerobic bacteria to colonize. So many fishkeepers do water changes as part of their routine and dont understand that they can achieve a full cycle. It's not talked about nearly enough on TH-cam. End of rant.
I have a feeling over that more fishkeepers have achieved a full cycle that didn't even no about a cycle than the fishkeepers fretting about it with crazy equipment and enough water changes to drain a lake. In my experience I use about 2L by Volume of lava rock per 50 gallons of Water. Small powerhead or just bubble some air through it. 4-5" gravel substrate some driftwood and plants. For top up I use RO water, and do a small water chacge every couple of weeks as I like to clean some debris off the gravel. My Nitrates are never above 5ppm, even without water changes.
Olaf Von haegele Thats what I call a balanced system!!!
@DLS Shares Inc Go to Jay's Aquariums TH-cam channel. He has a series of videos, I believe 7 in total. They aren't long and tedious. They go quickly and are very informative. It's called "How to build a no water change tank" The videos are numbered. Obviously, start with Part 1.
@@redsev4484 do you break up the lava rock into small pieces, or do you keep them the size you bought them from the bag? I am assuming you are talking about the standard red lava rock and not the lighter weight grey pumice stone?
@ James Glenn
Jay's aquariums are heavily planted and very very lightly stocked
The plants are using up all of the nitrates
Sewage processing plants make use of the sewage solids themselves, as a biological medium for organisms to colonise and munch into, with both Aerobic and anaerobic microbiota sharing the floating and circulating floc.
I run 3 aquariums without filters. The glass walls and substrate which has some flat rocks is enough to keep ammonia at zero so therefore I have enough bacteria. I also run plants to help.
Interesting. Are the low stocked? I imagine plants would provide a lot of surface area though
Good questions Ben - but isn't the bottom line them daang nitrates, and frequency of water changes to keep 'em low ?.. I'm a 'newbie' - just 6 months with my 90-gall / 350L cichi tank.. it's 'reasonably stocked wi' about 20 mainly nearly adult peacocks, including 3 yellow labs, and 'Stripey Joe' our 4 yr-old Frontosa ( he counts as two.. ).. and my weekly 50% water changes are barely keeping the nitrates below 40.. doh.. So, I guess my gravel substrate is not providing the requisite 'anaerobic' conditions for the final denitrification stage.. and neither is my bio media in the FX6 filter.. I've just ordered on E-bay, 10kgs of white pumice - the filter will take about 5kg - at a cost of £20..'cos my research tells me it's got them 'miles' of surface area combined with good porosity to enable them anaerobic bacteria to thrive and eat the nitrates - we'll see.. I've also watched many of Pond Guru filter vids, and wud like to believe his ' full-cycle de-nitrification' claims with his Biohome Ultimate, but 5 kgs in UK wud cost me £75 compared wi' the £10 for the pumice.. mebbe I shud change out my substrate with all pumice for the difference (?) and get the added bonus of ph boost.. 'cos we got soft water here.. do you think I'm on the right track pls ?
I have not been able to totally escape needing water changes to have healthy fish. I've seen some youtubers talk about hitting that de-nitrification ("full cycle") using biohome, but it is a costly solution (granted only a one-time cost). I like pumice and it is essentially Seachem Matrix which makes some pretty major claims. I think no matter what we do we ill continue to have to do water changes because: 1) nitrate reduction, 2) mineral addition and 3) because cichlids are pigs and produce a lot of waste.
One tip of course is to cut back on the amount of food, but you don't want skinny looking fish, so you can't cut back too much.
Heck yeah we NEED extra billions of surface area ..... I love my one gold fish in 180
Best talk on youtube I watched ever. Lot's of talks about filtration done by gurus nobody touched the most important and relevant "basic" information when come to filtration media. NO we don't need all that fancy stuff even though people might get excited when hear about redundancy. With a tank which have a substrate what you need is a sponge filter in normal conditions. WELL DONE Ben Orchart. MUST SEE VIDEO especially for beginners.
I have a feeling a lot of what we do in the hobby is overkill. Are we suckers for marketing? Probably. Personally, I'm willing to spend a few extra bucks to create a healthy environment for my fish based on the wealth of advice and information from others in the hobby. Is that always necessary? No. I've been in the hobby nearly 50 years. My first tank was a 10 gallon with a tiny clear plastic box that held some "angel hair" and a little bit of charcoal. For the most part it worked okay and I didn't lose many fish. In the early 80's when cannister filters were becoming popular I moved up to bigger tanks at one point having a 120 with three monster oscars, a huge arrowana and a clown knife. All those filters had was mechanical filtration and a lot of charcoal and they worked pretty well. And I used to rip that tank apart for a thorough cleaning at least once every six months. There was no concern for cycling the tank that I can recall. All I did was dump in a lot of Novaqua and it was good to go. Now I run two fx6's and one fx'4 on a 180 with a nice load of african cichlids. Overkill for sure but the tank looks amazing and the maintenance is minimal. So I can enjoy the look of the tank more now and not have to mess with it as much. The initial expense was substantial but once you have them established it isn't too bad. As a side note, the fx4 in my 180 runs nothing but sponge filters and water polishing media. It's a particular filter on steroids which allows me to put more bio media in the fx6's. Working really well. Apologies for the long post. It's 7:00 am and my caffeine level is high.
