I just picked up 6 boxes of Marineland's ceramic rings labeled for use as biofiltration media. I haven't used these before and, to me, they seem less porous than biomax and others I've used. They seem closer to a prefilter ring than a porous bio ring. Is this a case of them being very porous, just so small that they don't look or feel rough? I spent about $50 on this stuff and have only opened 1 box. I am wondering if I should go ahead and use it or take the 5 boxes back and get some biomax (which is a little more expensive). Anyone like or dislike these things for any reason?
Anyone used Marineland's ceramic rings for biofiltration?
- Thread starter lujor
- Start date
The ceramic rings made for biofiltration have more surface area than almost anything else out there. I don't know the exact method of how they are manufactured, but they are not smooth surfaced. Under a microscope they look like a loufa/sponge/lava rock. There are other types of ceramic rings that are not as porous that are used for "mechanical filtration," but what they really do is divert the flow of water to create nonlinear water flow through the media.
I think the debate on surface area for ceramic media is kind of pointless. I think any ceramic media is probably fine, unless you are using it in application where you need the max amount of bio media in a small amount of space, and you are overstocked.
Return them. I even asked the Marineland rep about this when their newest canister first came out, he couldn't explain it and agreed it did not look porous. He even tried to break one so we could see what the inside looked like, he couldn't break it.
Just buy Seachem Matrix.
Just buy Seachem Matrix.
The ceramic rings work great.
They are expensive by volume.
Next time get Seachem Matrix,
THE best product/$ on the market.
They are expensive by volume.
Next time get Seachem Matrix,
THE best product/$ on the market.
I have the MarineLand ceramic rings in my canister. They were the cheapest ones at the time and I needed lots of media to fill my filters. They are a very hard, non-porous type of ring that is better suited for mechanical filtration. I will probably cut down on how much of this I am using and replace it with Matrix instead.
These? I'm pretty sure that's what I have (came with a filter in the 90s)
and you can see the pores with the naked eye.
Looks like concrete. kind of.
Not cheap. Lots of surface area.
and you can see the pores with the naked eye.
Looks like concrete. kind of.
Not cheap. Lots of surface area.