What's The BEST Filter Media for Aquariums?

[@MFTAQ]

Another a great video full of interesting info Bentley, I have been doing this since I was 13 (I am now 58 for reference) I just never really thought about this info until this video. It's ironic I am seeing myself running my heavily planted dirted 55G tank on the lowest turn over setting on my Tidal HOB 75 with nothing but pillow stuffing and bio beads but really just let the tank surfaces, substrate and plants just do their thing when it comes to BB and just clean the HOB itself once a week dirty or not. I am now thinking about removing the filter media and just use the pre-filter sponge as a way to keep sword tail fry from getting into the filter and just using the HOB for water movement only

[@superaquatics]

Hi Bentley. Thanks for sharing. Yes I agree with you 100%.👍 Most aquariums probably don't need the expensive bio media and most likely you can improvise with what is available in your own locality and which may be more cost effective than the expensive media. In my case, since these fancy media were not available locally, I was about to import them but was only deterred by the shipping costs. I eventually realized that clay gravel from crushed old baked clay pots & bricks was aquarium safe, was even more porous and had better surface area than lava rock, behaves the same way as bio-home and is the exact same thing as the kitty litter used by Dr Novak in the anoxic system and the best of all, it was available locally TOTALLY FREE of cost from a local clay pot maker. I used it as bcb bags in my canister filter and in a DIY sump made from a 30litre plastic tote container and managed to reduce ammonia and nitrites initially and after it matured even reduced nitrates down to virtually zero or below detectable levels despite having 5 good sized goldfish in a 50g tank. With this I not only saved on the cost of the bio media but also saved on buying expensive RO water for weekly water changes since I now only need to do water changes once a month. (Our local water supply has too much salt, chlorine & nitrates over 50ppm thus the need to buy RO water).

[@AliCat876]

Another great video Bentley. When I started I bought the expensive stuff. Now I find whatever is cheapest and has lots of surface area. Plus plants…lots of plants. 😊

[@tistats]

30 PPI Poret Foam is my favorite filter media. Hear me out: 1.) Does the intended job as well as any other biomedia I have used. 2.) Keeps the water pristinely clear. This is an added perk that other biomedia do not do. I find myself not needing Purigen (unless I get a lot of unexpected tannins from new wood) or other additives when I use 30 PPI Poret Foam. People are always impressed with how clear the water looks. 3.) Poret sponge has versatility. You get to fine-tune the PPI for your needs. I find the following works for me to keep maintenance down while keeping clear water. 20 PPI Prefilter Sponge, First Layer 20 PPI foam, and the rest 30 PPI. 4.) Super easy and convenient to clean Porter Sponge vs. other filter media. I no longer need to take the filter outside. I can just pull out the foam and swish the foam in clean water to clean it. 5.) Poret foam is a durable filter media. It will last a lot longer than a normal sponge. Which is why I only recommend Poret foam. 6.) It can easily be bleached if things go bad. I believe in working smarter, not harder. That is why I go with Poret foam. I think any biomedia filter will work; however, poret foam has a lot of advantages beyond other biomedia that give it the edge.

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@tistats appreciate your feedback!

[@legionaquatics]

Great video Bentley! I always thought this way and was confused why some people would compare different ceramic media all the time. Personally I use whatever media my filter comes with.

[@aquariumhacksbymarcus5653]

Yes, I agree with that. I use pot scrubbies and sponges, and I keep expensive lake Tanganika Cichlids no problems

[@bmcc901]

Brilliant video Bentley 👏 So refreshing to hear some honesty when it comes around to filter media. I’ve always kept an open mind when it comes to filter media and used so many different types over the years. They all work and do the job.

[@HalfManHalfCichlid]

After more than 60 years in the hobby I only use sponges and pot scrubbies for bio filtration. My big break through has been using a blue bond pre-filter to trap and remove weekly the detritus that would otherwise clog my biofiltration and add nitrates and organic wastes to the water column. My big discovery is that the sponges go a year or longer undisturbed and not needing cleaning with most of the detritus removed upstream by the blue bond. This approach enables a very stable biological filter seldom if ever requiring cleaning.