I remember Angel Hairs it was painful for me allergic to fiber glass.
Me and You like simple and easy.
The issue Ben is that the Nitrifying bacteria will accumulate most where the oxygen level is highest (in a wet dry system the bacteria loves oxygen from the air as there is 11000 times more then in the water), where water flow is the fastest and where the food source is most abundant. This is why our filters contain most of the beneficial bacteria that stabilize the aquarium and that's where everyone sells the idea that they need filter media containing loads of surface area. The issue with this is that most mechanical filtration gets dirty and plugged and water being water it takes the path of least resistance, so without regular maintenance most filters will loose their effectiveness. But you're completely right. If you start a tank from scratch and introduce the bioload slowly, the nitrifying bacteria will accumulate anywhere there is surface area. If you just used excellent water circulation and enough flow to break the surface for gas exchange, you don't necessarily need a filter, just add more rock and substrate.
Hey Ben,Good topic,,,, Now I have to do a road trip to my nearest waste water treatment plant,,,,,,thinking????
Don't, you'll never drink tap water again, LOL!
I got my first aquarium 50 years ago. I have had HOBs and canister filters in the past. Started out with a corner box filter years ago. I use nothing but sponge filters on my 26 tanks now - with one exception. On my tank with fancy goldfish, I have 2 sponge filters and a HOB. But the HOB is set up as mechanical filtration only, because goldfish are messy.
What about an undergravel filter that has a slow moving flow to create an anoxic environment?
There are many out there that swear by under-gravel filters. They always made sense but were just a pain to clean.
I've been breeding tropical fish since the late 50's and my default filter has always been under gravel. I've heard and read all; about all the disadvantages and dangers of under gravel filters and I'm certain that none of them are based on actual experience. The pet shop industry has sold everyone on this stuff because they get to sell supplies! I use HOB filters and sponge filters for special applications, like bare bottom tanks and cichlids that dig in the gravel, but for routine use nothing beats the UG filter. The only maintenance is occasional gravel vacuuming. Another advantage is that you can install an extra airlift tube extending above the water and use this for water changes. No worries about sucking up fry.
Yes sponge filters are great. What's removing the ammonia?
The bacteria living all over everything in an established tank.
The big successful tank breeders have what we hobbyists lack...automatic daily water changes. That's why they can go with sponge filters and not have issues. We hobbyists rely on things like sumps because as you said, we need the water volume to reduce ppm. The common denominator has and always will be frequent water changes in order for the tank to thrive.
I would think that spreading out your bio-load with more surface area would help reduce the chances of a bio crash and ammonia spike.
I’m currently counting on a deep substrate to be the primary location of BB
Water flow and water changes and my corner matten filter in my 135 is all I do. One large Oscar Texas cichlid three feather fin catfish and a large red tail shark.
Great vid Ben...I've ran tanks just with airstones...healthy fish. Had a large stingray tank system just based on water flow and oxygen...super healthy system.
What do you think of aquaclay pebbles or hydroton in sumps ?An the second question when do we need to change or clear them or do we need to change or clear?
I run 20+ aquariums of mainly africans and I run sponge filters. In the past I ran cannisters but after following Cory became more conscious of the mighty power of the sponge, including ease of "instant cycling" new tanks by running additional sponges that you can transfer across instantly. You just need to make sure to give them a squeeze in a bucket every now and then.
Very true. When you consider cost and time to maintain, nothing compares to spones.
On my 4ft tank I run an eheim 2217, an internal filter with 2 sponges and a medium sized air sponge filter for 30 rummy nose, 20 cardinals, 4 SAE, 10 cory cats, 2 Albino short finned BN and 4 L270 pleco's... on the 3 of my 2ft tanks I run 2 medium sized air sponge filters in each with approx 20 or so small fish like guppies, endlers, Peppermint Bristlenose, danio's etc each tank has lots of live plants... Ben just wondering, what is the pleco in the tank that you feature here ?? great subject...
Compared to how much the fish cost, I find the bio media to be cheap piece of mind. It is also great to be able to move media around and instantly cycle a tank. Agreed I likely have 10x what I need at the moment but if the bio load were to suddenly increase, for example a dead fish that I did not get out of the tank right away, I am pretty sure my tanks will be able to ramp up quickly.
