This system also features…, …should be placed so as to maximize the flow of water through it. For nitrifying bacteria this is where there is the most food and oxygen, which means this is where there is the most flow, which means this is in the filter. Mechanical medias are probably the simplest. Since you won’t have filters running and fish don’t stop producing waste just because you move them (in fact they can produce more because of the stress) putting a little ammo chops in the bottom of every bag or bucket can be very beneficial for them. Phosphates and silicates can cause algae and other problems in reefs so this is usually the only time it is used, but it could be used in freshwater for severe algae problems (big water changes, adjusting feeding, and lighting adjustments should be tried first). Not doing so will simply cause the fine mechanical to clog much faster and make the coarse much less useful. you can use this for damage control. If you have never seen one before a media reactor will look like an odd canister filter. Although I don’t like to rely on products like this for my own tanks, I like to just do a water change which does even more good, it can be very effective and does make a big difference on clients’ tanks who will not pay me to do water changes often enough and don’t do them on their own. Superbly, nitrate levels in freshwater tank should be maintained below 20 mg/l. Ask a Question: BriansAquariumCare@Gmail.com. When using a media bag it is best to place them in an area of direct flow like a sump…, …while having an elegant and professional looking reef aquarium with an included sump, stand, and plumbing. It is a pad with a special coating that absorbs all sorts of bad stuff. Some marine hobbyists like to quarantine new fish for several weeks, then place them in a large sump for several days, before final introduction into the display tank. The best use for this is in a custom designed sump. Do water changes. Carbon is very effective at removing odors, discoloration, medications, and other chemicals. Pay for something known to do very well for this function, it’s too important to cheap out on. My question is do I put bio balls first then ceramic rings as water passing over bio … It is very effective at breaking down waste is self-cleaning. The tumbling keeps media like GFO from compacting together and even fusing. Compatible with: Torq 0.75 Modular Reactor Body Torq 1.0 Modular Reactor Body Torq 2.0 Modular Reactor Body Torq Dock Dimensions - 6.4" W x 6.4" L x 4.3" H The Nyos Torq is an innovative high-performance system reactor in a modular design for all types of filter media, such as…, …return pump, media reactors, or any other additional hardware the Reefer aquarium system is for you. Place bags into a high flow area of your sump, reactor, canister filter, or HOB filter. Seachem Purigen is a chemical resin that absorbs nitrogen compounds and polishes the water. The surface area and how well it hosts bacteria will effect you and your fish for many years. This should be easy, but unfortunately there are a few bad options out there. You can recharge it by soaking it in bleach and then a dechlorinator solution. The side flow reactors can be placed almost anywhere in the sump with their space-saving…, …the reactor close to the water level of your tank/sump to minimize head pressure. Most canisters have an optional fine or even polishing filter pad. Water changes are always essential in these situations though so ammo chips should only be used in addition to water changes, not in place of. I say ‘porous’ because when the rep showed it to us I said it didn’t look porous, he said you could break it and see, he tried to, and couldn’t. Most common, and usually included in all filters, is carbon. Most people see a significant improvement in water clarity when using Purigen. Without really good reason not to, stick with your filter’s mechanical media. It is highly porous, spherical, and small so that more surface area is exposed to the water. Bioballs are specifically designed for use in trickle filters where their lack of surface area is more than compensated for by the massive amount of oxygen in the air which allows the fewer bacteria to be much more productive. You can completely replace the need for carbon in any tank with water changes. However, there are a few significant differences that set media reactors apart. You can do this under tap water. It also makes sure all the media is exposed to the water and does its job. Mesh Media Bags can also be used as effective filter … $5.99 They are too fine to simply be tossed in to a canister’s trays (depending on the media and canister). Placing it first in line allows much of the debris to be captured before the water continues on to the other filter media. Seachem Matrix on the other hand has less surface area due to the channels and pores being larger, but because they are larger they are not blocked by the bacteria. The basic media reactor is a vessel that contains a filter media. There are some people that claim you don’t even need biological because the bacteria will grow on mechanical. There are few variations and every filter out there has some. With reactors that are placed in the rear…, …GFO. You could even use these rings in your sump system, although the Seachem product below would be a better option. It is large enough for most applications (especially since they have their large version), a great little design, and very reasonably priced at $40-60 depending on where you get it (I recommend supporting your local fish store, it’s only a little more and helps make sure they will actually be there in the years to come). For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. They trap debris which, just like with mechanical media, rots and ruins water quality if not routinely removed. Every filter company has their own version (or two or three), but most are far from ideal. Replace it every 1-2 months (or track your chemistry to see when you need to). There are many media reactors out there, and somehow some companies manage to charge a lot of money for most of them, but I definitely prefer the PhosBan Reactor by Two Little Fishies (TLF). Filter pads are what is usually built-in to those dinky slide-in cartridges most hang-on-back filters (HOBs) have. Granular Ferric Oxide (GFO) is a brick red type of fine media used for removing phosphates and silicates from reef tanks. A sump filter is nothing more than a receptacle containing all your filtration media, water pump and heater. Pot scrubbers are something you may hear about on some forums. In addition, it will also turn different colors for different contaminants (one color for ammonia, one color for copper, etc., see packaging for more details). I am not saying to go ahead and soak it, or blast it with pure hot tap water, just not to worry about it, it won’t kill your bacteria colonies to do a quick rinse. In something like a Fluval or other canister with deep trays you can pack this stuff in pretty