There's 3 types of filtration - biological, mechanical & chemical. Of these biological is the most important as these good bacteria in a cycled tank remove the ammonia and nitrites which are lethal to fish. Mechanical filtration is cool as it removes all kinds of "crap" which make the tank look icky and more importantly, which decompose to produce more ammonia. However, "crap" that's stuck in the mechanical media is still in the tank water supply, and until you remove it by rinsing the mechanical media (such as foam or black scrubbie looking stuff) in tank water during a water change, it's still a menace. Almost all of the bacteria that accomplish biological filtration live on the mechanical media (or on a bio wheel, or bio balls in a trickle filter), so this mechanical media does two jobs in one. This is why you shouldn't throw this stuff away, but rather rinse it in tank water and reuse it. Likewise, the more of this mechanical foam (or whatever) you have in your filter, the more robust your bacterial colonies will be - which is one reason i advocate replacing carbon with more mechanical media. I also prefer the aquaclear/fluval foam blocks over the media used in other filters as it clogs less, is easier to rinse out, and lasts for years before falling apart. It can also be easily cut to fit different brand filters if you buy an oversized block.Ivanmike, I've seen you say several times that we should put foam in place of the filter media, what exactly is the filter media? In my filter I've got the black scrubber pad lookin stuff and the white pouch that the carbon goes into. Then on my other filters, I've got the biowheel and the carbon pads. Im assuming you mean take out the carbon? But don't you need the carbon to filter out the ickies?? (I know, I'm very technical lol)
brittanykluss said:So basically in laymans terms I have a aquaclear 50 that comes with a black spongy a white spongy and a bag of carbon squares. Are you suggesting instead of using the carbon to put another spongy square in it's place ? and when would you use the bag of carbon?
IvanMike said:rock as in gravel or little pieces of rock or big chunks of rock?
I'm not sure on the GBR and dwarf gourami together, I've never tried that... As for the cories try getting one that doesn't get as big and get 6 of those such as juliis, pandas or dwarfs(you could have 8 of those in there!)