That's the boat I ride on !
That's exactly how I feel about it.
Agreed
I agree with you. Marketing, marketing, and more marketing. Filtration needs are based on the fish load. It is just to difficult to determine that need so most people, like myself, decide to play it safe. I guess your pocketbook decides.
You are right but you don't have to guess or worry if you know the basics. A canister or HOB filter can use cheap media and you will be fine. If you have a monster tank with a sump, the game changes and you would want the expensive stuff...it's all relative to the ecosystem.
Personally, I think the most important thing for a cycle is actually good water flow through the whole tank. The bacteria needs oxygen and oxygen as well as fish waste are the limiting factors of bacteria growth (NH3 to NO2 requires oxygen). Sponge filters are good, but they aren't the best with generating circulation around the whole tank. That may be good for some fish species, but I do saltwater and the flow is necessary. Even though us salty folks realize 90% of our filtration lives in the rocks anyway.
It was visiting salty sites that got me thinking about the substrate working as the home for BB. The oxygen point and circulation are key. I tell people when they are starting up a tank to start the powerheads and bubblers. That new BB will come along better with a lot of O2 available.
Thanks for stopping by Marina.
Very interesting Ben. I suppose to really know you'd have to take on a science project. Set up a tank with some grown mature fish to keep things consistent.
Pick your media, say sponges as in your question. Test the water, IDK, maybe daily or weekly for some given period of time, record the data.
Then with the same tank and fish set it up with bio media, let it cycle, remove the sponge filters, let it stabilize, test the water over a period of time. Then compare results.
All the while keeping everything consistent, feed exactly the same quantity daily, water changes, etc...
Yes, alot of effort/work. Something like this would give us some interesting information to discuss for your CONVO GANG😊
I have 150 gallon aquarium with know filters. Only power heads. Green terror tank. Been running for 2years.
Great video Ben. Yes I think we do need all that media. Pond Guru has a formula for how much media by volume of water. I couldn’t get my heavily stocked 90 gallon tank to fully cycle until I increased my media. I went from 4 pounds to 10 pounds of biohome ultimate for my setup & the tank has been running for month & a half no water change & now my ammonia is zero also nitrite & nitrate are zero. I got a full cycle. I feed twice a day 9 am & 9 pm. I drive a truck over the road so everything is automated & I was happy when I checked my water to see that my bacteria is working. I couldn’t achieve that w/o the extra 6 pounds of media. So yes all of it helps in my opinion.
That's awesome. You might want to still do a once a month WC to add minerals that can settle but if the fish look great and tests are coming back perfect ... continue with what you're doing. Sounds perfect.
I have been keeping and breeding fish for over 55 years. I use only an undergravel filter, with a 3 inch substrate of coarse river sand. and plants in the tank and give only occasionally a 30% water change. With this filtration the fish droppings are drawn into the sand providing biological and fine particle filtration and easy access for the plant roots. I have recently changed from an air pump, to provide the water lift in the tubes, to low capacity power heads on the tubes. The plants are unbelievably healthy, the fish never get sick and virtually only die from old age. The water is crystal clear and, when it does start to appear a little cloudy, I do an alternate form of water change by attaching a hose to one of the water lift tubes and siphoning out 30 % of the water. This clears out all of the mulm that has collected under the sand. This is only necessary once a year or, sometimes, considerably longer. I am too old and experienced to fall for the manufactures and fish sellers hype and BS. They are only trying to line their own pockets. I also think that it is their advertising crap that caused undergravel filters to fall out of favour, as they were extremely popular years ago.
More like what nature does.
Hi Ben. I love your channel! I have been fish keeping for 45 years. I still feel I am learning. I do think the surface area is good to have in our canister and HOB filters. Because it is concentrated. This is important. The bacteria is spread out in the aquarium but weaker. Thats my thoughts. Thanks. Keep up the excellent videos!
Good points Greg and thanks for the encouraging words.
So i mentioned recently in one of your videos that i have gone to all sponges. I have an hob and just got rid of the cartridges now i have 40ppi sponge in the hob with a course pre intake sponge, then i have an actual sponge filter in my 75g. I have nothing else in my hob and its been over a mth. But tank and fish look so far so good. Ive been tempted to buy actual bio media as well but haven't and sponge seems to be working just fine. One lady argued with me that replacing cartridges i would be losing my good bacteria but ive never had a tank crash from replacing cartridges. So im a believer of the tank itself having great beneficial bacteria but now i have sponges that i dont need to throw away i think it will add the extra stability. Im sure many products work and all the companies are in business to make money but im totally believing that sponges alone are good enough and perhaps very underrated.
Good move. They are the best of both words, mechanical and biological filtration, inexpensive and reusable practically forever.
