Customer Pages

Here we feature stories and photos from our customers. Hope to see you here soon!

2022

Douglas’ Planted Tank

Douglas has been busy this year upgrading his 180 gallon tank. He upgraded his sump with 8 kgs of Ultimate and 2 Bricks. Pretty nice setup. Check it out!

Kevin DIY Filter

Last year Kevin got a hold of us to discuss upgrading his small Marineland tank. We worked on that for awhile. I didn’t hear anymore from Kevin until a short time ago, when he got a larger tank and had a new idea for a DIY filter. He cam up with some interesting ideas you might find interesting. You can see the story here!

Dennis’ Tank Upgrade

Dennis owns Aquatic Display Services and recently sent me a report on a tank upgrade he performed.  Hope you find it interesting. See it here!

Luis’s Bait Tank Setup

We get a surprising number of inquiries from people selling or keeping bait fish. I think Luis uses his bait tank for his personal use. He put together a pretty slick little filter using Biohome® and our Poret Foam along with some other media.

It could be used for a number of applications. If you’re into DIY filters it might give you some ideas. Check it out!

KP’s Brick Upgrade

Got a whopping order for Bricks. Turned out they were for a large cichlid tank. KP was kind enough to provide some details and photos of his tank and the sump upgrade. If you’re considering something similar you may want to take a look.

John’s 250 Gallon Tank

Recently a local enthusiast stopped by and picked up 20 kgs of Biohome® Ultimate for his 250 gallon tank in an effort to reduce nitrates. He was kind enough to send us some photos of his setup. I hope it might be useful for someone else with a similar setup. You can see it in all its glory here!

2021

Elicio’s Fish Room

For the past couple of years a local customer has been dropping by from time to time to get more Biohome®.  I finally asked him what he was doing with all that media and he explained he was building a fish room in his garage. I asked for some photos and they finally came in. It’s quite setup. Check it out!

Julian’s Chi Upgrade

Here’s a short clip showing Julian’s upgrade of his Chi tank using 500 grams of BioGravel. Hope it gives you some ideas.

Megan’s BiOrb

The BiOrb is certainly not the best tank design, but seem to becoming increasingly popular.  I’ve had a large number of customer’s purchasing Foam and BioGravel to upgrade theirs. We provide instructions and Foam templates to help out.

Megan sent me a shot of her BiOrb which she upgraded using our instructions and templates. If you’re thinking of doing the same thing. Take a peek at Megan’s here.

David’s Discus Tank

David’s been upgrading his Discus tank and has recently added some Ultimate to his sump and will soon be adding some MAXI. He left a nice review and sent some photos of his setup. You can enjoy it here.

Graham Tries Out Biohome®

Graham ordered some Plus and it arrived in Louisville, KY two days after shipping. Graham’s been keeping fish for many years so I look forward to his reports once he starts using the Plus. Let’s see what he has to say here.

A Discussion With John

Over several weeks at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 I carried on an online discussion with John as he planned his tank update. You can see that here and some photos of his upgrade.

2020

Tammy’s BiOrb Upgrade

BiOrb upgrades seem to becoming really popular. We’re selling more and more BioGravel and I’ll bet  a lot of it is destined for a BiOrb. Tammy did a great job on her’s and was kind enough to send along a little description of what’s involved, a couple of photos of her lovely Betta and a short video.

If you’ve been thinking about something like this check this out here.

Eli’s FX6 Upgrade and Turtle Tank

Back in October Eli placed several orders for Ultimate. He was nice enough to document his upgrade. Here’s his report.

Brett’s Fluval 407 Upgrade

Recently Brett made several purchases of Ultimate. When I asked him what he was doing with all of it, he graciously showed me, and you can see it here.

Kurt’s Marine Tank

Kurt recently purchases a couple of Biohome® Bricks for his marine tank. Just received a preliminary report on his plans. I look forward to hearing how they work for him. You can see his plans and tank here.

Matt’s Experiment

Matt is building a new tank with a built in filter using BioGravel. He’s promised to document the build and measure how well it works. He started in late June. You can follow his experiment here.

Stephanie’s Bio Module

Shortly after the new year I received a message on FaceBook asking about a filter idea. It sounded good to me. Soon after I got an order for some media and shortly after that received an update and some photos of the Bio Module in action. Check it out.

2019

David’s Tank

In December, got a message from David showing the many ways he was using Biohome. Might give you some ideas.

Robin’s Shower

Robin recently purchased some SuperBioGravel for his Shower filters. It’s working well and his tank looks great. Take a look.

2018

Keith’s Cichlid Tanks

I always ask customer’s to send us photos of their tanks. Just got some great ones from Keith. You can check out his tanks here.

Susan’s pH Report

A number of people have become convinced that Ultimate, and the other versions of Biohome that have the trace elements baked in, raise the pH of their tanks more than the plain versions like Mini.  I tested this and published a YouTube video on my tests and concluded there was no difference.

