Lava rock filter media

Picture attached. Someone has given this to me. He never used it. But he has had it 10 years!

I have space in my filter. It is worth adding? If so, shall I rinse it under tap water?

The actual media is unused, but the pastic bag is open, and has been open for 10 years, does that matter?

I used to use lava rock from the garden centre in my large filters. It can slightly acidify water, and tends to clog, but it's a decent medium.

The open package might mean dust, so a quick cold water rinse off would solve that.

Hello. I guess I don't see how lava rock would act as a water filter. I've used it as something decorative in my fish tanks, but that's it.

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10 Tanks said:

Hello. I guess I don't see how lava rock would act as a water filter. I've used it as something decorative in my fish tanks, but that's it.

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I imagine the nature of all those nooks and crannies creates a nice home for the bacteria we need. Not sure nooks and crannies is a world wide term and one used in the United States of America. We use it here a lot as a part of the King's English.

Yep I used lava rock back when I had tanks 20 years ago… the reason modern ceramic media can be had in little tubes / donuts, is for increase surface area… the rough porous nature of the lava rock has increased surface area… once used there are pockets of beneficial bacteria… a couple schools of thought there… beneficial bacteria works just as well as a biofilm, so the pockets can fill up with other “stuff”… I remember a time when sumps 1st came out, that wiffle golf balls were preferred media ( thought being lots of surface area, external and the internal, with easy water flow )

I used some old lava rock taken from my old tanks, that I set up this year, for filter media for my Tilapia acuaculture tanks this last summer, and it worked very well

There is a wide assortment of media that hosts bacteria. My personal favorite is Poret foam. I have yet to find anything better. I have three Eheim canisters which use different media. One is loaded with all Eheim noodles, bio-media and floss, another is all Aquaclear sponges and floss but the thrird is 100% Poret foam with no floss. I have to cleand the first two filters twice a year where I also replace the fine floss. But the one filled with Poret only needs to be cleaned every 3.5 to 4+ years.

The two important featers of bio media are surface area available and how fast or slowly the media can be glogged which reduces its effectiveness. What media is best in any given application depends on the bio-leoad and the amount of spacce one has for media. Bear in mind that a lot of the good bacteria can be found outside of one's filter.