😀👍🏻
I was thinking about buying Matrix of seachem (btw I think that is just pumice processed or something like that) to upgrade my biomedia and to set up a new tank. But I'll buy some kit to test the water first, that way I will know exactly if I need to.
You can also buy inexpensive lava rock and break it up. It works and will save you a ton. Check this out: th-cam.com/video/pQCg2fS31rI/w-d-xo.html
@@BenOchartthanks for the advice! I'll get it into consideration for my future sump proyect! Sorry for the time, I've never seen your response
Lots to consider here @Ben Ochart, my thoughts:
- What does it take to achieve a "steady-state" biological environment? That is, does a particular aquarium environment have the capacity to handle the variations in ammonia/nitrite producing sources.
- Ammonia: our feeding patterns and number of fish control this. But can we control the feeding and fish waste so closely as to control the production of ammonia? It seems from a practical point of view this is not going to happen.
- Ammonia and nitrite consuming bacteria: Two things come to mind here. How effective are our aquariums in getting the ammonia/nitrite in contact with the bacteria. Seems like they are only somewhat effective. So the more biologics the better. And of course higher filtration rates will help.
How fast do biologics grow, reproduce, and die. What can affect the lives of the bacteria? Given the uncertainty here for most aquarists the move biologics the better.
- Does the bacteria tend to consume more or less ammonia/nitrite as these chemicals rise and fall, and still remain alive? Or another way, can the biologics handle varying levels of ammonia/nitrite and still remain active. It seems the more biologics in an aquarium the more probable the aquarium is to handle rises and falls and remain stable biologically.
Seems to me that having "too much" biologics would enable our aquariums to function in a more balanced state. However, determining just how much is enough to provide a so called "bio-buffer" is more or less a trial and error exercise. I tend to error on too much and I have had what I feel are stable aquariums.
I too prefer to error in the direction of too much instead of not enough. It's a balancing act between bio load (fish and food) and water circulation, oxygen levels and bio availability. Fun to create a big enough sweet spot so that we have wiggle room. Room to occasionally feed heavy protein like frozen krill or add 4 or 5 fish and not worry about the tank restarting a cycle.
Thanks Roger!
Simple answer: it depends. You need a lot of Biomedia in an unplanted tank with sand or even without any kind of ground substrate.
You don't need any Biomedia in a mature, planted tank. It can be even counterproductive for planted tanks because nutrients for plants can be reduced in the filter
If your planted tank has lots of fish, you still need bio media.
Absolutely correct, here Germany where I live, a microbiology called Diana Walstat has amply demonstrated, and without more, aquariums with "unfiltered" aquatic plants of any kind, the only filter are the plants and sometimes roots of terrestrial plants placed in emergent form, on TH-cam you can see wonderful aquariums, without mechanical filter, in which the filter is the water, the substrate, the plants and for example, the roots of 2 titled boniatos on the aquarium cover, and you can see the progress of that aquarium and Its inhabitants from the first day, until more than a year later .... Many people who have paid hilarious prices for low quality pumice stone like Matrix, never in their life will get aquariums such as the one you can see on TH-cam, and uses stones, plants, substrate, sand and the roots of two Boniatos as a filter. People repeat like parrots what the advertising and marketer industry of the big Companies like Seachem tell them ... Fortunately, some of us, in our youth, study Biology, and to deceive us, they need to "lie better, and more imagination"
@@Iron-cesc LOL They have a product to sell, so... yeah!!! LOL :-)
@@PerplexiaX
Yes friend !!! LOL!!!
Let's go to buy!!!
Buy buy buy!!!
What we buy? What is this that we buy???
Eeeehhh 🤔... I don't know... But that ist not important now ☝️😅!!!
Buy buy buy!!!!
Loooool!!!
You made me laugh a good time !!! Have a nice day 👍
@@Iron-cesc LOL Yeah, and you notice how expensive everything is now... I Finally found a place that sells Nox-Ich... $4.00 for the tiny little bottle... I used to pay like 50 Cents for that thing! Yeah, I'm Old! LOL
You got yourself a new subscriber ;)
Thank you😀👍🏻
I agree the substrate and decor inside the tank hold a very large amount of bacteria.
Hey Ben ordered one of those hydor powerheads just like urs how low can I put it that it would move all the waste towards the intake on my filters without blowing the sand away ?
Depends on the type of substrate. Mine is like 2" off the bottom, but that tank has heavy coral/shells as substrate. With something like beach sand, and looking at what the SunSun powerhead does in my 100gal, I would suggest 6'' - 10" up, but you'll need to play with it until you dial it in just right and it's not making pits and mounds in the sand.
@@BenOchart om awesome thanks Ben
I love that you keep the camera pointing to your fish,instead of your face. Great video thanks.
