Ceramic Biomedia Plates

[whatchamacallit]

I recently have watched some of the BRS videos on how they use them in their new tank. Is anyone else running this? I like the idea of having it in the baffle and having extra space for bacteria to grow. Is it worth to have or is it not as special as its made out to be? Thanks in advance!

 

[whatchamacallit]

Dang nobody? Lol

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

You cannot have too much biological filtration. The more, the better. Of course this is assuming you're not trapping a bunch of waste somehow within the media.

I use small chunks of live rock in small pond baskets (generally for pond plants), I had extra rock build up over the years and smacked it with a hammer

 

[joshkirkland83]

Dang nobody? Lol

Theres a few on here that swear by them. The pictures ive seen they stack them where live rock or bio balls would go.

 

[Ryengoth]

It's cheaper to just use double-layer poly filter if you want to build a bio-filter mass. Press it into a V shape and hang it over the sump dividers so the flow and light spread across the down- stream section. That section will likely float near the surface. It'll load up with algae, pods and bacteria galore in a few weeks. The plates are good if you want a solid place to attach a selection coral to and add additional filtration in the display area, but I just can't see how it'd be useful in a sump or overflow by itself.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I recently have watched some of the BRS videos on how they use them in their new tank. Is anyone else running this? I like the idea of having it in the baffle and having extra space for bacteria to grow. Is it worth to have or is it not as special as its made out to be? Thanks in advance!

Some folks think they help keep nitrate lowers (which may be a benefit for some folks).

They may also release aluminum, which might be a detriment (or not; the chronic effects of low levels of aluminum have not been demonstrated).

 

[Epicreefster]

I have used the cermedia cubes on aquaculture and quarantine systems in the past. Given these systems have very little surface area, just tank walls and plumbing, they were plagued with high ammonia and nitrite readings, after about three weeks both dropped to zero, nitrates are controlled with water changes. So I think they do work for certain implementations but I would not force water through them in any way, rather use them passively in the sump, because they seem to have the structure of a filter sponge you can't ring out. For most reef tanks with sand they are probably unnecessary. People have reported denitrification with the bigger blocks, but the sales rep couldn't really offer much insight into this so its a bit of trial and error. Are they better than bioballs, definitely, but with live rock and sand in a low nutrient input reef tank, I don't know... For fish only tanks and some specialty filtration setups I think they are great.

 

[whatchamacallit]

Thanks for everyone's input! I plan on running it between my baffles. I understand the "trapping the waste" but I run socks 24/7 and nothing gets into my sump as it's always spotless. I'll update this thread after I let it sit in the tank for a bit!

 

[reefwiser]

I use the Balls in my current tank. Great product I was able to place the balls in a buddy's tank then relocate them when I was ready to get my tank wet. Worked Like a charm.