I don't have marine tanks, but I do have a pond and your video actually helped me so much. Thank you for the ceramic ball tip. That truly helped manage my ponds' life and clearness. I have and use plastic balls and they help, but no where the level that ceramic balls do. Again, thank you so much. Ase.
Great series! I have a couple quips on this one. As others in the comments have pointed out, ceramic biomedia gets clogged rapidly with biofilms, after which it provides less surface area than the plastic bioballs. Also the sponges discussed in the "mechanical filtration" video, when properly maintained, provide massive surface area for biofiltration (really more of a bioreaction, but I digress) and are likely doing more in those HOBs than the little ceramic balls.
This is way too helpful. I have a freshwater tank but really want to know about increasing bacteria colony to keep a cleaner tank and reduce maintenance. This helps a lot. Thanks so much! 😘
Hey while I do love my ceramic media, plastic bio balls do have there place. Ponds I use them in my pond cause I find lava rock / other media tends to get clogged up with a lot of the smaller bits that fall in from tress and what not. not really an issue with most aquariums I imagine. lol
My new tank is currently cycling, this is a really helpful video! In terms of bio filters it a good idea to 'mix' different bacteria in a bottle to create biodeversity in the tank? e.g. Adding Dr Tims AND Microbacter7 AND Bio-Spira? To get lots of different strains of bacteria?
We've tried that with some of our tanks in the past and noticed no noticeable difference vs just using one bacteria source. That said, we've not done an in depth micro biome test on this subject, so this is purely anecdotal.
My heater disintegrated the 2 marine pure cubes I had in the 10gAIO tank that I had setup, definitely will not be using those anymore, I think the more rock the better.
After listening to Dr. Tim’s lectures, he mentions that the plastic ones are better than the ceramic ones since flow is important. Is t there a risk that the ceramic bio balls will crumble?
I add some bottled bacteria if I’m washing the media’s and sponges. If not then no Unless I’m adding 3 or so fish at the same time then I add about 30-50% of the needed total tank volume BB
Biology is the key. I run my Red Sea max nano with no skimmer, no3- 0 🤷♂️. No matter what I do nitrates are always between 0-2. Very stable and strong system based only on biology. 👌
Hello. I just got into the saltwater world and I really love all of these videos. They are very helpful. With that said I do have some issues and it is definitely me lol. I bought a used evo 13.5 tank and it was supposed to be all ready to go. I bought a tester kit and I don't know what to do now. I do not have any fish yet (only live rock). My PH is at about 7.9, ammonia is about 1-1.5, Nitrite is at 0.25, and nitrate is sitting very high at 160ppm. What do I need to do to get these to proper levels. I have a skimmer and from another video I watched you stated not to turn that on yet. The tank was established about a year ago so I thought I would be ready to go but I guess not. My filtration is: First back tank has the skimmer, then the middle tank has sponge at the bottom and just above that it has ceramic pieces (I believe that is stock from the tank), then in the third chamber is the heater and return pump. Just really not sure at this point what I need to do to get the levels better. Do I need more filtration and if so what should I get?
Good news is that you don't have any fish yet. The high ammonia and nitrates suggest that the tank's biological filter isn't very stable. I would start by performing a near 100% water change to help knock back your nitrate levels. Just try not to disturb the rock and sand when you do this as that's where most of the good bacteria live. From there, continue to monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. You'll want to see 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrite before you add your first fish to the system. Try getting into the habit of performing weekly 10% water changes now. Since your aquarium is relatively small, this should be pretty quick and easy to do.
Ultimately, it shouldn't matter a whole lot. I would prioritize making the chemical media easy to swap out as the bio media shouldn't need to be replaced. If you can place the bio media in a higher flow area, that will usually help keep detritus away.
When you say carbon dosing i added 2 bags of chemipure blue to my 105 reef should i remove it? Its a new tank with half dry rock half cured live rock thanks
Despite the similar name, carbon dosing and using carbon media are two different things. Carbon dosing is usually a liquid like Red Sea's NoPox or even vinegar or vodka. In a nutshell, carbon dosing is adding "food" for beneficial bacteria to reproduce to a population size larger than the tank could naturally support on it's own. Carbon media, on the other hand, has nothing to do with this process and is a great tool for keeping crystal clear water, regardless of the nutrient levels or age of your system 🙂
Nice video! Can I use foam sponge as biological media? (Because I think foam sponge have lot of surface area too) Maybe I can cut it in small pieces or cubes and use it behind mechanical filtration. Thanks!