Susan saw some increases in pH after installing Ultimate and she was not very happy as her fish are very sensitive to pH levels. I told her  of my tests and that I didn’t think it should have an effect. Susan decided to run her own tests.

She did and the results are in. I was happy to see  there was no affect on pH, but she pointed out several things to be aware of when switching to Biohome if you have fish that require low pH and are very sensitive to changes.

You can read it here.

Kevin’s FX Filters

In June I received an email from a gentleman getting back in the hobby after several years absence. He had a couple of Fluval FX filters he wanted to upgrade and had a few questions. Fortunately my friend the Pond Guru had just posted a video showing how to upgrade these filters.

I had tried to figure out how they worked for several years looking at descriptions online. They are laid out a little different from most canisters and it turns out my ideas were all wrong. Based on what I had learned I provided my ideas for the best way to use our products with the FX filters.

Kevin was convinced and placed a nice order for Foam and Media. As soon as he got it he sent me a very nice thank you and some photos of his filters. I’m hoping to get further reports as time goes on. You can see Kevin’s filters here.

Mark’s Goldfish

A few weeks ago my friend Richard Thew, better know as the Pond Guru forwarded me a comment he’d received from one of our customers. Mark had a very interesting report that might help others struggling with nitrates. Check it out here.

Some Sugar From Adrienne

Adrienne sent a message suggesting I place some information about using sugar to reduce nitrates on our site. Well this was all news to me so I asked her for more information. She replied with a very detailed analysis. I found it very interesting.

A few weeks later she sent some more information on the results she was getting with some other tanks. All is available to you too, and it’s right here.

2017

Cynthia’s BiOrb

Cynthia has been purchasing some BioGravel from GreatWave for some time.  She recently mixed it up with an order for BioMotion. I was wondering what she was up to. Fortunately she let me know a couple of days ago when she forwarded an email she sent to the Pond Guru.

It might give you some ideas. Check out Cynthia’s BiOrb here.

Lisa’s New Pond

Got a great customer in Seattle that has been rebuilding her pond for some time. Just got the latest photos and it really looks great. Check out Lisa’s pond here.

Janval’s Update

We posted a report from Janval last year. He recently did a major upgrade and reported on his experience moving to a larger tank. Thankfully the results were great and his collection is swimming in crystal clear water. Check out his update here, Janval, Santa Rosa.

Bill’s Cichlids

A while back I got an inquiry from Bill asking my advice on which media to get and the best way to set up this filters. It looks like it worked. Check out Bill’s Cichlid tank and his comments here, Bill, Hamburg.

Joseph’s Show Tanks

Joseph purchased Biohome Ultimate in April. I always ask my customers for reviews and for stories and photos we add here. I figure this is the best way for others to get the real story on how Biohome works in the real world.

Joseph sent me a quick reply to let me know he plans a review in a few weeks after he’s had time to see how it’s working. He also sent along a couple of photos of his show tanks. You can see them here, Joseph, Oklahoma City.

2016

Brandon’s Tank

Brandon purchased some Biohome Ultimate in early September. A couple of weeks later he sent me a great report on his tank.

As Christmas approached I got a fantastic update. Check it out.

Ken’s HOB Upgrade

Had an interesting conversation with Ken who is trying some upgrades for his Fluval C4 HOB filter. Here’s what he’s come up with so far. Ken, Marietta.

Janval’s Goldfish Tank

In September Janval purchased Biohome Ultimate for his goldfish tank. He was nice enought to leave a great review and send us some photos. A couple of months later he gave us a follow up to let us know how well his water was doing and some updated photos.

A beautiful tank. You can see it here. Janval, Santa Rosa.

A Great Report from Jon

Jon was my very first Koi Pond Filter customer. I hadn’t heard anything from him for quite awhile, but then he sent me a great little video of his pond and a nice note.

This is a great thread if you’re thinking about building or upgrading your pond. Here’s the latest news.

Lyndon’s Turtles Continued

Last year I met Lyndon and her turtle Pokey online. These days is very unusual for anyone to communicate on paper. You’re lucky to get a text written in some sort of shorthand code, so I wasn’t sure what to make of it when I got an ENVELOPE from Lyndon.

I was afraid she might be really ticked about something to go to the trouble of actually writing on paper, but I was pleasantly surprised to get an good old fashioned note just letting me know how things were going with Pokey and her other creatures. Fortunately for GreatWave she really like Biohome and has lots of tanks.

A great combination I figure. Here’s her note.

Betty’s BiUbes

Recently had some correspondence with Betty about upgrading her BiUbe tanks. I’d never heard of them and thought she’d mispelled BiOrb for awhile. I guess they are similar.