I'm not sure how I feel about this comment ... LOL!
Thanks for watching.
I run an odyssea canister with only spounge in it and have not had any problems in many years
Very interesting. No other media, no other filtration? Very cool. How often do you open it up and service it?
Only service the filter itself once every 4 months or so. I do do 40%water changes every 2 weeks
The only other media is the substrate in the tank.it is a 90g with 4 angelfish and 4 German blue rams. And a few plants. Just hornswort and jungle val.
Those breeders also do daily water changes which is why It works for them. If I ran sponge filters on my heavily stocked tank, id have to do change water a lot more regularly. I believe the marine pure and biohome is worth it compared to sponge filters for me because I dont like changing water more than once a week.
DJ Cichlid I totally agree. It also helps avoid spikes.
Test the waters literally and check the difference would solve the disputes in our minds and tank Ben
Someone should make a video of an experiment. Take 2 equal sized tanks same species of fish(same size, amount) same exact set up. Just filter one with sponge filters and filter the other one with a HOB or something and test the water see which one works better
That would be a great experiment
Anyone do this??
With sponge filters comes lots and lots of water changes. Let those top fish keepers skip water changes for 3 to 4 weeks and see what happens. With enough substrate inside the tank, all that"s needed is mechanical filtration. That is where the external filters come in.
Hey Ben , setting up a 125 for my clown loaches and thinking of setting up a canister filter like a FX 5 and filling it just with bio balls. Then leaving it alone. I was going to hang a small hanging filter on the back with floss and stuff and just change that . How does that sound ? Thoughts ?
I see a lot of the comment refer to water changes as the stabilizing element to balance the media volume and type. But my main argument is how close and consistent can you be with matching the water parameters your fish thrive with? I think good media helps retain stability.
Interestingly I've noticed a lot of fish death stories start with, "I had just done a water change..." so I think you make a good point. In some parts of the country, if there's been flooding, as a precaution, water treatment plants will increase the amount of chemicals in the water and this can shock fish (as one example).
It makes a lot of sense when broken down.
Great question Ben. Things have changed since I last had a tank some 20 years ago. I just ordered bio hoime yesterday for my canister. I do have a small sponge filter in my tank too. I have been wondering about all this stuff too.
the biohome it is suppose to harness Aerobic is for ammonia nitrite and nitrates, and the Anaerobic bacteria is the one we need to get rid of nitrates.
@@wowdad3055 that's great to know. Thank you! Trying to learn all these things about aquarium.
Another advantage of sponge is it hardly fills with debris which make it better n disadvantage is u need to change it as it will spread in pcs
very interesting video Ben. I'm getting lava rock and sorica rock into my decor and substrate...
Good question Ben, i think it all depends on what type of tank you going for....size, stocking, etc. But we really don't need half the products on the market being sold.
Like you videos, they always release a question in the end, for us to vonder over. One of the most scary things is waking up the next day and all is gone. Is this the reason behing us trying make it as good as possible, and thereby we have an over capasity in filtration. My tank is a 200 US gallon and the sump 26 US gallon, the biggest thing is the mechanical filter that is 8 by 20 inches, and is devided up in fine and course, each is 4 inches thick, and then some fine filter, then 2,5 US gallon bioballs wit a moving bed included, and then 2 US gallon ceramic rings. Next in will be Biohome Ultimate from Pond guru to replace some of the medis, to get rid of the Nitrates.
Sounds like a great set up. And yes, fear and survival are strong motivators 😀👍
One thing I've been noticing is that a lot of the breeders do use just a sponge filter but they also run auto daily water changes. I ain't doing that. So I guess I'll always be looking for the "best" way to help clean my fishes live-in toilet.
Yes, it really is a live-in toilet and we've got to try to privide for the most pristine conditions.
@@BenOchart Yeah but I'm currently researching the best ways to convert my 55 Gal over to an Am Cichlid tank and looking into the different substrates, filter media, water conditioners, etc,etc,etc and I am afraid that my head is going to explode any minute now. Seriously, Thank You for ALL your knowledge and information you put out here. I love your style of not only saying what works but why it works (or doesn't) for you.
I had a sponge filter and a Ziss filter in my male guppy tank..nice clean water but I got fed up with poo everywhere..so changed it for a cheap canister..I could not get over how much cleaner everything was within hours..it's fine changing water and using the vac but really I just wanted to enjoy my fish...I have a mix of alsorts...HOB sponge Ziss...I make filter media last a long time..I think last year it cost me $12 and I have 6 tanks of different sizes...
Hi Ben
In regards of filtration, it depends on the water changes you do and if you have a sump with sponges that have really good surface areas I believe that bio balls are not needed! Canister filters I believe you need both!