A sponge could absolutely count as surface area for biological filtration. Just make sure that you wring it out every so often to help dislodge any detritus that gets trapped. That's probably the biggest negative to using a sponge for that purpose.
The best thing you can do is get a frag from your LFS that keeps a nice and mature reef tank and put that water in your tank. That will be 100x's better than anything you'll ever get in a bottle.
Plastic bio balls have their place in the aquarium but I feel they're more suited towards overstocked and overfed fresh water tanks. People don't usually overstock or overfeed their salt water tanks unless they're new. Freshwater tanks on the other hand tend to carry some pretty big fish and people LOVE to overstock. Overstocking involves overfeeding which would mean ammonia spikes. This why I say plastic bio balls for freshwater tanks because plastic bio balls handle ammonia and nitrite very well whereas ceramic media handles nitrates very well. You have the aerobic and the anaerobic bacteria on ceramic media but then you have super aerobic bacteria which lives on things like the plastic bio balls for trickle-down filters. tldr, imo - plastic bioballs for freshwater otherwise ceramic only in the sump. I will also state that using ceramic biomedia in a trickle down filter can sometimes get clogged. Talk about nitrate spikes...
I like to use plastic biological balls the do not clog you do not have to replace them and they’re there forever I just got a Fluvel 13 1/2 gallon after being out of the hobby for the past seven years i’ve been in the hobby for a long time since the 60s I sold my house seven years ago moved to a condominium and has to get rid of all my reef tanks and fish tanks in the past using a wet dry I will use these blue Plastic bio balls they were too big for my little tank so I needed something smaller to fit in the filter chamber so I found this little black plastic biological balls made for ponds they fit perfect and the chamber so I filled up the chamber where the protein skimmer is supposed to go I don’t plan to use the protein skimmer the tank is small enough that it will be easy for me to maintain and do a 25% water change twice a week what do you think The problem I have found was ceramic media they get clogged and you have to replace them taking all the biological bacteria with it please let me know if the plastic bio balls are still OK to use I am Old timer and and use the old way of doing things when I start it in the Hobby there was not all the things that are available now so we rely on water changes to keep everything alive love you videos thank you for your answer I appreciate it
I’ve been carbon dosing for a while . I checked my nitrate level and it was zero . I stopped dosing carbon for a few days so that my nitrate level could rise and that was a huge mistake ever since my tank crashed with Dino all over and it’s taking time to recover
Interesting that you had dinos show up after letting the nitrates come up. Usually it's the opposite and dinos appear when your nitrates/phosphates hit zero.
What will happen if I put some sugar one time. That will increase my bacteria right? Okay if I have too much of bacteria and I didn't do it again what will happen ???? I mean what will happen if I hace too much of bacteria
It sounds like you're describing carbon dosing. Basically adding food for bacteria so that they reproduce and live in the aquarium in larger numbers than they'd normally be able to sustain. There will come a point where there is too much of this bacteria in the tank and your water can become very cloudy. The bacteria also utilize oxygen in the water so too much bacteria can result in lower oxygen levels in the aquarium.
@@BulkReefSupply Thank you vso much. You are the best TH-cam channel explaining the biological cycle. I benefited a lot from you. And I'm sorry about my bad English 🤗
Bio Pellets can be harder to implement than some people think. It's crucial to get the pellets tumbling properly otherwise they could actually do more harm than good.
Any surface can provide a home for bacteria. That goes for live rock from the ocean, Real Reef rock, Marco Rock, and many many other options. Some are certainly more porous than others, but we've seen wildly successful tanks using all of these options.
Hard to compare apples to apples as each brand has slightly different form factors. That said, don't get caught up in comparing brands. Pick a form factor that works best for your setup and go with that 🙂
@@BulkReefSupply my setup is a canister. i don't care about brands just looking to see what type has the most surface area google isn't helping much with it. people recommend siporax and matrix but can't seem to find actual surface area detail by the labels. looking to switch out 1 chamber of my canister to fully bio media the next time i open it
Seachem Matrix and Eheim Substrate Pro are both affordable and wideley available medias that are both suitable for Saltwater setups. And both are perfect for Cannister filters.
@@dennisvanopstal7360 i appreciate that bro i saw the matrix already eyeing that i'll look into the Eheim substrate pro. i want to keep 2-4 different types i have the standard fluval fx6 ones rn
@@MrDon967 Eheim also has another media, these are little squares with a dent in it. Eheim Biomech They are designed to also catch detritus. So its a hybrid between mechanical and biological. Might want to check that out also.
Live rock + live sand + bottle of bacteria and fish-in (2 clowns) cycle = greater chance of success? Could also do above and fishless with bottle of ammonium chloride? Thanks!
