# Bio media in there tanks



## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Does anyone use it. And if so how often do you change it out?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

if you mean the biomedia such as the plastic or ceramic pieces you don't change it out...you rinse it off and keep on using it....


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Talking about the river sediment. That goes in the bottom of the tank in a box. Almost like an under gravel filter. 


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

river sediment ???? never saw it in a box either...
gravel is what goes on the bottom of the tank ; but not in a box...unless you are talking about a box filter...a square round or triangular clear plastic box that hold a hard media and a floss type media...kind of like cotton balls...
undergravel plates sit on the bottom and gravel is spread on top of that...
but have never heatd of "river sediment" that is in a box...


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

I guess its something new. The pet shop I got it says it's just better for everything in your tank. Plant and fish or whatever is in it. It is freshwater only. With this they told me that with some plants my tank would cycle overnight almost. But actually took 2 days to completely cycle. They say you need to change it out about every 3 yrs. also I don't run any kind of filter. Just a pump that runs my waterfall. They also say I don't have to clean it. That the sediment is all natural and that's what breaks down all the food and waste from the fish. 


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

i personally wouldnt trust it sounds too good to be true


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

I have had it in my tank for 8 months now. And haven't cleaned or lost any fish or plants. Just do a 10% water change every month. Am very happy with it do far. Just wandering if there was anyone else out there using it. 


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

What size tank do you have that your only doing 10% water changes a month?? What is it stocked with as well?? 

One guppie in a 75g lol


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

@cory sump filters can do that and canisters too


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

40 gal. Started with 8 mollies and now about 15. Gotten rid of a ton of fry


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

I'd be doing 50% changes a month at the min. The water gets stale/old they need fresh water all the time. If you lean your head over the tip of the tank I'm positive that water is going to stink. Even with excellent filtration they still need to be cleaned. I have a 12x turnover rate on my 55g that's excellent, I still do 50-75% water changes a month with a 5% or 5 gallon change once a week. The one way for a tank to fail is bad water conditions and I learned that the hard way.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

i change about 5g on my 50g a week or so


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i usually do 30-40% water change every week...wouldn't trust anything that tells me 10% a month...


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Is there somewhere that we can get some information about the sediment? Maybe you can ask the LFS you got it from if there is anything written about it. Sounds like some interesting stuff. 

I have to agree I would worry about something that requires such little upkeep, but there are people who do keep tanks with little maintenance so I wouldn't say it's out of the realm of reasonable.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Reasonable tank is a 75g with a male guppie and a male platty doing 10% change a month. 

Water changes are vary importend. With pore water quality your going to have water that smells horrible in the house, you will have algae growin within a few months, your filters will be conpletly clogged in a few months do you will have to completely brake them down to clean. And if you drop a new fish In there's a 85% chance it's going to die.

Just out of curiosity what is your water levels at now? 
If you don't already have a test kit you should invest in one.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Unless you have the tank outdoors in that case I change 25% a month. The rain really helps keep the tank clean and clear. And everytime I have a moth fly by me I smack it into the tank. My betta loves moths lol


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

there are a couple of systems on the market that advertise never having to do water changes again and such ; but they don't do what they say they do...and there are other factors that they ignore....bad investment for sure...


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

YouTube this Aquaplantarium. This is the type of aquarium I have. 


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

i can tell you that i can sell you a piece of driftwood that feeds your bottom feeders and you never have to buy food again for them.

pm me for details if you want it. im asking 299.99 thats not a bad price. thats not including shipping and my house tax. tax is .25 on the dollar.


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Yea and I have gravel that will feed all your fish for life. It's only $10 a pound. How many lbs you want. Free shipping and no house tax. 


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I don't know that I agree with all of the gloom and doom. The tank has been up for 8 months, obviously it is still functional and he has not had fish or plant death, the filters are not on their last leg etc. Very few things are all OMG your screwed for life make a complete change right now! Skepticism is one thing, pure and utter death inside a month is a bit extreme. 

Does the sediment have a name? I will see what I can figure out from the youtube name. But really you bought it, so you should know the name.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Those look like really nice aquariums with an underground filter. Hard to tell what else is there or the media they might use in the underground filter. Cool tank though


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

ok...i watched the video...it is nothing more then a self contained partial undergravel filter....most of what this guy is telling you is a crock...why does it remove heavy meatals and impurities ??? because it contains carbon...but within a week or two the carbon becomes saturated and is no longer doing anything..and soon it will start releasing toxins back into the water...although when in the substrate plant roots will absorb some of them...
what they don't tell you is that as fish breathe and produce waste they also put out a chemical the can inhibit growth...for a long time it has been referred to as a "growth inhibiting hormone" although i don't know if it is truly a hormone...all of the fish produce it...and they also have receptors that read the levels of it..the more of it in the water ; the more it tells the fish to stop growing as their environment will not support growth...big problem is that the internal organs do not stop growing and the fish suffers an early death....when i first started in the hobby the standard was a 10% weekly water change...but i soon discovered that the more water i changed the faster my fish grew and the healthier they were....
the backround is probably fiberglass or some type of polyresin.....a small powerhead pumps water up behind the backround and over the top along the channel for the waterfall...
the aquaplantarium is ok in some ways but certainly outrageously expensive...you can do it yourself for a fraction of what you pay for this system...it would probably take me less than 10 minutes to design and draw up rough plans for this set up....
but for those that have lots of money to spend i gues that it is a good deal.....


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

John, where is the video? 

also i was a bit extreme, but bad water is most defiantly going to cause alot of problems. you may not have fish dead yet but they wont live to there full potential. its like us having cancer we can live for a while but we not going to live to our max age limit and we are going to die on the inside slowly. 
same thing is happening with the fish pretty much. and they need help otherwise they are going to get worse over time. just like cancer untreated and problems not fixed it is sure to get worse. not over night but over time.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

try this , see if it works...pay close attention to what this guy is saying....

http://tropiquarium.net/d-a-s-aquaplantarium/


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

That is the exact aquarium I have. I just have the 40 gal version. You think it actually works


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

lohachata said:


> try this , see if it works...pat close attention to what this guy is saying....
> 
> http://tropiquarium.net/d-a-s-aquaplantarium/


what exactly am i looking for and you are right its a undergravel filter with carbon and i wanna know how he dechlorinates his water


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

That thing looks pretty sweet, with a little knolage I can't see why this would not work. But still you need a declorinator and I don't know where the fish ware goes? Into the under gravle filter but then what? You don't clean it ever? The water fall creates 02 for the fish. But I'm still a skeptic bad ass looking tank though.

Twhiteley post a new thread with the pictures of your tank please. And how much you paid for it if you don't mind.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

activated carbon will also help to remove chlorine....but activated carbon becomes saturated within a couple of weeks...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

There are some rocks that will remove nitrate by ion exchange. But I think this one relies on being heavily planted to clean the water. UG filters do have good amount of bio-filter and do feed plants. But you need water changes.

Nice looking, I wish more stands had drawers.


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Yea my stand has one drawer. Wished it had more and will post pics as soon as I figure out how to do it. 


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## Twhiteley (Aug 6, 2012)

Planteranium is the title of the thread with pics. Tried to load a video and some reason it won't pull up


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## Coolfish (Apr 30, 2012)

Since were talking about bio media what kind do I need for my Aquatop CF-400UV? I know I need bio balls but do I need activated carbon?


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