FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hi, I have been keeping fish in aquarium for some time now. I have started using only mechanial filter/ power filter all along. I have a question on improving this kind of filteration. I am thinking of adding some bio rings to provide some biological filteration. Is this necessary or a good idea ? Btw, I have a 30 gallon tank, 2 small ranchu, 6 cories and 2 albino sharks (planning to add 2 more cories and 1 more small ranchu).
Thanks in advance.

I find that media made to hose ONLY biological bacteria is only good for one thing: seeding other aquariums.

Think about this; how long have people kept aquariums WITHOUT all this bacteria stuff? Also, bacteria only needs so much room, thus you really don't need it.

As far as I know, it won't necessarily HELP you're filtration any just because of your setup. If you've got gravel and a mechanical filter on there, those are gonna be holding enough bacteria to be converting all the nitrate your fish are producing, so adding those will only give the bacteria more room. Unfortunately, you can't keep more bacteria alive than are needed to destroy all the ammonia, so it's kinda pointless to add them...

As Racso pointed out, you could use them to seed another aquarium, but it would be just like using gravel from one tank to the other too...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

its probably not necessary, your tanks isnt too populated. how are you ammonia and nitrite levels?

on the other hand i guess if u want to why not eh? you can never have too much filtration right?!

as iltat said:

"Unfortunately, you can't keep more bacteria alive than are needed to destroy all the ammonia"

so remember just because you are adding bioballs doesnt mean u can get lazy on your weekly waterchanges!

I think it's a good idea to add to your filter. Does anyone actually know how much surface area is needed for a tank to thrive? I doubt it. So, I'd rather have more area then needed, rather than less. Besides, adding the bio-media wouldn't hurt anything.

thanks...