My tank is 200L with 1-tomato clown and 1-Pajama Cardinal fish. During water testing I always get perfect marks except the PH which is in the mid mark. With 5kg ceramic filter and 4kg plastic balls on a 5-layer drip box being pumped by a SOBO AQ-909F UV canister filter. I love how this clown fish behaves because he keep asking for food every time you get near the tank and he keeps swimming also but not afraid when I clean the tank. Don't get any of the NEMO looking Clowns because they just stay on specific area of the tank and so boring to watch.
So in Dr. Tims macna talk he specifically says not to go and buy those ceramic balls because water cant pass through them well enough and therefore recommends the plastic bio balls for nitrifying bacteria to settle on. Why do you say the opposite, Dr. Tim gives a thorough explanation but here it seems all you care about is surface area but not how nutrients can reach inside it.
First myth: Cycling a tank. We are not in the 80‘s any more. Second myth: Ceramic is good for a tank. Silicates? Use Siporax, it is glass, so no pollution, and water can run through it.
Ayeee! Love matthew! Glad you guys signed him
Super informative, thanks!
I'm glad you found it helpful!
I became enriched with knowledge...thank you Sir
I don't have marine tanks, but I do have a pond and your video actually helped me so much. Thank you for the ceramic ball tip. That truly helped manage my ponds' life and clearness. I have and use plastic balls and they help, but no where the level that ceramic balls do. Again, thank you so much. Ase.
I absolutely love this dude. I feel so much smarter after watching his videos lol.
Great series! I have a couple quips on this one. As others in the comments have pointed out, ceramic biomedia gets clogged rapidly with biofilms, after which it provides less surface area than the plastic bioballs. Also the sponges discussed in the "mechanical filtration" video, when properly maintained, provide massive surface area for biofiltration (really more of a bioreaction, but I digress) and are likely doing more in those HOBs than the little ceramic balls.
absolutely truth 🙌
This is way too helpful. I have a freshwater tank but really want to know about increasing bacteria colony to keep a cleaner tank and reduce maintenance. This helps a lot. Thanks so much! 😘
.... I had no idea this channel existed! Very good episode!
21 in and I feel like I learned a new language thank you for this series
Yay, glad they picked you up!
Great video! Thanks again!
Good to see you back with this series! 😎
Carbon dosing works little bit different(more complicated) than you say mate, but w/e this is a beginner guide so all good :)
Great video as always 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hey while I do love my ceramic media, plastic bio balls do have there place. Ponds I use them in my pond cause I find lava rock / other media tends to get clogged up with a lot of the smaller bits that fall in from tress and what not. not really an issue with most aquariums I imagine. lol
They do, but its a given that plastic media has a smaller surface area than sintered glass media for example.
Matthew I adore you, your videos are just so completely lovely and your cheerfulness really helps.❤
Hi great video i question can you use pumice stone as bio media.
Another helpful episode on my journey, thanks! 🤜
I use Seachem Matrix exclusively both in my fresh- and saltwater tanks and I have never had any issues.
So much info!! These videos are amazing.
Is this the same for freshwater too? Will the bacteria form by itself?
You can wait for things to happen over time, or you could add any number of bacterial products to help jump start things.
Thank you for the info!!
My new tank is currently cycling, this is a really helpful video! In terms of bio filters it a good idea to 'mix' different bacteria in a bottle to create biodeversity in the tank? e.g. Adding Dr Tims AND Microbacter7 AND Bio-Spira? To get lots of different strains of bacteria?
We've tried that with some of our tanks in the past and noticed no noticeable difference vs just using one bacteria source. That said, we've not done an in depth micro biome test on this subject, so this is purely anecdotal.
My heater disintegrated the 2 marine pure cubes I had in the 10gAIO tank that I had setup, definitely will not be using those anymore, I think the more rock the better.
After listening to Dr. Tim’s lectures, he mentions that the plastic ones are better than the ceramic ones since flow is important. Is t there a risk that the ceramic bio balls will crumble?
The ceramic balls or other form factor of ceramic media certainly aren't as durable as plastic, but will get the job done just fine for our purposes.
