Bio-balls,bio-media, and practicality

["Allen and Sandra" <allensandra at boatmans_com>]

Cavin,
     I am cheap, and I like to think of myself  as a pragmatist.  And that
is why I would suggest using well rinsed  red lava rock as your bio-media,
it is the best for your buck.  Just go down to Home Depot / Lowe's and get
the smallest size, rinse well, and add to your canister filter or wet / dry
filter.

You want real surface area so you can really starve your plants for
nutrients, and you have the money, then by a fluidized bed filter, and I
don't mean a  "sandman" filter.  I used to use an FB600 by Lifegard.  I used
it on a 135 gallon aquarium with large, rift lake cichlids in it.  It gave
me zeros across the board on polutants.  A fluidized bed has enormous
surface area.  Whatever you do don't let it sit too long.  Once I turned off
the pump that drove it so I could do a water change, and then left it off.
Well let's just say it went anerobic, turned black, and smelled aweful.

That's my 2 cents worth.

Boat