filter rock things?

[fish_newbie]

do those rock looking things that u put into aquaclear filters to build up good colonies of bacteria really need replacing? or do they just say that to make money.

 

[TankGirl]

I can't imagine they would need to be replaced for many years. Anything rigid like that (ceramic rings/noodles, bioballs, etc.) should just need to be rinsed off from time to time. You want to keep and pamper your precious bacteria!

 

[fish_newbie]

cool thanks ..think its worth buying though?

 

[Keeper]

The rock things you are talking about are probably the ammonia remover bags(light in color). It may also be the carbon bag(black in color). I find the carbon pretty useless and therefore don't use it and don't use the ammonia bags because I have planted tanks. I use a 2 sponge system in both of my aquaclears and it works fantastic. HTH

 

[TankGirl]

The rocks I am referring to are not the ammonia chips, or carbon, but are actual rocky gravel-like material that is used as a biofilter. I skip carbon and would only use ammo-chips in a dire emergency.

 

[Keeper]

The rocks I am referring to are not the ammonia chips, or carbon, but are actual rocky gravel-like material that is used as a biofilter

You can get this for an aquaclear? If so, I would love to know the name so I could get some. It would probably produce more flow than with the sponges

 

[TankGirl]

This can be put in a media bag and put into the AC filter-

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=4327

 

[fish_newbie]

dont ammonia chips act the same as a biofilter but just takes out extra ammonia?

 

[fish_newbie]

opps ..sorry for the double post

 

[TankGirl]

I don't think they are much of a biofilter- and there are much better choices for that out there, like Keeper mentions, the sponges could be all you need. They provide excellent biomedia.

Anything that removes ammonia is going to work against you when you are trying to cycle a tank, since the nitrifying bacteria require ammonia to survive. The only time I would use it is if there was a crash of my tank from a bio-overload or medication use, or something, and I had to pronto get ammonia out of there to save the fish. Water changes would do the same thing. In order to get the tank cycled again you would have to remove the ammo-chips.

I hope I am not confusing you - maybe I misunderstood your original post.