[@tracyramsey2976]

Thank -you for the honesty! You absolutely correct!!! I have sponges in my one filter and use them to seed new tanks. It works every time.

[@williamleidy6713]

The base of my substrate is lava rock. My thought process was that the pores were great surface area for beneficial bacteria.

[@farhajhassan8516]

Great video Sir. Keep it up.

[@dusk1947]

Great answer, for what is certainly a often asked question. I've always found the more complex and mature my aquarium became, the less I used any 'filtration media'. I'd use artificial media as a carrier in the beginning to 'seed' a new aquarium, which enabled the transfer of a healthy bacterial colony from a former well functioning aquarium. But as time goes on, most artificial media simply becomes extra mechanical filtration that traps debris and detritus. Which I've also found is not needed, most of the time. In my former planted tanks, it was very much the substrate and plants which served this purpose. And in my marine system, it's the live rock (porous aragonite boulders), sand and macro algae which provide the surface area. I've successfully run 'high-tech' planted tanks and reef tanks with zero artificial filter media. And am still running a reef tank with zero today. Filter media for bacteria is great to start a tank. And it's a tool that can be beneficial, especially in sparse or minimalistic tanks with a high fish load. But it's entirely unnecessary/optional in a mature and diverse system.

[@MFTAQ]

This is also a great explanation.

[@vigilum]

Wise words.... I've been looking at Mt. Tree Lotus Root Bacteria House III.... very fancy. I love lava rock.

[@angiebear8727]

Lava rock is fantastic. I’m with you

[@robertjohnston25]

30ppi sponge and maybe a 40ppi sponge at the end for polishing. That’s how I pack all my filters. Only reason I wouldn’t do this is if I wanted a heavy leaf liter tank and didn’t want my filter to plug up right away. But even then I’d probably just use a pre filter.. sponge is king 👑

[@Aquariumike]

I love this, i was playing with cheap lava in my flyval and sumps, works perfectly 😅

[@rogeraquarium6872]

I used to use primarily biohome and marine pure exclusively, but over the years I have converted most of my tanks over to Sera siporax. I really like the flow due to the design of the rings and they clog less in my opinion.

[@Audiojunkabus]

another well explained vid on an important subject. just want to mention (sorry if you mentioned & I misssed), impact on flow rate needs to be heavily considered.

[@jennysoderstrom]

Useful tips😊

[@unlearnr]

I really enjoyed this video Bentley! I was literally just thinking about lava rock vs. seachem matrix... (well I bought both, just because... and plan to use both in my canister!) Although I was reading somewhere it's better to put lava rocks in pouches so the fragments wont damage the impeller...

[@markfranklin8831]

This is the best and true information. Thanks for sharing

[@gregjonesonline]

bio media: k1 micro, mechanical: blue bonded filter pad or polyfil, chemical: polyfilter

[@cecilmayberry1305]

Thanks I did learn some

[@kosys5338]

When I saw the title first thing I thought was, he better say there is no such thing as best filter media. Then I thought, if I know Bentley the way I think I do then that is exactly what he is going to say. You taught me well my friend, my tanks are proof of that.

[@eccentricsmithy2746]

Preach brother!

[@MangoMochi808]

I've used lava rock for years in tanks and ponds. I live near 2 active volcanoes so it's a no brainer for me.

[@josephgadway8950]

Great thank you!

[@justinarobles3060]

Am with u in that one 1️⃣ ❤

[@EricJohnson-b5d]

Thank you for all the information. Your videos are great. I have a 125 (72”) tank that is going to have fish and some plants (more fish that plants). What size Plant 3.0 light should I get for that tank and how many do you recommend? Should I get multiple smaller lights, one big light? One big and one small? Thank you for your help in advance.

