Biorb Media

[ashbosh]

Hi, i recently bought a biorb 60L second hand.

i have binned all original media just to be on the safe side. have given it a thorough clean. i now want to begin cycling water.i am going to buy a filter kit. it comes with charcoal and some white stuff?

Should I put that in at the start or wait until my tank is ready to hold fish?

also biorb media i think is overpriced. is this as good? Made by ALFAGROG

thanks guys

 

[joeskandal]

Hi, i recently bought a biorb 60L second hand.

i have binned all original media just to be on the safe side. have given it a thorough clean. i now want to begin cycling water.i am going to buy a filter kit. it comes with charcoal and some white stuff?

Should I put that in at the start or wait until my tank is ready to hold fish?

also biorb media i think is overpriced. is this as good? Made by ALFAGROG

thanks guys

I think you should have kept the ceramic media that you get with the biorb.
I used to have one, and apparently the media is imperative to the biological filtration with the biorb range, i think this is because its technically an undergravel filter, and if you put in your own media it wont be able to filter the water properly.
Also if your about to start a cycle, i would be throwing away the white stuff in the round housing at the bottom, its an ammonia removing agent called zeolite.
If your about to start a fishless cycle you dont want that slowing it down by eating up the ammonia every time you put it in, you know?

Good luck with your cycle, and be patient!

Is it the round one you have, or the biOrb Life?
I had the biOrb Life, i think it was 120L, the big tall one.
Looks beautiful, not very practical for an aquarium at all!

 

[joeskandal]

Hi, i recently bought a biorb 60L second hand.

i have binned all original media just to be on the safe side. have given it a thorough clean. i now want to begin cycling water.i am going to buy a filter kit. it comes with charcoal and some white stuff?

Should I put that in at the start or wait until my tank is ready to hold fish?

also biorb media i think is overpriced. is this as good? Made by ALFAGROG

thanks guys

I think you should have kept the ceramic media that you get with the biorb.
I used to have one, and apparently the media is imperative to the biological filtration with the biorb range, i think this is because its technically an undergravel filter, and if you put in your own media it wont be able to filter the water properly.
Also if your about to start a cycle, i would be throwing away the white stuff in the round housing at the bottom, its an ammonia removing agent called zeolite.
If your about to start a fishless cycle you dont want that slowing it down by eating up the ammonia every time you put it in, you know?

Good luck with your cycle, and be patient!

Is it the round one you have, or the biOrb Life?
I had the biOrb Life, i think it was 120L, the big tall one.
Looks beautiful, not very practical for an aquarium at all!

Have you read all about the Fishless Cycle then?
This is what i used, and found it very helpful.
You will come back to this forum again and again, and recieve advice second to none.

I have found out loads from the people on this foum.
WELCOME!

 

[ashbosh]

you can buy Biorb media in boxes, just the same as the actual original, but its ridiculously overpriced. Was wondering if its the exact same stuff but far cheaper. If it is the same rock stuff, then i will buy that, if not i will have to save for a little longer and get biorb official. but the media itself looks awfully like pond stone stuff i have seen before

i have read that thread, not word for word, but enough for me to put the brakes on buying any fish until i know the water is safe. i keep checking it to make sure i remember what i read. i think it will be a while before i get any fish. id rather have the perfect home than buy fish that will suffer


p.s mine is the biorb in the big circle. seems okay, was more for my wife than me. I wanted the ilife

 

[joeskandal]

you can buy Biorb media in boxes, just the same as the actual original, but its ridiculously overpriced. Was wondering if its the exact same stuff but far cheaper. If it is the same rock stuff, then i will buy that, if not i will have to save for a little longer and get biorb official. but the media itself looks awfully like pond stone stuff i have seen before

i have read that thread, not word for word, but enough for me to put the brakes on buying any fish until i know the water is safe. i keep checking it to make sure i remember what i read. i think it will be a while before i get any fish. id rather have the perfect home than buy fish that will suffer


p.s mine is the biorb in the big circle. seems okay, was more for my wife than me. I wanted the ilife

Its not the water being safe really mate, its the whole system.
That link you posted looks exactly like the ceramic media i had in my biOrb, which was the official junk, so i guess you should be alright.
It is rather expensive though.

