Confused over carbon or bio-ring

[rus2210]

Hey guys,

I just made a trip to Reborn earlier this week.

The moustache ah pek was manning the equipments store upstairs and he recommended me the carbon pack in a bag (think it's the aqua-pro II and comes in a container kind, outside says remove ammonia and nitrate) and advise me to stuff it into my overhang filter, saying it's very good and kinda a MUST thing to get.

However yesterday i went to a shop specialising in aquarium set-up near my workplace and the lady boss there told me carbon is for freshwater aquariums and she was very puzzled by why I was recommended that product in the first place.

I then went on to purchase the ceramic bio-ring she recommend and replace my carbon pack in my overhang filter with the bio-rings.

Yesterday just cleaned my skimmer, cos the collection tunnel is surrounded by black "soot". Nitrate remains high.

Can anyone advice me on which is the right thing to do?

[gerald28]

just my 3 cents , bio ring is to cultivate and house bateria, and carbon to remove the smell make the water chearer and remove heavy toxic but carbon must change bioring not for me , as for me i use both and much more thing , unless you dun mind spending money if not like me i just buy the $4 bucks a kg carbon or ativited carbon and replace it monthly

[blueheaven]

Carbon can be used in our hobby to remove the yellowing of the water

Bio rings are kind of useless and trap detritus which decompose into nutrients

[rus2210]

hi blueheaven,

can be more specific?

Cos my skimmer is skimming out blackish soot so i'm worried abt my water quality.

I was recommended carbon OR bio-ring by 2 different pple.

Which one shld i trust?

And wouldn't carbon allevate the problem of algae?

[AlfaRomeo]

Carbon is the way to for for marine tanks. It helps with removing the yellowness and toxins from the water. Biorings are not needed since a typical marinetank will have LR which serves the same purposes (and more) as bioring.

HTH

[Dazza]

yes bro rus.... dont need biorings... nitrate factory at "best"..... get gd quality activated carbon to remove chemicals frm the water.... to rid algae, maybe u shd chk if phospate is your cause. If yes, then get rowaphos or one of the other brands of phosphate removal media

[bloodlamb]

BTW you would want to rinse the carbon to remove fine carbon dust.

[dreamzcape]

bro...biorings are for biological filtration...cultivate bacteria to convert waste products to unharmful substances.However it was observed that such porous material trap tiny particles of food and in the end becomes nitrate factories.

Carbon is for chemical filtration...it helps to remove chemical toxins in the water and also helps to make the water clearer and remove the smell.Over time after it has absorbed enough, they will slowly leech the toxins back into the water if im not wrong. Hence, the need to change regularly.

[Reefbum]

I have used both activated carbon and bio-rings and found them totally useless in maintaning water quality in marine tanks.Now I am just relying on LR , good skimmer and weekly water changes.My 2 cents.

[rus2210]

ok thanks bros for the advices!

Now i'll need to change out my bio-rings and put in the carbon pack again haha

Hopefully more detailed precious advices will keep coming!!!

[zeotz]

just in case the point has not been made, as far as i know, carbon cannot help to alleviate nitrate problems. it is thus interesting that the guy who sold you the carbon said that it can (could you just double check the packing says reduce nitrate and not nitrite?). If you are successful in using carbon to reduce nitrate, please share that experience with all of us here.

removing biorings may help reduce rate of nitrate production. If I undertstood what I have been reading for the past 2 years correctly, it is best that the guys responsible for reducing ammonia and nitrite be the same ones or in the same quantity as those who reduce it to nitrate. you may also put things in to take up the nitrate, like macro algea. otherwise, you got extra guys making nitrate but no one to break it down or use it up.

[marble]

How abt bio-balls???Heard tat its helps to cultivate and house bateria oso...BUT oso got ppl say it is a no3 factory oso leh....Anybody got any comment on tis???

im currently using alot of tis bio-ball in my sump...My no3 currently oso quite high so now tinking of removing all my bioballs fm my sump tank n replace it with pur-II or chemi-pur...

any comments???