[@johnmaude5065]

That’s why I love Fluval Fx bio, it’s cheap, it’s good and you get a ton of it in the box, $55.00 a box here in Australia 🇦🇺

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@johnmaude5065 finally a fluval product in Australia that is reasonably priced!

[@johnmaude5065]

@@BentleyPascoe I just bought a Fx2, only $425 aus dollars, I was very surprised at the price only a tad more than a 407 😊

[@tuxedopitbulls888]

I buy the cheep hang on the back filters and put poly fill in them it cleans the water and cloudiness. and that's it. I just killed Cory's Dual battery back up pump after 2 months and his sponge filters clog up a lot. I have hard well water. My Walmart whisper pump is still kicken.

[@ahmadsaidi8996]

Great video, I have question shall we change bio media irrespective of types like eg. matrix or eheim substrate pro aftee time to avoid clogged Thanks in advance

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@ahmadsaidi8996 you don't need to replace it, but maybe once every couple years if you see it visibly clogged up, you can clean it with a bleach and water mixture. I've never needed to do this as a note, so doubt it's necessary if you have some decent mechanical filtration

[@thehairywoodsman5644]

I use lava, I just put a pile of it in the back of the tank and generally hide it with some moss or other plants. verbally in a HOB ill stick some pathos in it and no actual media at all. the roots eventually fill up the filter box and do well gleaning the water.but the HOB im really using for water movement , not filtration. I do have pre sponge filters on the HOBs just to keep fry and snails out of the impeller

[@MFTAQ]

I had a similar reply LOL.

[@thehairywoodsman5644]

@@MFTAQ stick some pothos in the HOB

[@anthonyruth5606]

I use both seachem matrix and lava rock I break the lava rock down into small pieces and I place them all in a giant filter bag and sink them down in my pond I have ten of bags so when I need to start a new aquarium I have extra filter media

[@WeipoMingpo]

I personally like lava rock because you can aquascape as well

[@andersljungblom8183]

Exactly. When I had aquariums 40 years ago there was no such thing as biomedia. We had a small pump with polyfill, sand and plants. There was never any problems. But someone is making big money now.

[@MFTAQ]

To me simple is always better.

[@EpicConspiracy]

You didn’t have iPhones either. Better stuff comes as we progress as a society

[@sairvinginthestacks]

I have a UNS 60S. After 9 months, I decided to clean up the equipment for a cleaner look. Plus, with my Seachem tidal, half the tank had no flow. Bought an Oase Filtosmart 60. Did I use the cermic media? Nope, I stuffed sponge in the entire thing. Now I just need enough tube to tuck the filter away in the corner on the floor. Then comes the rescape. I made some mistakes when setting this tank up.

[@jconrad8585]

Obviously a product with higher surface area would be better than a product with less. It's absurd to say it doesn't matter

[@mauricematla8379]

The thing is you can only feed so many baccies thus you only need so much area.... There is not much point in overdoing it. I enjoy my tanks best with a lot of plants and not so much fish....

[@theangryguitarist]

I keep my subscription here because you tend to call out things for how they are. Example: Biohome. I left a comment there, challenging the miscalling of the scientific method on that channel and my comment was deleted. Maybe YT deleted my long winded comment. There is a type of media that I can't find any "fish tuber" making content about, and that is the Fluval A1470. A ceramic filter advertised for *mechanical* filtration purpose, which at least to me, is unique. Perhaps it's not worth making content about, but I did see it in my local fish store.

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@theangryguitarist I looked at that. I'm a little boggled how it can be a prefilter mechanically unless it's like some level of purigen. Very strange.