I was a bit reluctant to keep it in myself as a lot of it seemed far too rough for the likes of plecs, and other bottom feeders, but i was told the same as you, it needed to be this ceramic stuff.
The lifes are wicked looking aquariums, but proper crap for the likes of surface area n that.
The round one is a lot better though, but i wouldn't fill it all the way up, to create more surface area for oxygen.
Are the filters the same then, is it a big down pipe through the middle, that screws onto the bubble stone, and filter at the bottom?
Like one large integrated system?
have a look at my fishless cycle post, as you can see theres a lot of days gone into it.
Its nothing really, just remembering to add ammonia on the morning, and check the levels on the evening.
I say its nothing, it really tested my patience, i was dyyyyyying to get some fish in there.
Funny thing is, all that effing effort to get the perfect environment, and i broke up with the girl a month later.
It didnt bother me too much though, it was just annoying to find out that she put my siamese fighter in with the other fish saying "course it will be alright, its a fish"!!
Simpleton!

 

[waterdrop]

Excellent advice from joeskandal. The tropical fish hobby often seems to take many orders of magnitude more patience than people have any idea of when they decide to try it out with a new tank. In your case you will even have several things working against you, as smaller volumes of water are harder to learn on and small undergravel design filters are among the most difficult filters to get working right and water surface area is makes things easier if it's maximized. But it's been done and you can do it.

Perhaps the worst thing a beginner can do is "give in" or "get around" this first experience with "the biofilter" however. The reason is that once everything settles down and you have fish, you slowly realize that this is just going to go on for years like this and it may not offer many learning opportunities until an emergency comes along and at that point the "biofilter skill" will have been needed. By constrast, if you get your hands wet (even struggling if necessary) with the weird building of this biofilter for a couple of months, you are left with a strong understanding of what's really making the tank good for fish and the importance of keeping it running properly. The two months quickly recede into memory and you are left with your years of maintenance but with better confidence that you know what constitutes a problem with the basic environment from the standpoint of your fish.

I personally think zeolite complicates matters and makes it harder for a beginner to get a biofilter up and running. But with a mature filter it can be ok to use if it's in the proper (post-biomedia) position in the internal filter water flow. I have watched many Biorb threads on here but am not one of the better ones at helping with these, having never tried one myself. I suspect joeskandal is correct that the "gravel size" of the media may be important because it usually is with any undergravel filter design. There needs to be just the right amount of open space for water to get through without creating too much "suction" on the little bubble lift or pump system. There will be a narrow range that the system can handle as debris accumulates (once fish are in) and then it will need to be gravel cleaned to reset to the beginning of the range again.

Our two species of autotrophic bacteria we're trying to grow will grow on just about any surface but rough surfaced ceramics are very popular because they provide such a nice permanent sticking surface for the type of biofilms these bacteria build. Even nicer, the ceramic lasts just about forever a virtually never breaks during any sort of rinsing. Total amount of surface area becomes more important as your total filter media volume becomes smaller, so this may be another reason the correct grain size is important for these filters.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[joeskandal]

Excellent advice from joeskandal. The tropical fish hobby often seems to take many orders of magnitude more patience than people have any idea of when they decide to try it out with a new tank. In your case you will even have several things working against you, as smaller volumes of water are harder to learn on and small undergravel design filters are among the most difficult filters to get working right and water surface area is makes things easier if it's maximized. But it's been done and you can do it.

