Bio Filter Media - Unclogging It ?

[hamfist]

OK, all the manufacturers of the commercially available sintered glass-based bio media state that it clogs up and that certain %'s of it need to be replaced at intervals.

We all know this stuff is not cheap. I wondered if there was any procedure or chemicals which could basically clean in all up again, and unclog the pores, to get it back to "new" condition again ?

A similar question is .... is there actually any evidence or proof that it actually clogs up anyway ? It's obviously very good for manufacturers if we keep buying the stuff, so of course they are going to recommend that we replace it regularly. It could be a conspiracy to make us keep buying more media when, perhaps, there is no need in reality.

Any thoughts ?

 

[razer121]

clean it out in a bowl of tank water....then its uncloged? no i dont think you do

 

[hamfist]

clean it out in a bowl of tank water....then its uncloged? no i dont think you do

Internet wisdom is that just swilling in tankwater will just remove the surface biofilm, not unclog the pores.

I am asking this same question elsewhere and others are saying they use bleach to unclog INSIDE the media.

If I did that, I would defo use a dechlorinator soak for a few hours afterwards to get rid of all the residual chlorine-based bleach compounds.

 

[razer121]

well im pretty sure i can see through my media when i wash it out.....of course i do this in a bowl of tank water and to be honest its never affected it...and its gotta be 2 years old now...no im pretty sure you dont need to replace them that often AT ALL.

p.s im sure bleach would kill of your bacteria lol of course dont take my word for it, belive the others as you will its your choice at the end of the day but when you have an ammonia spike and post a "help ammonia!" qeustion i sure will be there posting "i told you so"

 

[OldMan47]

Biological filtration is accomplished by bacteria that grow in a film on the surface of things. The extreme claims for ceramic media in terms of surface area caused by extremely microscopic pores are marketing, not science. In reality, each surface where bacteria are growing needs to be open to oxygenated water flow for bacteria to thrive there. A pore that is too small for a film to extend down into it and still see water flow past its film surface is not useful for the bacterial colony. Basically, if you can't see the pore with your naked eye, it is probably too small to be useful by your bacterial films. My oldest ceramic material is only 7 or 8 years old so I have no idea how long it will last just swishing it out in tank water to remove the big chunks of dirt that are readily visible on its surface.

 

[the biffster]

Biological filtration is accomplished by bacteria that grow in a film on the surface of things. The extreme claims for ceramic media in terms of surface area caused by extremely microscopic pores are marketing, not science. In reality, each surface where bacteria are growing needs to be open to oxygenated water flow for bacteria to thrive there. A pore that is too small for a film to extend down into it and still see water flow past its film surface is not useful for the bacterial colony. Basically, if you can't see the pore with your naked eye, it is probably too small to be useful by your bacterial films. My oldest ceramic material is only 7 or 8 years old so I have no idea how long it will last just swishing it out in tank water to remove the big chunks of dirt that are readily visible on its surface.

i agree i have had media 10yrs and its still working
i think it might be a sales ploy just to get you to buy
more media as long as you was the main crud out of it and the basket it
in shouldnt see any problems lasting for many years
in all my time i have never thrown any sponges or media way
i have give them away to seed new filter . like i say
i wholeheartedly agree with oldman47 on this one

 

[hamfist]

p.s im sure bleach would kill of your bacteria lol of course dont take my word for it, belive the others as you will its your choice at the end of the day but when you have an ammonia spike and post a "help ammonia!" qeustion i sure will be there posting "i told you so"

Thanks I'll look forward to that.

Hmmmm, I'd never have guessed that bleach might kill bacteria ...... (rushes off to do some background reading).

 

[hamfist]

Hmmmm. It seems that there is a lot of opinion (and, yes, a lot of experience too) on this, but no actual evidence.

I have always suspected that the manufacturers are trying to con us into replacing media way, way too frequently.
I shall do as some of you have done and keep my old media going, and simply keep an eye on my water stats.

Would be nice to actually see some research done on it though. There is precious little actual evidence on an awful lot of what we do and state as "fact" in fishkeeping sometimes.

 

[razer121]

well, when you think about "research" this is a good place to (in theory) get it, there is members on here who no doubt have been fish keeping for over 10 years, with the same media to kind of prove that "myth" wrong lol, companys will always try and rip you (the consumer) off whenever they can, one of my filters had a note inside the manual telling me to replace the filter media every month lol glad i didnt listen to that!

bleach burns your hands.....its going to kill bacteria as that is what its made for right? think about it, you tip bleach down your toilet to kill the germs, the bacteria in your filter is essentially "germs" its going to kill it end of

 

[hamfist]

well, when you think about "research" this is a good place to (in theory) get it, there is members on here who no doubt have been fish keeping for over 10 years, with the same media to kind of prove that "myth" wrong lol, companys will always try and rip you (the consumer) off whenever they can, one of my filters had a note inside the manual telling me to replace the filter media every month lol glad i didnt listen to that!

It's good hearsay evidence, but who's to say that the same tank/filter combination with gravel as a filter medium would not function as well. You can't beat properly planned and executed scientific experiments, with real hard data at the end of it, showing that one way works better/worse than another.
I've been keeping fish for over 30 years and I have a wealth of personal experience, but I'm also a scientist and I know the value of hard data from decent experiments which can cut through all the hearsay.

bleach burns your hands.....its going to kill bacteria as that is what its made for right? think about it, you tip bleach down your toilet to kill the germs, the bacteria in your filter is essentially "germs" its going to kill it end of

Yup, I think we all agreed with that from the start.

 

[razer121]

ok thats a good thing, ive always belived science beats hearsay at all times...but you never mentioned undergravel filters imm just talking abotu the media inside a canister, its been proven really hasnt it? its like gpu cards, the science behind them means nothing compared to the numbers they pump out when put to the test. This is how i see it with the filters (canister type) although no scientific proof exists, the fact that years and years of experince and people doing it, (not really just hearsay) proves that you dont need to replace them as often as the companys suggest. although.....

seems as you do science why can you not just put together some tests?

 

[OldMan47]

Actually a rough crushed small gravel is not a bad biomedia. I am not talking about the plastic coated colored stuff they sell for a decorative touch in a tank. Real gravel of a material that won't affect your pH and won't readily dissolve in water would make a fairly good biomedia. With all of the other readily available media like pot scrubbers, bioballs, ceramic media, filter sponges etc., why would you mess around trying to find just the right gravel? I cannot disagree that it would probably work as well as ceramic media though, Hamfist.

Pot scrubbers

bioballs (packed with fiber media to reduce bypassing the balls)

sponges

That is most of the load for that particular filter. Other of my filters also contain ceramic media that resemble rocks. It is called Matrix by its manufacturers.