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best bio media?

The best bio media is live rock.

Other medias such as bio balls/bale work good to keep ammonia and nitrites down, but you have to be diligent in keeping the media clean or your nitrates will sky rocket. There are other medias like seachem matrix that supposedly work even better then bio balls/bale. You can use it passively like a substrate in a sump or through a fluidized chamber. However, the problem with fluidized chambers is that if power goes out on them too long such as with a power outage, you can kill the entire bacteria colony in it.
 
good question deadhead. so paradox are you saying that i should use live rock instead of a filter? im guessing im readin that wrong, but i wanna make sure i put the right gear in the sump im building. if i need a filter too, should i put the live rock before or after the filter in the sump? and should i put the skimmer first or after the filter/live rock? sorry. lots of questions. this is gonna be my first octo, and i wanna make sure its done right.

-Keith
 
Live rock can go in the main aquarium so that your friend has some hiding places. You don't need an additional filter if you have enough live rock - usually 1-1/2 pounds per gallon. The skimmer should go in the sump along with the heater.
 
cool. hmm. thats gonna be one heavy tank. do you think a 75 gallon can hold 100 pounds in rock and all the water? the rock is definately gonna displace a lot, but still. lotta weight. think i should brace it or somethin?
 
Keith;119971 said:
cool. hmm. thats gonna be one heavy tank. do you think a 75 gallon can hold 100 pounds in rock and all the water? the rock is definately gonna displace a lot, but still. lotta weight. think i should brace it or somethin?

Yup. That's what they are built to do. :smile:
 
Yes, all you really need is live rock. I have some bio bale in my system that Im slowly getting rid of. From my experience, once a tank is cycled and has a decent amount of live rock, Ive never seen the bio load really go beyond the limit where you start seeing ammonia and nitrites. Nitrates on the other hand is often what people have trouble with.

If you dont want too much live rock in the main tank, since it gives more hiding places for the octo, you can keep it in the sump.


If you use bio balls/bio bale, it can clog and build up detritus like sponges do. Although the the bacteria on it converts all ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate, you will have high nitrates. Bio balls will not get rid of nitrates, because you require anaerobic bacteria to that. So to prevent this, you will need to rinse your bio balls every now and then. Just shaking them in salt water will work. Do not use fresh water. Also, since this will kill of some of the bacteria, do not do this to all of your bio balls at once. Do a portion at a time like 25%. When you do water changes, you can use the old water to rinse them.
 
sweet. so if i have a crapload of live rock and the media filter in my sump i should be good? and one other question, how big of a pump should i get for the return line? and will the skimmer just flow water through it or do i have to adjust everything to get a perfect flow so things dont fill up?
 

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