Perhaps the worst thing a beginner can do is "give in" or "get around" this first experience with "the biofilter" however. The reason is that once everything settles down and you have fish, you slowly realize that this is just going to go on for years like this and it may not offer many learning opportunities until an emergency comes along and at that point the "biofilter skill" will have been needed. By constrast, if you get your hands wet (even struggling if necessary) with the weird building of this biofilter for a couple of months, you are left with a strong understanding of what's really making the tank good for fish and the importance of keeping it running properly. The two months quickly recede into memory and you are left with your years of maintenance but with better confidence that you know what constitutes a problem with the basic environment from the standpoint of your fish.

I personally think zeolite complicates matters and makes it harder for a beginner to get a biofilter up and running. But with a mature filter it can be ok to use if it's in the proper (post-biomedia) position in the internal filter water flow. I have watched many Biorb threads on here but am not one of the better ones at helping with these, having never tried one myself. I suspect joeskandal is correct that the "gravel size" of the media may be important because it usually is with any undergravel filter design. There needs to be just the right amount of open space for water to get through without creating too much "suction" on the little bubble lift or pump system. There will be a narrow range that the system can handle as debris accumulates (once fish are in) and then it will need to be gravel cleaned to reset to the beginning of the range again.

Our two species of autotrophic bacteria we're trying to grow will grow on just about any surface but rough surfaced ceramics are very popular because they provide such a nice permanent sticking surface for the type of biofilms these bacteria build. Even nicer, the ceramic lasts just about forever a virtually never breaks during any sort of rinsing. Total amount of surface area becomes more important as your total filter media volume becomes smaller, so this may be another reason the correct grain size is important for these filters.

~~waterdrop~~

hehe thanks to you, waterdrop.
You helped me loads when i was setting up said biOrb.
We have decided to use slate as our substrate in our new tank.
Have you ever used this yourself WD, any tips?

 

[waterdrop]

I've only ever used slate for decorative hardscape, not finely broken slate for a substrate. There's of course nothing wrong with slate from a water chemistry standpoint I don't think but it's always good to just think in a practical way about whether your particular species might get cut on the sharp edges. That's about it I think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[joeskandal]

I've only ever used slate for decorative hardscape, not finely broken slate for a substrate. There's of course nothing wrong with slate from a water chemistry standpoint I don't think but it's always good to just think in a practical way about whether your particular species might get cut on the sharp edges. That's about it I think.

~~waterdrop~~

well thats the thing.
It's plum slate, so the pieces are big chunky rocks, and a surprisingly quite smooth.
All the edges i do find will of course be rounded off.

We have about 25kg to choose from to cover our 4ft tank.
My wife plans to build up in one corner to make a number of caves and dark spots.
Also she wants to have two bays of sand towards the fron of the tank, either side of the big piece of wood we have to put in.
All planted etc, probably not the most natural looking, but its just what we fancy.
Cant wait.
The problem is though, the fish are already in there.
So we need to gather them up, put them into the big tub, with the filter and heater for a couple of hours.
Use the existing gravel as a base for the rock to sit on.
Cant wait.
Will this be play to do, keep them in the big tub for a couple of hours.
Its about 12x12x12" and we have 12 neon tetras, 12 lampeyes, 2 plecs, and twiggy catfish.
I digress, sorry Ash.
But while we are on the subject...

 

[ashbosh]

i bought an official pack of Biorb filter media today, took out any small pieces that would get stuck in the filter entrance. It has covered the floor well, but i will need more otherwise it will look very empty on the bottom. We went to pets at home today and me and the wife decided we like Guppy's and Mollys.

Has anyone ever tried alfagrog in their biorbs? It looks very similar on the photos, but i dont want to spend money on it to find its sub par compared to the original biorb media.

 

[joeskandal]

dont think it will make much difference to be honest.
Its ceramic media, so it will be fine.
You dont want too much of it either really, just a couple of bricks deep...

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Hi, I have a biube but have converted, see in my signature.

Alfafrog is fine to use. Only cermaic media works well in these tanks unless you are going to take the filter out

 

[joeskandal]

is that salty?