[@pondguru]

I am assuming that your comment WAS deleted by KZbin since I can see your comment here on this video. Your comment wouldn't show here if you'd been blocked by me so I assume it was not my channel you commented on? Whenever I see a comment with a question I will answer it to the best of my ability and there is a few posts on the 'community' part of my channel which may answer questions you have about the media and scientific method (there is also parts of a scientific study posted there which shows crazy nitrite and nitrate reduction figures from Athens University). One of the latest posts will hopefully be of interest since it goes into detail about the Germ Theory vs Terrain Theory subject, of which 99% of people have never even heard of. That is critical and a lack of understanding of Terrain Theory is why people argue in comment sections and have a frustratingly misunderstood perception of filtration - maybe I should do an actual video on that instead of just a post? (Let me know if you would like to see that and send me any questions to answer in the video - my email is on the FilterPro site and on my channel 'about' page) A few key points below in case you don't go and read those community posts on my channel: 1 - Filtration just needs to be as good as it needs to be for the level of stock in the tank and the closer a tank is set up to replicate Nature the less need there is for artificial filtration and the happier the fish will be in their environment (less stress, less dis-ease, less 'need' for treatments) - That is basic Terrain Theory yet most people have never heard of it. 2 - If you are using a water conditioner which messes with the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (e.g. prime) it will keep the bacteria population at an artificially low level (due to starvation) and no matter what filter media you use the results will be the same - high nitrate (in fish tank with no plants). You'll also probably be tricked into using secondary 'treatments' to add live bacteria with every damaging water change. Unfortunately so many people have no idea about that and whatever (flawed) media 'tests' are done the results will be exactly the same (high nitrate) causing the mistaken belief that a coarse sponge or pot scrubber has the same useful surface area as a porous ceramic / sintered glass media (per volume). 3 - Never 'clean' a porous filter media using bleach as it will critically reduce any chance it has of supporting bacteria. Ceramic and sintered glass media can be 'cleaned' by baking it in a hot oven for 45-60 minutes. That will burn off any organic matter and sterilize it for use in a different system (e.g. going from freshwater to saltwater). I don't know whether that has answered any of your original question(s) since I obviously did not see it but hopefully some of the above resonates. For further information I have done dozens of new Q&A's on the 'Q&A' page of the FilterPro site so if you have time and are willing to put the eye work in feel free to scroll through them. The last 2/3 are new posts and will hopefully answer something for you. Hope that helps.

[@theangryguitarist]

@@pondguru very informative. Thanks Richard!

[@pondguru]

@@theangryguitarist No worries and feel free to email any time. The commenting system on KZbin is unreliable at best.

[@frhaber]

What do you think about the Biohome product claim about anaerobic bacteria de-nitrifying abilities?

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@frhaber I have yet to see data proving it, but I suppose it's possible. I highly doubt it though.

[@HalfManHalfCichlid]

@@frhaber with probably millions spent on Biohome over many years, PondGuru has refused, every time when asked to provide 3rd party data that proves it works. I found it to be ultra expensive, readily clogs reducing surface area, and very dubious claims about anaerobic nitrate reduction.

[@yantremblay-cote2597]

Biofiltration also removes pathogens from water. The more biofilm in the filter the more it becomes efficient. Since there's less efficient media, there's medias that be call "the best" media.

[@-EJ00]

What about pumice stone? Like you would scrub your feet with..I've used it in filters

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@-EJ00 I specifically called out lava rock/pumice.

[@-EJ00]

@BentleyPascoe your right! Lol, I just missed it. Kids and distractions...

[@nikhilkharkar1753]

Sponge filter, substrate and tons of stem plants

[@vgn135]

I wanted to look at the Brightwater S but can't find it anywhere. Is it available in the US?

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@vgn135 it used to be, Covid caused major supply issues and I haven't had any updates from Brightwater in a while, I'll check in!

[@vgn135]

@@BentleyPascoe Thank you sir. Love your channel.