Nope! As a matter of fact Ben, I am on a mission to remove all the filter media ( ceramic dodads and charcoal pellets) from my Sunsun canister today. I've some cheap pink filter in a roll coming from eBay to replace it. I've been waiting all week to do this. I have 2 turtles in a 60 gallon tank and all of that 'good' bacteria are smelling up my house. As I've fought the smell I've come to realize my canister filters have become a holding tank/breeding ground for noxious bacteria. All 4 of my canister filters are getting a makeover this weekend. It's nice to see a well known and respected aquarist come to the same conclusion I have. Thank you Ben.
You might want to run a little charcoal for a few weeks to fully remove the bad odor.
with a deep enough (and planned) substrate all you need is sponge to clean off particles
Yes,agreed. I put a plenum in the bottom of my tank as suggested by Dr.Novak.Works wonders I use sponges.
i've been called far worse things than a sucker, lol!!!! I understand exactly what you are saying Ben. The following is just my opinion after being in this hobby for a very long time. You can use hundreds, thousands of different media that will allow the good bacteria to call it home. What many don't realize is that this bacteria is constantly being replaced as it gets older by younger and stronger bacteria. It's also true that the amount of bacteria that you have depends more on the fish and quantity and size of these fish than it does on the amount of media in your filter. One of my tanks is a 55 gal planted tank with Rainbows and other community fish and it is lightly stocked. I have much larger tanks but this is one of my favorites. For filtration I am using an FX4 that is packed with bio home ultimate and one sections of sponges going from coarse to fine. There is enough bio home media in that filter to support a heavy stocked Koi tank that's 4 times the size. I could have used one of the other thousands of media choices for the bacteria to colonize on but when I set the tank up I was getting back into the hobby after a decade off due to severe health issues, and Pond Guru provided a lot of good info and I was curious, so I gave it a shot. When I finally get my 240 gal up and running with a 75 gal sump and an FX6 I would have to refinance my home to load it up with Bio Home the way the FX4 is now, lol!!!! The main reason why so many fail in this hobby has nothing to do with the media they used, it has everything to do with the media between their ears that caused the failure. I can't begin to count how many times I helped people out on fish forums that were having nothing but problems and ready to give up. It amazed me how little they truly understood about what is actually going on in the tank and filter that is never seen by the human eye. Once you truly understand this the success rate soars. Today we have this thing called the world wide web, there is no excuse to not know what is going on in the tank and it won't cost you a penny. When I first got into the hobby over 30 years ago, nobody at any of the fish stores in So.Cal that I went to weekly ever said anything about the nitrogen cycle in my tank. I wonder how much they knew. Your average fish keeper will take a water sample to Petsmart for a free water test and let the person there tell them how many fish they can buy. Just for fun I had a 10 gal tank that I set up so the ammonia was off the chart high and took it into Petsmart to be tested. I was told my water was perfect, I was doing everything right and I could add as many fish as I wanted. This really happened and I am not saying that every Petsmart is like this either. What I am saying is that if you want to be successful in any hobby, but especially in fish keeping, you need to first feed and fill the media between your ears before you ever attempt to do it in your tank and filter. Keep up the great work. Over and Out from NC. Later
Ben u r honest just always keen to learn from others.. very less people do that nowadays
Thank you
I know this much keeping tanks of all sizes close to 30 years with some pretty big fish over the years and I have run about every filter there is and I have run some with a hang on back and cartridge filters only with big fish and once tank is matured I have seen no ammonia in over 20 years even on tanks I let slide for few months do to burn out .I thank we all just love the hype new thing and there glad to take are moneys
There's truth in that. Otherwise there wouldn't be lines of people ready to turn in their working-perfect iPhone 10 for the iPhone 11 ... just because they got to have it. LOL!
I've been saltwater fowlr for three amnd a half years. Never had a filter, skimmer etc. Only wavemaker in 60 gallon with good surface agitation.
In regards to media I think is boils down to reducing nitrate. Can media effectively host anaerobic bacteria to reduce nitrates (biohome, matrix, marine pure etc)? if not then just use sponges.
What are your thoughts on this Kevin. Do you think those high end medias can house anaerobic bacteria?
Hi @@BenOchart I just put 3 liters of matrix in a sun sun 302 with Pond Guru's foam and floss strategy. According to Pond Guru The setup (with bio home ultimate) should get a full cycle on a 60 gallon community tank, so I hope matrix can do a 30 gallon with 2 cichlids. We will see... Right now the only full cycle tank I have is a low bio load (20 shrimp, 2 pair fish Trichopsis pumila, and a lot of plants) 10 gallon with 3 inches of crushed lava rock as substrate. no detectable ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate under 1 ppm.
