What follows is an online discussion I’ve had with John over a period of several weeks. His comments are in Bold. My replies are in lighter text. At the end we can see the results of his upgrades. Hope you find it useful.
Is your foam made in the USA?
The foam is made in Germany by a leading filter manufacturer. Hope you like it.
I love the foam this is my second order of it. Outfitting my fluval canister this time
Hey Don!
Going to purchase some biohome from your website and I was wondering about the bricks 🧱 for my sump. Or maybe just using bio gravel. I have a seamless sump system with stacked baskets. 4 available for bio media…. it’s currently filled with ceramic balls from custom aquariums (manufacturer set up)
Was curious about the bricks, ultimate, or gravel. I also have other tanks I’d like to eventually convert as money allows so was considering gravel all around… (other tanks have FX4, 306, tidal 110’s… any thoughts or recommendations? These are all non planted Malawi cichlid tanks…
The Bricks are starting to sell. Ceramic versions have been around awhile and seem to be working OK. I would think our sintered glass version would work even better. Don’t know if you saw my video comparing the Brick to one of the ceramic versions, but it made clear that the internal spaces are considerably smaller and so should provide more anoxic activity to reduce nitrates.
That being said, I haven’t received any feedback yet, but it seems like a great choice for sumps.
Looking at the photos of your sump baskets, I’m afraid the BioGravel might be a little too small. Some of the pieces are quite small and would tend to either plug or fall thru the holes. I think the SuperBioGravel would be a better choice. It has pretty much the same density and is cheaper to boot.
Ultimate would be ideal for the FX4 or any similar filter. The BioGravel in suitable Media Bags would be great for the Tidal 110. If it’s about the same size as the Fluval 110, it should hold about a kilogram.
Thank you so Much for you’re advice! I appreciate your response so much! And for helping me select the right product!
The foams you have previously sold me are awesome and very much looking forward to testing the biohome. Hoping for good results! Thanks!
I ordered 2 kilos. It sure seemed like more! This order was for my Fluval 306. I couldn’t quite get the whole 2 kilos in while allowing the baskets to stack securely.
Hoping for a full cycle! How long does it take? This is on a 30g grow out tank for African Cichlids…
Is it true that using SeaChem SAFE can prevent a full cycle?
John, yeah the 406 holds just a bit over 2 kgs, so I’m not surprised you couldn’t get it all in there. You need right at 2 kgs to get a full cycle in a 30 gallon tank.
Depending on your fish load and feeding you might be ok. If it doesn’t come down enough you might consider adding an HOB to take the remaining Ultimate or getting 500 grams of BioGravel to fill in the spaces in your 306.
We’ve found that water conditioners that remove ammonia, nitrite and nitrate does adversely affect the bacteria that will cheerfully do the job for nothing. Unfortunately most water condtioners, like Safe have this feature. We recommend API Stress Coat or Water Conditioner that only removes the chlorine.
Ok thank you for the response. I have some Fritz A.C.C.R. Do you know if that’s Full cycle friendly?
Any success stories with it? If not I’ll get some API Stress Coat…
John, It looks like the A stands for Ammonia and R stands for Remover. I wouldn’t recommend it. However, If you don’t have tons of it, go ahead and use it up, then replace with one of the API products. It may slow things up a bit, but it takes quite awhile for the nitrate reducing bacteria to develop anyway.
Hey thanks for taking my call this morning. I had one more question I forgot to ask… carbon.
I use Fritz pelleted activated carbon for water clarity. I know we talked about ChemiPure and purigen were a “no no”
But do you or Richard condone or condemn the use of carbon for a full nitrate cycle? Thank you in advance
…
Never mind. I just read on your website that Carbon is not recommended….
Here are some pics of my setup that I had promised you. I have all the media in now. Probably will buy more later on… but total there are 4 kilos of Super Gravel and 4 bricks for a 180g.
