Can You Cut The Eco Bio Block And Put In Hob Filter
You lot know those small black plastic balls…
The ones that sit down within aquarium filters?
Well, those are chosen bio balls.
When used properly, bio balls provide powerful biological filtration to your aquarium.
Today, I am going to teach you all about them!
What are bio balls and what do they exercise?
You know those expert bacteria in your tank, the ones that convert ammonia into nitrite and then nitrite into nitrate?
Aye, those bacteria form an essential part of the nitrogen cycle.
Well, they need a dwelling house in your aquarium.
Call up of bio balls every bit small plastic houses for nitrifying bacteria.
Did you know? Bio balls can be used in both freshwater and saltwater aquariums.
Now, there is no missing the unusual, open up-structure pattern that is establish on bio balls.
But this design isn't at that place just to be eye-communicable. It actually serves a very important purpose.
It increases the surface surface area of each bio brawl.
You run into, bacteria likes to cling to the surface of objects.
And, plastic bio balls accept been designed to provide every bit much surface surface area every bit possible for the bacteria to cling to.
Confused?
Allow me to explain.
Allow's compare a bio ball to a regular ball…
Fifty-fifty though both of these balls are the verbal aforementioned size and shape, the bio ball on the left has much more surface expanse, making it capable of housing more bacteria than the brawl on the right.
Some bio balls even have small pieces of ceramic or foam hiding inside – even more surface expanse for bacteria to cling to.
The foam is perfect for growing large colonies of nitrifying leaner. It'southward what makes a sponge filter and then good at biological filtration – the process of ammonia and nitrites being converted to nitrates.
While bio balls come in unlike designs and sizes, they all perform the same office…
Bio balls sit in your filter. Equally water passes over these balls, the nitrifying leaner filters your water, removing ammonia and nitrites – dramatically improving the water quality.
With that said, bio balls are a larger media and will work best in a big sump or external filter.
How do y'all use bio assurance?
There seems to be some confusion over how to best utilize bio balls.
Allow me take a moment to articulate that up…
Bio assurance tin can be submerged underwater!
In fact, this is how most of yous will use them – in your canister, HOB filter or sump.
The but fourth dimension y'all wouldn't place bio balls underwater is if you are using them in a trickle-filter setup.
Ideally, y'all should utilize some course of mechanical filtration, such as a sponge or filter floss, before the bio balls. I cover the importance of this after in this guide.
What is the difference between bio assurance and ceramic rings?
A question I am often asked is:
Which is better, ceramic rings or bio assurance?
The answer isn't black and white.
You see, both of these filter media are designed to perform differently.
Just to properly explicate the difference, I need to briefly cover the two types of bacteria that call these two filter media dwelling house.
1. Nitrifying bacteria – These bacteria consume ammonia and nitrites. They require oxygen in the water to live. Nitrifying bacteria live on the surface of objects in your aquarium.
2. Denitrifying bacteria – These bacteria swallow nitrates. They will simply survive if no oxygen is present. Denitrifying bacteria live inside rock, ceramic and other porous materials where no air is present.
Bio balls just conduct nitrifying leaner.
Ceramic noodles tin carry both nitrifying bacteria on the surface and denitrifying bacteria inside.
FishLab Tip: Yous can employ more than than one type of media in your filter. If you wanted to use bio balls with a unlike filter media, then go right ahead!
Now, you may be thinking…
That makes ceramic rings the hands down winner since they can carry both types of bacteria.
And, in a lot of ways, you are correct. I personally utilise Siporax for that very reason.
However, information technology'southward a little more complicated than which filter media tin acquit more bacteria.
Yous see, ceramic rings increment their area through tiny fiddling pores.
These pores are and then pocket-size that you can hardly run into them without a microscope.
It is in these pores that the bacteria brand their domicile.
The downside of the small pores is that they tin go clogged much easier than bio assurance.
This is especially true in tanks that don't have effective mechanical filtration.
While cleaning ceramic rings can help increment their lifespan, some of these pores volition become permanently blocked over time.
And when that happens, the biological filtration becomes less and less effective. There will come up a fourth dimension when you lot eventually demand to replace the ceramic rings in your aquarium.
Bio balls, on the other hand, last almost forever.
For me, I detect that the benefits of ceramic-style media far outweigh that of plastic bio assurance, simply then I take a very strict maintenance routine.
If you are looking for a filter media that but carries nitrifying bacteria and requires piffling maintenance, then bio balls do have their upsides – specially if you lot utilise a trickle filter.
How many bio balls do you lot need?
The answer to this question depends entirely on the brand of bio balls y'all purchase.
A general rule of thumb is 2.2 gallons of bio assurance per 100 gallons of h2o.
Bio assurance are available in a range of sizes to fit dissimilar types of filters – you lot volition be able to fit more than pocket-size bio balls in the same-sized filter than you will large ones.
Cheque the manual that came with your bio balls to find the recommended number of bio assurance per gallon of water.
While adding fewer bio assurance than the instructions recommend results in inadequate filtration, at that place is no impairment in adding more than.
What precautions do yous need to take when using bio balls?
Now, you may accept been warned that bio assurance are no good for your aquarium because they tin go a nitrite factory.
Dead leaves, poop, uneaten fish food and other waste product can become trapped in the bio assurance' patterned structure.
When this happens, the waste product tin suspension downward and lead to a spike in nitrate levels.[i]
And, this is true…
If y'all are using them incorrectly!
Bio balls should exist used for biological filtration only.
You run across, bio assurance are designed to business firm bacteria, not to trap and remove waste matter from the h2o column.
That is the job of mechanical filtration, such as sponge pads, cream blocks or filter floss.
A mechanical filter should be in place before the bio balls in your filter system to catch whatsoever waste matter earlier it reaches your bio balls.
With the pre-filter in identify, bio balls go an ammonia and nitrite-fighting super team – only don't forget to clean your mechanical filter every now and and then!
How do you clean bio balls?
If you skipped the mechanical filtration, then you might desire to examine your bio balls.
And then, take a close look…
If you lot notice a thick green or brown gunk coating your bio balls, and so you demand to clean them.
Cleaning bio balls is all-time done during a water change.
Take some of the water you removed from your tank and classy the bio assurance around in information technology. Don't scrub or wipe your bio balls as this tin can remove the leaner.
You should discover the water turn cloudy equally the bio balls move through information technology – this is the congenital-upwards organic matter falling off.
If your bio balls are particularly dirty, you might need to repeat the procedure.
Important: Do not use whatsoever other water than your tank h2o to clean your bio balls. Using tap water can kill the bacteria in your aquarium, causing your tank to crash – if this happens, yous will need to cycle your aquarium over again
And, it should go without saying, but don't use any soap, disinfectant or other cleaning agent – yous will kill all the bacteria on your bio balls.
Conclusion
Equally you come across, when used effectively, bio balls can provide an amazing source of biological filtration.
Yet, I personally nevertheless recommend choosing ceramic noodles or a similar filter media such as Siporax because they can likewise carry leaner that removes nitrates from the water – something that isn't possible with bio assurance alone.
Practice you use bio balls in your aquarium? Permit me know in the comments beneath!
Can You Cut The Eco Bio Block And Put In Hob Filter,
Source: https://fishlab.com/bio-balls/
Posted by: powellwereft.blogspot.com
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