At any rate she got some BioGravel and worked on her tanks. She also upgraded a HOB filter on another small tank. I just received a nice email with photos showing what she did. This might be helpful, if you have a similar small tank. Check out her explanation and a slideshow here, Betty’s BiUbes.

Charles’ Heavily Loaded Tank

Recently Charles sent us a status report. You might find it interesting. Especially if he sends us an update in a few months to see if we can get that nitrate down. You can see his tank and read his here, Charles’ Tank.

Mark’s Bayou Tank

Early in 2016 I received an interesting inquiry from Mark. He needed a bigger home for his two buddies and wanted some advice on how much media would be required. His buddies are pretty interesting fellows. Here’s Mark’s Story.

2015

Ben’s SunSun Video

In the last few days of the year, I received a nice email from Ben with a link to an informative video he had made illustrating his SunSun 304B setup and cleaning regimen. Good info for anyone with a canister filter. Here’s Ben’s Video.

Adventures of a Turtle Keeper

Earlier this month, December, I received some inquiries from a lady in Florida. She subsequently purchased a bit of Biohome Ultimate and shortly after sent me some photos of her system and described her results.  If you keep turtles, you might find this interesting. Here’s Lyndon, Haines City and her turtle Pokey.

Harvey’s Mailing Woes

We use the Postal Service Priority Mail since the rates are so good and delivery is usually very prompt. Once in awhile they goof up.

It happened recently. We shipped a box on the 21st and it didn’t arrive until the 29th. Fortunately, it did make it in good shape and Harvey was nice enough to let us know and send a couple of photos. Here’s his filter and tank, Harvey, Chicago.

A Wet-Dry Project

In the summer of 2015 Tom contacted me with some questions about a wet-dry filter he was working on. Not my area of expertise, but did what I could to help. This led to some correspondence over a month or so.

Unfortunately, the results weren’t what Tom wanted, but his experience might be useful to someone out there. Here’s the story from Tom, Lombard.

The Plecostmus Project

Way back in April I got a great email from Roy outlining his project to provide a new home for Al, his rapidly growing plecostmus. With his three sons that got busy and produced an excellent series of videos. Unfortunately, I got busy and his email got buried in my inbox until this evening. Once I saw it I had to get it up here right away. Watch the entire series from Roy, Fort Worth

Moving Bed Filter

Here’s a simple idea for an effective moving bed filter from Joseph, Altamonte Springs

Application Video For Mini Media

Just got an excellent application video for three different applications for Mini Media from Victor, Hutchinson

Daniel’s Tank

In early January I received an order, but couldn’t ship it because the address wasn’t known to the Postal Service. I contacted Daniel to get his address and we wound up having a nice email conversation. He left a nice comment for us and was delighted to get his Mini media.

Daniel sent us some photos of his tank and installation of the media. You can see it here: Daniel, Terre Haute

2014

Pond Filter

Back in April I received an inquiry from a gentleman that wanted to use Biohome media in his home made pond filter. We had extensive communications for awhile and he purchased some media. Then in mid November, 2014, he contacted me again with questions about how to deal with inclement winter weather. This might be a useful exchange for others with similar plans or problems. You can read it here: Michael, Marquette

Dario’s Sump

Back in October Dario called and wanted to know if he could swing by Koten-En to pickup some media and save the postage. I’m always glad to have visitors so asked him to come on down.

Dario has a pretty large sump filter so he was interested in the new MAXI media. Shortly after he picked it up he gave us a nice review and sent me a photo of his sump. You can see it here: Dario, Oakland

Cindy’s 125 Gal Tank

In September Cindy purchased a variety of media and soon after posted a great review. I contacted her to see if I could get some photos of her tank. She graciously replied and sent me the photos. You can see her story and photos here: Cindy, Tiki Island

Filter Starter Balls

At the end of August Garcia wanted to know what’s the deal with Filter Starter Balls: Gargica, Tampa

Anthony’s Tank

Around the 4th of July Anthony ordered some Biohome Ultimate for his tank. After receiving it, we had this exchange of emails: Anthony, Las Vegas

Terrapin Tanks

In April, 2014 Larry placed his first Biohome order. It turns out he was using it in tanks where he is breeding and raising diamond back terrapins. Since then he’s placed two more orders as his terrapin operation expands. His experience may be of interest to anyone else raising turtles or terrapins or considering it. His correspondence is here: Larry, Alamogordo

2013

Second Filter Sale

In the Fall of 2013 Vinh contacted me about installing a filter on his Father’s pond, replacing a large settlement tank and bead filter. His fish were having health problems and he was hoping to find something that would be easier for his Father to maintain and to improve the water quality.

In October we finally had it up and running. A slide show and correspondence with Vinh is here: Charles, San Jose

First Filter Sale

In February, 2013 I started corresponding with Jon, who was thinking about building a pond. You can follow this conversation and see the pond that resulted here:  Jon, Muir Beach