Necessity of Biomedia

[zdrc]

How necessary is it to have dedicated biomedia in the filter of a reef tank?

For reference, this is in a used 12 gallon aquapod AIO. I won't be running mechanical filtration. I will have a mini fuge in the largest of the back compartments with a submersible light, macroalgae, and maybe some rubble. I will have a sand bed (not a deep sand bed) and ~1lb per gallon of rock. I'm going to try to get some good live rock, but some of it will probably be dry rock. Besides the mini fuge, I won't have any other media in the back (I may add some chemical filtration media as needed).

 

[CoralB]

As long as you have enough rock in the tank with good flow to it proportion to how much bio load you be producing with feeding , fish waste , etc . I think what you’ve stated is fine . I would add floss or filter pad to pick up large particles before the refugium.

 

[Idech]

IMO in a reef tank mechanical media is a lot more important than bio media. The rocks are bio media.

 

[Jedi1199]

IMO in a reef tank mechanical media is a lot more important than bio media. The rocks are bio media.

I agree with this. Especially in a smaller tank. Those unconsumed particles will throw your water out of whack very easily. I personally just added a Fluval 307 to my 32g Bio-Cube yesterday, aimed at just this issue. The AIO mechanical filtration is laughable at best.

There is a thread back somewhere in here where I personally ripped my 32 to bare glass, washed off all of the rocks under tap water, washed the sand, yadda yadda.. Basically I restarted that tank as if new. The rocks alone held enough bacteria that the tank skip cycled immediately and I was able to reassemble the tank the next day.

 

[CookieRdReef]

Bio media is only important if you have no live rock (clownfish hosting a ceramic pirate ship if that is your jam).

 

[Cantusaurus]

Wait. No mechanical filtration?? Mechanical is a must IMO. Removes detritus with ease. If you don't have mechanical filtration then detritus will accumulate in the AIO chambers and in the skimmer and return pump). Also biomedia helps keep things stable. You can get Seachem Matrix or Marinepure Gems, and put them in a media bag (they're small, but a little goes A LONG WAY. There's so much surface area. Live rock is not nearly as porous, and the water and flowing right through it as well.

 

[Jedi1199]

Bio media is only important if you have no live rock (clownfish hosting a ceramic pirate ship if that is your jam).

This is misleading. EVERY surface in your tank is a place for bacteria to attach. "Live rock" is not needed. ANY porous surface is a breeding ground for Nitrifying bacteria to thrive.

All 3 of my tanks were started with the same 2 pieces of dry rock, from an established system. I suppose you could call it "live rock" as these pieces were fully established with all of the bacterial colonies required to instantly skip-cycle a tank.

I keep several pieces of rock in my tanks to gift to newbies who want to get a tank started without the usual 3-5 week cycle period.

 

[rossco]

The rubble should be fine if there is enough of it. I had a Dino outbreak 5 years ago in my 12 gal Aquapod that I had set up with just the sponge filter and without the ceramic media. It ran fine for quite a while that way. There is a few medium sized rocks in the tank.

To cure the Dinos I added the ceramic media and the Dino’s went away shortly thereafter, and have never come back. It is still up and running.

 

[CoralB]

Wow !!! , Did any of you read zdrc’s post ???

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

This is misleading. EVERY surface in your tank is a place for bacteria to attach. "Live rock" is not needed. ANY porous surface is a breeding ground for Nitrifying bacteria to thrive.

All 3 of my tanks were started with the same 2 pieces of dry rock, from an established system. I suppose you could call it "live rock" as these pieces were fully established with all of the bacterial colonies required to instantly skip-cycle a tank.

I keep several pieces of rock in my tanks to gift to newbies who want to get a tank started without the usual 3-5 week cycle period.

That's the exact definition of "live rock" from a cycling standpoint.

 

[Jedi1199]

That's the exact definition of "live rock" from a cycling standpoint.

I agree Erin, but I feel that when most people (myself included) hear the term "Live Rock", they think about ocean harvested rock complete with bacteria, and whatever living critters are attached at the time of harvest.

Perhaps I should call my rock "Aquacultured" and then charge 5 times what its worth.. lol

 

[CookieRdReef]

This is misleading. EVERY surface in your tank is a place for bacteria to attach. "Live rock" is not needed. ANY porous surface is a breeding ground for Nitrifying bacteria to thrive.

All 3 of my tanks were started with the same 2 pieces of dry rock, from an established system. I suppose you could call it "live rock" as these pieces were fully established with all of the bacterial colonies required to instantly skip-cycle a tank.

I keep several pieces of rock in my tanks to gift to newbies who want to get a tank started without the usual 3-5 week cycle period.

This is misleading. EVERY surface in your tank is a place for bacteria to attach. "Live rock" is not needed. ANY porous surface is a breeding ground for Nitrifying bacteria to thrive.

All 3 of my tanks were started with the same 2 pieces of dry rock, from an established system. I suppose you could call it "live rock" as these pieces were fully established with all of the bacterial colonies required to instantly skip-cycle a tank.

I keep several pieces of rock in my tanks to gift to newbies who want to get a tank started without the usual 3-5 week cycle period.

Pardon my wording. Substitue the word "live" for the word "porous". Ceramic media is not necessary is a true statement. It may be more useful in certain situations- no sand, not much "porous" surface.

 

[CoralB]

How necessary is it to have dedicated biomedia in the filter of a reef tank?

For reference, this is in a used 12 gallon aquapod AIO. I won't be running mechanical filtration. I will have a mini fuge in the largest of the back compartments with a submersible light, macroalgae, and maybe some rubble. I will have a sand bed (not a deep sand bed) and ~1lb per gallon of rock. I'm going to try to get some good live rock, but some of it will probably be dry rock. Besides the mini fuge, I won't have any other media in the back (I may add some chemical filtration media as needed).

