what should i put in my media basket?

[Rp Marine]

cylinder ceramic piece in my media basket. what do your think about it? any recommendation?

[Reefland]

What kind of filter are you talking about putting media in? The general consensus is that filter media is bad to use unless they are cleaned/replaced very often. Various types of media trap detritus, waste that will not be processed and lead to nitrates.

Scott Z.

[Rp Marine]

What kind of filter are you talking about putting media in? The general consensus is that filter media is bad to use unless they are cleaned/replaced very often. Various types of media trap detritus, waste that will not be processed and lead to nitrates.

Scott Z.

it is a wet/dry 330 penguim power filter w/bio weel. i heard that ceramic cylinder work good to creat bio organism

[Reefland]

As mentioned, you really have to watch these "bio wheels" and various types of other bio and filter media. The only way to prevent them from becoming traps is to clean them and clean them often but then you are cleaning away the bacteria that has developed on them for filtration so your back to square 1. It's best to do without it, period. Live rock is all you need to build and maintain your live filtration.

Regards,
Scott Z.

[Rp Marine]

As mentioned, you really have to watch these "bio wheels" and various types of other bio and filter media. The only way to prevent them from becoming traps is to clean them and clean them often but then you are cleaning away the bacteria that has developed on them for filtration so your back to square 1. It's best to do without it, period. Live rock is all you need to build and maintain your live filtration.

Regards,
Scott Z.

thanx for the infomaion im planing to put 30lb of live rock. so u think i don't need the bio wheel? i thought the bio wheel will help with the filtration with the bio organism that is on the wheel

[Reefland]

I would not mess with it. The potential benefit does not out-weight what the required maintanence will be in my opinion. If you want to remove the wheel and just use the unit to move some water, that will be fine.

Regards,
Scott Z.

[Mekong]

A bio-wheel wont trap much waste at all in it, unlike trickle filters. And is cleaning a sponge out once a week really that much maintenance? I don’t think so. But then again I do weekly or twice a weekly water changes for my puffers.

[Reefland]

Any type of filter material with water passing through it has the potential to catch waste, which leads to nutrient build-ups. Cleaning them often to some people isn't that big of a deal but if your cleaning them, then what purpose are they really serving? Sponges, filter floss and other types of media are usefuly for temporary use if the water needs a bit of polishing but for continued, long-term use, I do not see the need.

Scott Z.

[Amphibious]

What Scott is trying to get across to you is that any kind of canister, hang-on or trickle wet-dry filter eventually becomes a Nitrate sink or trap causing you much headache in the future.

My guess is the LFS store sold you this antiquated piece of equipment. The reason they do that are many.

1st, they are cheap compared to alternative systems and they don't want to blow the sale by going over the buyers perceived budget.

2nd, Many and I mean most, LFSs have not kept up with the changing methodology of reef keeping.

3rd, They cater to beginners who don't know what they are supposed to look for because it's usually AFTER the sale the beginner starts seeking advice. Usually when a disaster has already happened.

My advice buy a good "current" book on reef keeping. One of the best, IMHO, is Anthony Calfo"s ."Reef Invertebrates" and my personal recomendation.

[Beaker]

cylinder ceramic piece in my media basket. what do your think about it? any recommendation?

As mentioned in an earlier post. I have read of some people that take common drinking straw and cut them up into small segments 1/2" or so. Then put them in a water permeable mesh bag whuch is then placed in the filter. The nice thing about this idea, other than being incredable inexpensive, is the ease of maintainece. You don't even have to turn the filter off. Just pull the bag out when it gets gunky and hose it out thoroughly and plop it back in.
The ceramic pieces would habour all kinds of bacteria, which is not a bad thing. However, bacteria do multiple so occational harvesting of the bacteria is called for in the form or regular cleanings. The most important bacteria, however, are the anerobic nitrobacter. These are common in the oxygen poor envionment of sediment. And that is why many of us use DSB. In my previous tank I had such a good flora of bacteria in my DSB that there where occational bubbles of ammonia given off from the DSB.