I add some bottled bacteria if I’m washing the media’s and sponges. If not then no
Unless I’m adding 3 or so fish at the same time then I add about 30-50% of the needed total tank volume BB
Biology is the key. I run my Red Sea max nano with no skimmer, no3- 0 🤷♂️. No matter what I do nitrates are always between 0-2. Very stable and strong system based only on biology. 👌
The ceramic biological media dust is going into my display an making my sandbed dirty any tips
replace it with 30ppi foam or pot scrubbers
Doing a great job matt
Hello. I just got into the saltwater world and I really love all of these videos. They are very helpful. With that said I do have some issues and it is definitely me lol. I bought a used evo 13.5 tank and it was supposed to be all ready to go. I bought a tester kit and I don't know what to do now. I do not have any fish yet (only live rock). My PH is at about 7.9, ammonia is about 1-1.5, Nitrite is at 0.25, and nitrate is sitting very high at 160ppm.
What do I need to do to get these to proper levels. I have a skimmer and from another video I watched you stated not to turn that on yet. The tank was established about a year ago so I thought I would be ready to go but I guess not.
My filtration is: First back tank has the skimmer, then the middle tank has sponge at the bottom and just above that it has ceramic pieces (I believe that is stock from the tank), then in the third chamber is the heater and return pump.
Just really not sure at this point what I need to do to get the levels better. Do I need more filtration and if so what should I get?
Good news is that you don't have any fish yet. The high ammonia and nitrates suggest that the tank's biological filter isn't very stable. I would start by performing a near 100% water change to help knock back your nitrate levels. Just try not to disturb the rock and sand when you do this as that's where most of the good bacteria live.
From there, continue to monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. You'll want to see 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrite before you add your first fish to the system.
Try getting into the habit of performing weekly 10% water changes now. Since your aquarium is relatively small, this should be pretty quick and easy to do.
@@BulkReefSupply Sounds good. I will keep you posted. One friend suggested that because I just added the live rock it could be doing a cycle.
Bio before chemical or after?
Ultimately, it shouldn't matter a whole lot. I would prioritize making the chemical media easy to swap out as the bio media shouldn't need to be replaced. If you can place the bio media in a higher flow area, that will usually help keep detritus away.
Plastic bio balls are the free with your filter biomedia. Everyone I know just uses ceramics
When you say carbon dosing i added 2 bags of chemipure blue to my 105 reef should i remove it? Its a new tank with half dry rock half cured live rock thanks
Despite the similar name, carbon dosing and using carbon media are two different things. Carbon dosing is usually a liquid like Red Sea's NoPox or even vinegar or vodka. In a nutshell, carbon dosing is adding "food" for beneficial bacteria to reproduce to a population size larger than the tank could naturally support on it's own.
Carbon media, on the other hand, has nothing to do with this process and is a great tool for keeping crystal clear water, regardless of the nutrient levels or age of your system 🙂
Nice video!
Can I use foam sponge as biological media? (Because I think foam sponge have lot of surface area too)
Maybe I can cut it in small pieces or cubes and use it behind mechanical filtration.
Thanks!
A sponge could absolutely count as surface area for biological filtration. Just make sure that you wring it out every so often to help dislodge any detritus that gets trapped. That's probably the biggest negative to using a sponge for that purpose.
and you dont need to clean em right?
Where is episode 1??? I want to start from the beginning
Here is a link to the full playlist 😀
th-cam.com/play/PL53kwcE7KD-d0A-qXZ07iH1Fl0M3qWYsL.html
@@BulkReefSupply thanks love the channel so glad ur on the BRS team 🏴 🇬🇧 England
The best thing you can do is get a frag from your LFS that keeps a nice and mature reef tank and put that water in your tank. That will be 100x's better than anything you'll ever get in a bottle.
Plastic bio balls have their place in the aquarium but I feel they're more suited towards overstocked and overfed fresh water tanks. People don't usually overstock or overfeed their salt water tanks unless they're new. Freshwater tanks on the other hand tend to carry some pretty big fish and people LOVE to overstock. Overstocking involves overfeeding which would mean ammonia spikes. This why I say plastic bio balls for freshwater tanks because plastic bio balls handle ammonia and nitrite very well whereas ceramic media handles nitrates very well. You have the aerobic and the anaerobic bacteria on ceramic media but then you have super aerobic bacteria which lives on things like the plastic bio balls for trickle-down filters.
tldr, imo - plastic bioballs for freshwater otherwise ceramic only in the sump. I will also state that using ceramic biomedia in a trickle down filter can sometimes get clogged. Talk about nitrate spikes...