ZDRC to answer your question , no you don’t need dedicated biomaterial in your filter area provided as I said earlier that you have enough rock in the tank . I would use mechanical filtration in the form of floss , filter pad , sponge etc. to catch large particles from going into your refugium. With what else you’ve stated and proper water changes and occasional siphoning of the bottom substrate when your doing your water changes is fine as long as you don’t overstocked . I would make sure it’s cycled before adding livestock .good luck !!!

 

[Jedi1199]

Pardon my wording. Substitue the word "live" for the word "porous". Ceramic media is not necessary is a true statement. It may be more useful in certain situations- no sand, not much "porous" surface.

I should add... All 3 of my tanks used dry rock. The established 2 pieces of rock I used to start the tanks came from the same 180g that is now my FOWLR system. They were fairly large pieces, about 7 Lbs each. The seller I got that tank from broke down the tank the day before I came to take it off his hands so the rocks only sat in a bin overnight.

Those 2 pieces went into my 55g along with my NSA sculpture of dry rock and that tank was started that day. The following day I added fish.

Several weeks later, I moved those 2 large pieces to the 180 and started that tank. I also used only dry rock for the rest of the rock scape. Fish went into that tank the same day.

I pulled the same 2 pieces of rock out of the 180 to start the 32g. Again, fish on day 1.

All 3 of these tanks run on a very different filtration system. The 55g runs on canisters. The 180 has a sump, and the 32g is an AIO. Very different setups for each tank.

The 55 was started with an old Rena Filstar 3 (about 400 gph). I added a Fluval FX6 to that tank about 8 months ago and it is such a beautiful and stable system!!

The 180 is a reef ready setup, complete with built in overflows and sump. I decided however to run this tank as a predator tank as those larger fish need the space. I run the sump with rock rubble for bio, floss pads for mechanical and an oversized skimmer.

The 32 has been a real problem for me so far. The mechanical filtration as I said above is laughable. The bio filtration is handled by the rock scape plus a good 2 or 3 pounds of rubble rock that was left when I did my NSA sculpture for the 55.

Yesterday, 4-11-22, I added a Fluval 307 canister to the 32. I feel the increased mechanical filtration is key to getting that tank to stabilize. Am I off the mark here? Possibly. Time will tell. I feel however that the lack of quality mechanical filtration, especially on such a small tank, has been the key missing point as to why I have been unable to get that tank to "settle in".

 

[Jedi1199]

So,, after all of that... I guess the answer to your original question "Is dedicated bio-media needed in your filter?" is No. Your tank itself has all of the bio-media you need.

Mechanical, however is actually very important IMO. Especially on a small tank. Larger tanks can get by with alternative means to a degree, but if you don't get that gunk out somehow, you are writing the recipe for failure.

 

[zdrc]

I decided not to run mechanical partially because of the strange baffle system of the aquapod. I would have to alter the back some to even use filter floss properly. The tank currently has a very large, large-pore sponge that is meant for mechanical. The sponge simply takes up too much room that could be used for something else (e.g. the mini fuge). Sure, I could alter the baffle/drain system and use some filter floss, but I would rather not if I don't have to.

I have no problem with detritus. As long as the tank is chemically fine, I see no need to run mechanical. Of course, if I have problems with nitrate and phosphate, I may consider adding some mechanical filtration. Ideally, the little fuge will be enough waste export on it's own.

The tank is so small that I can do quite large water changes pretty easily and cheaply. Hopefully I'll develop a way to mix the salt very accurately so large water changes won't cause significant swings in parameters.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I consider bio media more important than anything in any aquarium. While yes, the rock in a reef tank is a big portion of the biological surface area, I consider the media in the filter to be the "safe haven" for the bacteria. Things can happen to rock: algae blooms, burials, breakages, rearrangements, removals, etc. that can disrupt the bacterial bed, so I trust the media in the filter to be more safe and stable.

That being said, I'm also of the opinion that, while ceramic media is a good choice, coarse sponges/foam make a better one.

Also, in my head using less mechanical filtration leaves more for your detritivores, pods, filter feeders, etc., so I don't use it in my larger reefs. Maybe I'm too lax about letting the ecosystem deal with itself.

 

[zdrc]

I consider bio media more important than anything in any aquarium. While yes, the rock in a reef tank is a big portion of the biological surface area, I consider the media in the filter to be the "safe haven" for the bacteria. Things can happen to rock: algae blooms, burials, breakages, rearrangements, removals, etc. that can disrupt the bacterial bed, so I trust the media in the filter to be more safe and stable.

That being said, I'm also of the opinion that, while ceramic media is a good choice, coarse sponges/foam make a better one.

Also, in my head using less mechanical filtration leaves more for your detritivores, pods, filter feeders, etc., so I don't use it in my larger reefs. Maybe I'm too lax about letting the ecosystem deal with itself.

I've always preferred foam for biomedia too. I was under the impression it wasn't great in reef aquariums because it can lower flow whereas the rubble-like media doesn't cause clogs. Have you had any problems with reduced flow due to foam media? What pore size do you suggest? Maybe I could use the blue sponge that came with the tank for biomedia.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I've always preferred foam for biomedia too. I was under the impression it wasn't great in reef aquariums because it can lower flow whereas the rubble-like media doesn't cause clogs. Have you had any problems with reduced flow due to foam media? What pore size do you suggest? Maybe I could use the blue sponge that came with the tank for biomedia.

If you use foam, anything 30ppi or coarser is best. Coarser means little to no clogging. I've been using the coarse sponges from Aquarium Coop. Specifically, their large intake sponges to fill large spaces and their coarse pads between baffles.