tightly, the tighter you pack it in the more effective it is. Types of refugium setup. I prefer the small Rio pumps/powerheads. At the end of it all it is not the biomedia itself that is anything magical, it is nothing more than surface area per volume. This is larger but still a very high quality carbon, and some of their larger containers are very cost effective per weight. It is actually pretty hard to not have enough. At high flow rates (greater than 100 US gallons… $3.59 The tannic acid uses up KH which allows the pH to drop. Please enter your email address below to receive a password reset link. The FX6 will obviously be just "plug and play", but the sump gives me a chance to do a bit of DIY and maybe build something better. After having looked for some examples of how a sump is set up and what media is used, I found very little info around to help me set mine up. That is the increase in nitrate created by your tank, that is them measure of water quality. Hi, I have a freshwater sump that I run on my 125 gal tank. If you have any questions just contact me. Seachem Purigen is a chemical resin that absorbs nitrogen compounds and polishes the water. Another option for fine mechanical (in most canisters) are fine filter pads made specifically for that filter. It also discolors your water, sometimes very significantly (it will look like tea, true ‘blackwater’). Place bags into a high flow area of your sump, reactor, canister filter, or HOB filter. All Rights Reserved. In most cases there isn’t much to them, but they do collect debris which is the sole function of mechanical media. To make it worse Marineland included a second biomedia, a ‘porous’ media like other canisters. Unfortunately almost no one routinely cleans bioballs. But in the end even the dinkiest biomedia sources can provide adequate surface area for bacteria. So now I'm thinking, either don't bother with the sump and just get a FX6, or get the sump setup and fill it with filter media. The fish won’t mind (assuming they are ALL from a blackwater habitat like the Amazon), but it does look really bad. In a reactor, the carbon should not be allowed to tumble…, …the output of the unit. If you have tap water that has a relatively low pH/KH for what your livestock would prefer (goldfish, African cichlids, livebearers, many barbs, etc.) This will produce a lower, but still stable, pH/KH. It can be used in all types of aquariums be it … Water flows out at the same speed the pump returns it to the tank. With a filter sump you can use a media contactor to contain the carbon or drop a bag of GAC into the sump. In these cases you want to use a good filter bag. This lets you know how well it is working and when it needs to be replaced or recharged, unlike carbon where you basically have to guess. Do not use nitrate absorbing medias. Biological medias (biomedia) are the filter media best suited to house nitrifying bacteria. Do this a little at a time over 3-4 times over a couple months. It will fit in almost any filter (except HOBs that only use their own slide-in cartridge), and has more bioavailable surface area than other biomedias including Fluval and Eheim’s best options. I have noticed that in tanks that feed foods with artificial colors in them the Purigen will match that color (i.e. $5.99 economy shipping on orders under $39, …directly in sumps No More O-Rings Innovative Marine Pro series of media reactors no longer utilizesrubber o-rings in the cap, but a solid rubber cap to keep any water from leaking out of the top, but still easy to remove when maintenance is required. The mesh bags allow for flow through the media while keeping the loose media contained. Use at least coarse mechanical and biological and you won’t have to worry about it. They are cut by the manufacturer to perfectly fit the filter so they won’t allow any significant bypass. I hope this helps shine some light on which medias to use, when, how to order them, and how to maintain them. This system also…. Rinse bag under running water for 5 to 10 seconds. It is best used in a media reactor with a flow that produces a slight tumble. Ammo Chips are the ammonia absorbing granules that look like white carbon. This is so that the carbon can remove everything it can leaving only the stuff the specific media needs to focus on so that it is only used up on what it is made for. The nitrifying bacteria will do this for you for free so don’t waste your money on this stuff in most cases. The goal of this site is to promote the best information based on years of experience in the hobby, retail, and service. However, choosing what to put in a refugium depends on its type and purpose. Remove Xport-BIO from bucket and pour water into the aquarium system, then place Xport-BIO into canister filter, media reactor, or 800µm mesh filter bag; a flow-through rate…, …gallons) 40 oz (Treats up to 200 gallons) Directions:Keep Chemi-pure sealed wet in container until ready for use. If you do not do this it will simply rot, lowering water quality and making the collection of that waste completely pointless. It may be used in a media reactor, canister filter, box filter, or any high flow area of your sump where water can be…, …L(150 gal) Filtration sump volume Glass sump with preparation for auxiliary reactors or refugium 50 L(13 gal) 60 L(16 gal) 90 L(25 gal) Aquarium glass thickness Ultra clear front and side panels 12 mm(1/2”) 12 mm(1/2”) 15 mm( 5/8”) Surface skimmer Built in surface skimmer on full…, …Chemi-pure Blue sealed in container until ready for use. Use in a filter bag or media reactor. This creates a tumbling effect to the media. Nitrate absorbing media actually brings a few big topics together in one. Mechanical media is intended to remove larger particles from the water, thus eliminating clogging in other areas of the filter. Lifegard Turbo Reactors can be set up quicker than almost any other reactor on the market. The only time I would ever choose to run a sump on freshwater again would be to run multiple tanks on one system. I want to add plants to the refugium to help with filtering. Add 1000mL per 250 gallons of tank volume to an up flow style reactor or media bag in a high flow location of the sump. The overflow controls the water level in the tank. This same goal is achieved by putting the fine mechanical second (after only coarse mechanical) except by putting it before the chemical and biological medias you prevent those medias from being clogged by the fine particulate waste. You should be able to save money by only buying the media you really need, and know which ones are worth spending a little extra money on. Put plants in the tray and feed roots through the openings designed for them. Larger but still stable, pH/KH t even need biological because the bacteria are food oxygen! The ammonia absorbing Granules that what media to put in freshwater sump like an odd canister filter, or HOB filter evenly! Acurel ’ s PhosBan, but they do not move and water is still same... 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