I like to use plastic biological balls the do not clog you do not have to replace them and they’re there forever I just got a Fluvel 13 1/2 gallon after being out of the hobby for the past seven years i’ve been in the hobby for a long time since the 60s I sold my house seven years ago moved to a condominium and has to get rid of all my reef tanks and fish tanks in the past using a wet dry I will use these blue Plastic bio balls they were too big for my little tank so I needed something smaller to fit in the filter chamber so I found this little black plastic biological balls made for ponds they fit perfect and the chamber so I filled up the chamber where the protein skimmer is supposed to go I don’t plan to use the protein skimmer the tank is small enough that it will be easy for me to maintain and do a 25% water change twice a week what do you think The problem I have found was ceramic media they get clogged and you have to replace them taking all the biological bacteria with it please let me know if the plastic bio balls are still OK to use I am Old timer and and use the old way of doing things when I start it in the Hobby there was not all the things that are available now so we rely on water changes to keep everything alive love you videos thank you for your answer I appreciate it
I’ve been carbon dosing for a while . I checked my nitrate level and it was zero . I stopped dosing carbon for a few days so that my nitrate level could rise and that was a huge mistake ever since my tank crashed with Dino all over and it’s taking time to recover
Interesting that you had dinos show up after letting the nitrates come up. Usually it's the opposite and dinos appear when your nitrates/phosphates hit zero.
What will happen if I put some sugar one time. That will increase my bacteria right? Okay if I have too much of bacteria and I didn't do it again what will happen ????
I mean what will happen if I hace too much of bacteria
It sounds like you're describing carbon dosing. Basically adding food for bacteria so that they reproduce and live in the aquarium in larger numbers than they'd normally be able to sustain. There will come a point where there is too much of this bacteria in the tank and your water can become very cloudy. The bacteria also utilize oxygen in the water so too much bacteria can result in lower oxygen levels in the aquarium.
@@BulkReefSupply
Thank you vso much. You are the best TH-cam channel explaining the biological cycle. I benefited a lot from you.
And I'm sorry about my bad English 🤗
Why is bio pallets not recommended for beginners
Bio Pellets can be harder to implement than some people think. It's crucial to get the pellets tumbling properly otherwise they could actually do more harm than good.
@@BulkReefSupply what is right way of implementing it then? Is it safe to use it along with UV?
my lfs told me that man made reef rock is not a good place for bacteria. Is that true?
Any surface can provide a home for bacteria. That goes for live rock from the ocean, Real Reef rock, Marco Rock, and many many other options. Some are certainly more porous than others, but we've seen wildly successful tanks using all of these options.
Nice
Which media has the MOST surface area?
Matrix?
Hard to compare apples to apples as each brand has slightly different form factors. That said, don't get caught up in comparing brands. Pick a form factor that works best for your setup and go with that 🙂
@@BulkReefSupply my setup is a canister. i don't care about brands just looking to see what type has the most surface area google isn't helping much with it.
people recommend siporax and matrix but can't seem to find actual surface area detail by the labels. looking to switch out 1 chamber of my canister to fully bio media the next time i open it
Seachem Matrix and Eheim Substrate Pro are both affordable and wideley available medias that are both suitable for Saltwater setups.
And both are perfect for Cannister filters.
@@dennisvanopstal7360 i appreciate that bro i saw the matrix already eyeing that i'll look into the Eheim substrate pro. i want to keep 2-4 different types i have the standard fluval fx6 ones rn
@@MrDon967 Eheim also has another media, these are little squares with a dent in it. Eheim Biomech
They are designed to also catch detritus.
So its a hybrid between mechanical and biological.
Might want to check that out also.
Bubble size tells water tension.
Live rock + live sand + bottle of bacteria and fish-in (2 clowns) cycle = greater chance of success?
Could also do above and fishless with bottle of ammonium chloride?
Thanks!
Yes, I do it to cycle dry rock before adding to an established tank.
My tank is 200L with 1-tomato clown and 1-Pajama Cardinal fish. During water testing I always get perfect marks except the PH which is in the mid mark.
With 5kg ceramic filter and 4kg plastic balls on a 5-layer drip box being pumped by a SOBO AQ-909F UV canister filter.
I love how this clown fish behaves because he keep asking for food every time you get near the tank and he keeps swimming also but not afraid when I clean the tank.
Don't get any of the NEMO looking Clowns because they just stay on specific area of the tank and so boring to watch.
Biofilter provide waste treatment by removing uneaten fish feed??
So in Dr. Tims macna talk he specifically says not to go and buy those ceramic balls because water cant pass through them well enough and therefore recommends the plastic bio balls for nitrifying bacteria to settle on. Why do you say the opposite, Dr. Tim gives a thorough explanation but here it seems all you care about is surface area but not how nutrients can reach inside it.
Pumice stone.
First myth: Cycling a tank. We are not in the 80‘s any more.
Second myth: Ceramic is good for a tank. Silicates? Use Siporax, it is glass, so no pollution, and water can run through it.