Corner Box Filter

[Falling_Petal]

Hi Guys Merry Xmas.
I have a 30 Liter aquarium, non planted and have a Betta. Tank running for a year now.

Question: If i put only gravel in a corner box filter (air driven. the old ones) as my media - would that act as a UGF for a 30L tank ?

 

[GaryE]

I use half gravel, half floss or sponge. Just gravel would clog rapidly.

 

[Falling_Petal]

I use half gravel, half floss or sponge. Just gravel would clog rapidly.

Thanks Gary, would I loose my beneficial bacteria when i change over my Filter Floss ? I am asking because i have loads of filter floss

 

[GaryE]

Any filtration media you change removes beneficial bacteria. I use wide pored sponge in some box filters.

 

[emeraldking]

Any filtration media you change removes beneficial bacteria.

Correct!
This line should be used with every question about moving filter media to avoid long stories.

 

[Falling_Petal]

Correct!
This line should be used with every question about moving filter media to avoid long stories.

Does most of the beneficial bacteria live on surfaces or the filter media ?

 

[MaloK]

This topic is highly debatable, but I'm confidently thinking that up to 80% of the total colony in an aquarium lives in the filter. It is the place that gives by far the best condition to them.

 

[emeraldking]

Does most of the beneficial bacteria live on surfaces or the filter media ?

Yes. And beneficial bacteria will accept all filter media to live on as long as they are given time to settle.
But they can also live on the surface of gravel used on the bottom of the tank. Beneficial bacteria in water itself is also a fact but clearly not as high as with filter media.
Back in the old'n days, we used to get some of the old water of another tank to put in a new set up of a tank to get the bacterial growth started. We were not aware of it by then that we should better use the old bacteria from an older filter. So, the process would be faster.

 

[Magnum Man]

personally I feel that beneficial bacteria will colonize realistically any surface in the aquarium... however larger colony's can be supported in areas with more waterflow... for example, if you have a plastic fern, in front of a powerhead or wave maker type pump, you may end up with as much beneficial bacteria, on the fern, as in the filter media...

if you have a sponge filter that you are just trickling air bubbles through it, it may not have enough water movement to support bacteria in areas of the sponge with the most resistance to flow... the thicker parts, or any of the sponge, that there is not enough draw of water to support the bacteria...

it's also in the bio film on most all surfaces, including the glass, but at minimal amounts, if there is not sufficient water movement, to effectively feed the bacteria...

I'd like to add to Gary's very good comment, that you reduce beneficial bacteria, any time you remove any filter media, or hard or soft structure from the aquarium... yes, there will also be beneficial bacteria on your live plants...

scraping your glass, only "moves" the bio film ( and beneficial bacteria ) from the glass to another surface, like the gravel or other structures in the tank, unless you are changing water at the time, & remove suspended bio film... vacuuming gravel, not only removes fish waste, it also removes some beneficial bacteria from your substrate

 

[Magnum Man]

@emeraldking ... sorry looks like I copied some of the points of your post, posted while I was typing... ( great minds think alike )

 

[emeraldking]

@emeraldking ... sorry looks like I copied some of the points of your post, posted while I was typing... ( great minds think alike )

No worries...
In this case, it's a good thing...

Btw, what I've written about using old water isn't a wrong thing. It just take a bit longer before a beneficial bacteria culture has settled in the tank system. For this is the way, we always did it back in the days globally. But later research (and I mean really much later) has taught us that there's much more beneficial bacteria present on filter media. So, I will put aside those stories of young people that believe that there's no bacteria culture in water (simply because they have interpreted it wrongly). There is certainly a bacteria culture in water but not as much as in filter media and gravel (if one uses any). And don't forget that each kind of surface within a tank, bacteria can live on. So, also glass and so on...

 

[MaloK]

A handful of substrate was the thing used. When I started in 1984.