Texas Aquatics where I buy most of my fish use a single sponge, but they do THREE water changes a week. I am not that dedicated.
I've heard good things about that place. I need to make the little drive and check it out sometime. I'm about 30 minutes outside of Fort Worth.
Your Elite Cichlid Plants look awesome! I love your aquariums. Im keeping all of my bio media just to be safe! LOL But I totally understand what you're saying!
I've been real happy with the Elite Cichlids products. Thank you for watching and commenting Jennifer.
Sir, active carbon also as aquarium media ?◖⚆ᴥ⚆◗
I don’t use it except after medicating
I believe that is unnecessary. Vacuuming out visible detritus/ waste often and doing more water changes is all you need. Water circulation and simply removing particulates is the most important. I've recently discovered that sponges or simple minimal filter media is all that's necessary to keep the water healthy and clear along with partial water changes to keep down ammonia and hormone levels which are released by the fish and stunts their growth. The gravel substrate I use in the tank provides plenty of surface area for the beneficial bacteria to thrive on as long as you don't take it out and overclean it. My water always looks the best and is crystall clear when I simply vacuum out visible particulates, do frequent partial water changes, use minimal filter media and make sure the flow of the filter isnt slowed by detritus/ waste by rinsing it out which keeps the water circulating. Wasting money on all types of filter media is unnecessary. Trust me I've done it and my water still became cloudy unless I was doing the things mentioned above!
It's interesting I was just wondering if two trays full of bio media in my canisters was excessive and then I saw this video! I'm tempted to use one more tray for medium sponges, and then just the final tray for bio media, I figure that setup would allow for less frequent canister maintenance as each canister would handle additional waste and I could go much longer between canister cleaning sessions. But I have Biohome ultra in the top two trays, and I feel as if I'd be wasting such a valuable commodity lol! In some ways many of our aquarium setups are like a complicated science project, but having too much of things is often better than not enough... 4:34 keep in mind "just sponges filters" and no canisters would probably be fine for the fish to survive, but it would not lead to the clearest water for a show tank due obviously to the turnover rate you get with canisters. My tanks are much clearer than the tropical fish store tanks that use just sponge filters connected to an air pump, that's another reason for canisters.
Hi Ben! I know this video is 8 mos old but hopefully I’ll get a reply. I’m battling nitrates at a constant 20ppm in my 30 gallon planted community. I want 0 nitrates. I use hob filters and just bought some biohome plus. Supposedly they recommend me using 2 lbs of this media for a 30 gallon tank. My filter is just not that big (aquaclear 50). What would you do in my situation?
The only good reason for a sump, hang on back, or canister is for better mechanical filtration.
Just saw vid I'm wondering if a person ran say 2 canisters on a 125 one all sponge and the other with floss, rings or bio balls would that work or does all media have to be in same canister
Kevin, watch my video dropping on Tuesday. I believe that a pre filter on the intake and medium/fine sponge in the canister would allow all the rest to be bio media, and because of the pre filter, only need a cleaning every six or so months.
@@BenOchart I know nothing bout prefilters i was just wondering so what in prefilter relative to canister
I have 150 gallon aquarium with know filters. Only power heads. Green terror tank. Been running for 2years.
Are he powerheads filtering like with an intake attachment?
HMF Filter with air are enough for my 2 80 liters aquariums. I never change water, im just fill up water when necessary.
Regards, Martin from Denmark
I think sponge filters are great, I think when you start to hit the 80 gallon mark is when you start using 2. I think the reason the pro breeders use sponge filters is due to the fact that there won't be a fast current for fry, or they won't get sucked up by an intake. Also it keeps detritus and uneaten food on the sponge filter for fry which is why it's a safer filter for fry.
Yes, ideal for breeders, and not sharing the same water makes it less likely to cross contaminate. Thank you for watching.
My opinion. Yes. Thank you.
filter media like Marine pure blocks are actually different. they convert Nitrates into nitrogen gas, that does reduce nitrates and it makes a difference vs other medias that will just convert into nitrates.
Hey Walter, have you looked into the Brightwell NO3 products? Curious what you think if you are familiar with them.
Hello Ben no I have not. But I will take a look for sure.
I agree 100%
Great Video Ben, your a youtube legend. Using just sponges will work fine but downside to that would be the larger volume of water you need to change. 😎
"Legend" ... LOL ... thank you Paul, I appreciate you!
I agree with Ben. The amount of bacteria that will be produced is dependent on the bio load. Once the maximum amount of BB has grown based on the bio load present, additional biological media is a waste of critical space. Instead, focus on mechanical filtration at that point. The more efficient the mechanical filtration is, the least amount of debris will collect on the biological media, enabling it (Biological media/beneficial bacteria) to do its part optimally. While there is BB throughout the aquarium (gravel, decor, etc...), these areas typically lack adequate circulation to nitrify at an effective level as compared to biological media in our filtration system.