[@danfox1458]

Ocean free hydra 3dm beads for me

[@Wintersdark]

Yup. Media surface area discussions are funny, because: * You don't actually need much surface area to do the job, and more area != more bacteria, you can only have however much you feed. * There's media with TREMENDOUS surface are in theory (matrix) but the pits are *tiny* and will quickly be clogged by biofilm and such, turning the media into just regular rocks in short order.... * ... Which is fine because just filling your filter with rocks will do the job too. The only caveat that I think matters is you need flow through an area of media for it to be useful, which isn't normally a big deal but in some really oddball cases may need attention. I'm personally a 20-30ppm sponge man, but mostly just because I can make chunks cut specifically for filters and squeezing them out every couple months is super easy, and that way I don't need to worry about mechanical filtration as well. It's not *better*, it just works well for me and is easy to customize for different applications. And is extremely inexpensive. But over the years I've used all sorts of stuff (including lava rock back in the day - hint, crush it into small 1cm ish chunks for maximum flow:surface) and it's all worked fine.

[@yantremblay-cote2597]

Yes but if we would only use X amount of surface to get the job done (amount of food) we wouldn't have to clean the filter

[@yantremblay-cote2597]

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622025227#bib57

[@Wintersdark]

@@yantremblay-cote2597 cleaning the filter is unrelated to the biological filtration really, other than if it actually gets clogged and slows/stops flow. Super dirty filters that still flow perform biological filtration every bit as well as clean (but cycled/active) ones. (There are exceptions in extreme/specific situations of course, everything ultimately gets an "It Depends" tag)

[@yantremblay-cote2597]

@@Wintersdark cleaning the filter removes the bacterial colonies that grow large enough to clog it. In other words bacterial colonies are always growing. More space, more bacteries, more effiencie

[@ahmadsaidi8996]

Mr. Bentley, I think Ada people using only biological media bio rio and they don't use mechanical/ sponge filter in their canister , is it logic? Thanks

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@ahmadsaidi8996 you can, it just requires more maintenance.

[@yungtree1082]

Lava rock is my goat

[@HalfManHalfCichlid]

@@yungtree1082 i used to love lava rock too. It does break down and gives off a fine and abrasive "dust" that destroyed the impellers in two of magnetic drive pumps.

[@yungtree1082]

@@HalfManHalfCichlid I'm about 3 years in on my pond which runs off a 44 gallon brute trashcan filled 3/4 of way up with lava rocks , so far haven't killed any pumps , but if it go thru like 1 pump every so many years that's not so bad

[@HalfManHalfCichlid]

@@yungtree1082 my inside pumps are up tov15 years old

[@AndrewMellor-darkphoton]

Hi

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@AndrewMellor-darkphoton hi!

[@vassetz]

matrix :)

[@christophermarvin85]

1:26

[@mikeeljahosafats3231]

0 ammonia is 0 ammonia. If you have the cheap stuff and you get 0 ammonia, no need to waste your money.

[@toothpicdinosaur3777]

Why use filters when every inch of substrate is planted?

[@garthantash]

If there was a best media, much like best filter, there would be essentially 3 options on the market - expensive but good version, cheap but not good version, intermediate. The fact that there are dozens and dozens of options implies there is no single best option.

[@cameronstoneadams1183]

TLDR. "none of them" plants

[@AlohaAloha808]

"They all do the same thing." Is not a very helpful opinion. I was hoping for more from this vid tbh.

[@BentleyPascoe]

@@AlohaAloha808 if you are expecting your media to do some kind of magic voodoo beyond being a housing ground for beneficial bacteria, you're probably buying into marketing hype. Now in the case of discussing mechanical versus purely biological filtration. Yes, there are differences between the different types of media. But that's not really the purpose of this video. The core understanding is that regardless of whether you buy the super fancy media or use some lava rock as an example, all they're really doing each of them is providing surface area to house beneficial bacteria. The bacteria are what actually do the filtration work.

[@bmcc901]

Brilliant video Bentley 👏 So refreshing to hear some honesty when it comes around to filter media. I’ve always kept an open mind when it comes to filter media and used so many different types over the years. They all work and do the job.