Alternative biological filter media

[legionofdoon]

So moral of the story is no don't use clay,lava rock or pea gravel in a marine tank.

 

[Elijahyar]

So moral of the story is no don't use clay,lava rock or pea gravel in a marine tank.

My understanding is its basically inert. Its sintered at high temps so it has the honey comb type structure providing the surface are you would want and again from my understanding good quality ones don't generally breakdown rapidly. Once washed with ro water should be ok. If it could be used it would save so much cash because you can buy 50 litres of the stuff for around $30aud.

 

[legionofdoon]

The only problem is the silicates and lack of buffering capacity. Like I said previously it works very well in fresh water and for the reasons you said it has a tremendous amount of surface area. If you couldn't use lava rock for filtration no one would use the black sand in reef tanks and Hawaii would not have any reefs.

 

[outhouse]

If you couldn't use lava rock for filtration no one would use the black sand in reef tanks and Hawaii would not have any reefs.

More utter nonsense. There is no comparison to the open sea and an aquarium, that is exactly why ocean reefs are fine with black sand. Very few if any people use and are successful with black sand in a reef tank. Again , no one is using lava rock in a successful reef tank. Nor should anyone read this utter nonsense and think they might be able to get away with it.

 

[jt8791]

Is it really that much cheaper than dry aragonite base rock? Even so it might not be worth the savings after you consider the drawbacks to it. I wouldn’t put any rock or sand in a marine tank that isn’t aragonite based.

 

[Tamberav]

Hi guys I'm new here and new to reefing! This is my 1st post so be easy with me!! Just wondering if anyone has had success with the expanded clay aggregate commonly used I the hydroponic trade as a biological filter media? It seems to have a lot of the same qualities as something lije marine pure etc. But substantially more affordable. Anyone??

If you have rock then you don’t need any biological filter media if you don’t want it. I personally never use it in my tropical reef tanks.

 

[Tamberav]

My cold water reef is sand and rock from a freshwater Great Lake.

But live rock and argonite sand were just not going to look right for a cold water reef ykno….

But ya I use traditional live rock in tropical reef tanks

 

[legionofdoon]

More utter nonsense. There is no comparison to the open sea and an aquarium, that is exactly why ocean reefs are fine with black sand. Very few if any people use and are successful with black sand in a reef tank. Again , no one is using lava rock in a successful reef tank. Nor should anyone read this utter nonsense and think they might be able to get away with it.

Ok boomer no one has ever used lava rock in a marine tank ever! We get it

 

[legionofdoon]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/use-of-volcanic-rock-in-our-tanks.528065/ oh look this thread has been done before and an actual geologist said it should be ok as long as it's the right kind and it's rinsed.

 

[legionofdoon]

Post in thread 'Are these dead?' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/are-these-dead.849394/post-9244575

 

[legionofdoon]

And here is a picture of a successful lava rock reef tank. Go flush yourself outhouse

 

[outhouse]

Your poor advise noted, and lack of compression noted. We still do not recommend lava Rock. Only noobs do such. The tank is not proven successful in any way. Sone guy threw a lot of money at it, and no idea what his long term success even is. You are absurd and upset. Go cry elsewhere

 

[brandon429]

guys you're making this sound like one of the nitrite threads I post in.

lol meaning this is how MN and I always wind up; be better lol.

 

[legionofdoon]

Lol you're right I'm not compressed at all. I did not recommend and even stated that it could cause problems. You made a statement that I proved wrong and it has been done, If you actually had better reading COMPREHENSION then you'd understand that. Don't know what I did to tick you off but hopefully you can get over it in time.

 

[legionofdoon]

The final step in healing is acceptance, the faster you understand that you were wrong the healthier you will be.