Would good water movement, such as that provided by powerheads, help deliver oxygen to those areas?
That is a great question... Since Aerobic BB does exist inside the aquarium (glass, ornaments, plants, etc...) I suspect an increase in flow could result in more Aerobic BB since more oxygen will be recirculated, however, the bio load must be there to support growth. The other limiting factor would be the available (and favorable) surface area for colonization.
As for gravel and sand being densely packed, even with an increase in flow to a specific area of substrate, Aerobic Bacteria is unlikely to populate, especially deep within the substrate bed devoid of oxygen where Anaerobic Bacteria thrives.
I like your videos ( I am a subscriber as well). You provide excellent information and ideas. Your tanks and fish look amazing as well! Very Impressive !
' Consumption '
This word it's the main title of this era
In values, principles, ethics and of course ' money'
And, publicity, social media, are the means to impose the policy of consumption to withdraw money from people's pockets
I'saw people made home filter and cost them only 20$ and ìt's work in effective way just like a'commercial filter cost about 200$ .
Truth, thank you!
I thing what ever works for you and your fish are doing well,i would not change a thing.
You are so right.
I don't know but you're fish look happy and healthy don't fix it if it ain't broken
I only use sponges and nothing else in my canister filter. Crystal clear water and absolutely zero issues with my 9 plecos in a 40 gall tank. It's been quite a long time since i removed all the ceramic media away.
main thing IMO is redundancy... that doesn't mean "all" systems are equal, only that having multiple biological filtration features to a system is smart
Interesting concepts. Always good to give thought to what we are doing and hoe efficient our systems are in the hobby.
I don’t think its any better to go out and buy the bioballs or blocks of highly porous materials. When u can keep it very inexpensive by buying a bag of lava rocks, plain sponges and plastic pot scrubbies from the dollar stores and a huge bag of polyester pillow floss from Michaels. These have been working for me for years. Also instead of chemicals to heal, u can use garlic cloves chopped fine and added to bloodworms and using aquarium salt to heal bacterial, infections in and on fish.
The hobby will go full circle and eventually we will all do it inexpensively and naturally. Like using algae and plants to consume nitrates and add oxygen. Just like nature.
Hi Ben, I think the guys that use only sponge filters in there big tanks are on auto water changes. So the water is getting changed completely every so many hours.
I am young to this hobby and young in general. I am guilty of over building. I have grown to love Lava Rock for decor and filter media. there is a ton of surface area within each rock and thus more in the tank and in the filter. I have a 54 with a sponge and a UGF that has no (filter media bio balls etc..) so my gravel is the bio media along with the rocks and decorations. That tank is crystal clear for about 50$ between pvc, glue, a power head, the sponge filter, and pump. I also have a canister on a 10g and that is also crystal with lava rock in the filter. I know canister on a 10 (i was new and didn't find these videos yet...) My 80g that I was fortunate enough to acquire from a great friend for the hefty price of come get it, Is using a sunsun canister with bio sponge, floss, and 2 trays of lava rock. probably over kill but better then killed fish.
I too have been seeing videos of pet stores on all sponge and breeders on all sponge. My thoughts on that come in several parts.
Breeders and stores are dedicated to those tanks because to them that is a living, OR that is their passion and they have whole rooms dedicated to it. While it is likely the sponge is more then enough, I feel that us as hobbyists don't necessarily have the amount of time to keep up on maintenance as the stores and breeders do. Thus our tanks build up more waste then a bare bottom breeder with a sponge etc. breeders and stores are on auto water changes at 10% a day! I personally keep a check on parameters and change when my nitrates get out of hand or once a month which ever comes first.
So i think that us having many more miles of Beneficial Bacteria is a good thing for the longevity and ENJOYMENT of our tanks that we like to look at from the couch. I personally am very attentive to my tanks and notice issues before they are issues and do my best to prevent problems now that i have gained a much broader knowledge base to do so.
Ben thank you for your videos. You have inspired me and taken away my fears about a cichlid tank. My 80g will ke that tank!
Hi thanks for this info.
Please advise me I have external filter and I want to start lava rocks as biological media!does it has any effects on water parameters such as
Ph
GH
Please advise
Thanks
The FX6 goes for $600(aud). You can make a bigger better filter for $150 and it does a better job.
I totally agree sir. Sponges are way better than spending unneeded money on biohome or even growstone which I personally have 50 lbs of. I've started adding an additional tray of Sponge in my canisters, yes it's a big jump, but 2 trays of Sponge and 2 trays of media seems to be working better actually. The water clarity is definetly better and the fish seem happy. Daddy is happy too, lol.
You've already started conducting the experiment this video was leading to.