[zeotz]

thats because the type of bacteria cultivated in the bioballs are of the aerobic type nitrifying bacterias and therefore cannot reduce no3. but I have seen some bioballs being sold as able to house both aerobic and anaerobic bact. the ones i;ve seen looks more compact than normal and have another ball inside a bigger ball and costs about $1 per ball. Not sure if it works tho .. nvr tried it.

i;ve used chemipure before and wasnt successful with regard to nitrate reduction. and dunt forget you need to change them once it is used up. i am quite uncomfortable with stuff that have to be changed after it is used up cuz dunno when it is actually used up. for carbon OK cuz its cheap so jus change once a month.

frankly i am still fighting the nitrate war. I was just reading up on the zeovit system .. appears to b very good from their website .. but so difficult to follow the instructions/system.

[marble]

TOday i jzt took out all my bio balls n rings fm my sump tank n replace it with 1kg(for 1500L of water) of biohome.N oso put in 1L of seachem de-no3.Oso i change abt 50% of my tank water to bring dw my no3 fm Red color(at least got 80ppm) to 25ppm now.Im using redsea testkit lor so use color code one...

Water bill nx mth sure beri ###### one..

Hope tat my fishes can tahan tis major change in water...No choice lor as im gog to start keep some coral liao....Last time all fishes onli so dun care much...

My nx Plan is to do a 25% water change again on Thus to try bring dw no3 again to below 10ppm..Then hope tat by then e seachem de-no3 will kick in....

Water bill nx mth sure beri ###### one..

Thinking of keeping some marine plants inside my sump tank to consume e no3 oso since now without e bioball n rings i got some space liao..kekeke....Anyway is tis method effect???I mean keeping marine plants to consume no3???hmmm..Any1 can advise???

[dreamzcape]

bro marble, don't mind me saying this. Other bros also correct me me if i'm wrong. I think bioballs,ceramic rings, biohome..etc etc..all serve the purpose of providing more surface area for bacteria to cultivate, whether aerobic or anaerobic. Surface area usually is made up by being porous material.

therefore, the idea of such biological media becoming nitrate factories is when wastes start getting stuck in those small pores, meaning no matter whether u use biohome or bioballs or ceramic rings, it's all going to happen UNLESS your filter wool layer succeeds in totally removing all micro particles, leaving only water for bio media to work on. I think this affects the overall flowrate so not sure if efficiency in filtration will still be there.

[nakazoru]

bro marble, don't mind me saying this. Other bros also correct me me if i'm wrong. I think bioballs,ceramic rings, biohome..etc etc..all serve the purpose of providing more surface area for bacteria to cultivate, whether aerobic or anaerobic. Surface area usually is made up by being porous material.

therefore, the idea of such biological media becoming nitrate factories is when wastes start getting stuck in those small pores, meaning no matter whether u use biohome or bioballs or ceramic rings, it's all going to happen UNLESS your filter wool layer succeeds in totally removing all micro particles, leaving only water for bio media to work on. I think this affects the overall flowrate so not sure if efficiency in filtration will still be there.

Bros;

Alsolutely right that it is a nitrate factory. It is just like the sand bed, cannot stirred otherwise all nutrients gets out.

But really a pro and con decision. I too use bio-ceramic-ring. But I too have a strict maintenance that I stick to.

Every month I detach my canister filter and remove everything there to clean. with the water in the canister itself. I have 2 sets of filter wools that i interchange every month. The replaced wool, I sun it so that a rubblish is dead the next time I use it. The bio-ring I rinse with the existing water, where attached debris is removed, like gold mining. Carbon and resin same, just rinse. They are replace with new one 6 month after used.

Each mainetnance takes about 1-2 hrs. Strict discipline is required.

Since I adopt this schedule, the parameters are always consistence. No sudden hikes, everything under control. No worries with nitrate/nitrite or ammonia hikes.

I at the moment has no dead fishes because of parameters. Death comes from fighting/missing fishes.

I will in the near future attached a schedule that I adopt in excel format for bros to refer to.

End of the days, adopt a systems that one you like most and suits your budget.