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View Full Version : Opinions on this filtration material needed.


hypnoj
06/07/2011, 07:02 PM
I have a question for you guys. With my new tank I've been looking at getting dry rock rubble for the sump.
I have some general large pieces of dry base rock laying around, but most of it doesn't have that many holes or perforations in it to give more surface area. I spend a lot of time on BRS's website and I ran across these two items:

Dry rock rubble:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/dry-rock-rubble.html

Bio-balls:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/miscellaneous/bio-balls-biomedia/marine-pure-ceramic-biomedia-1-50-spheres-2-quart-box.html

The bioballs appealed to me because of the great surface area they have, but the price was more than I wanted to pay (these are actually the cheaper costing ones they have).

Anyways, so I put off buying either and went on vacation to the beach and found these in the sand. I picked a 5 gallon bucket of them. They're shells. I soaked them in bleach water for 1 week and now they're out on my house sidewalk baking in the sun. So... Whatchu guys think? Good idea? Bad idea? I haven't put them in my tank yet, but I'm thinking I might try it. Let the discussion begin.

ChrisKirkland
06/07/2011, 07:09 PM
Those are actually pieces of coral, they would work great for bio filtration. one draw back to just bio filtration is any detris thats enters the filtration system will clog those holes and cause your tank to have a nitrate and phosphate buildup. I would look into running a filter sock (cleaning it once or twice a week) along with the dry rock rubble or bio balls. The sock would be a type of pre-filter.

hypnoj
06/07/2011, 09:16 PM
cool.. My tank is barebottom, so I've been running a filter sock on it already. So far so good!