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30 Jul 2016

Why MarinePure Is Best Bio-Filter Media?

Posted By : Guest

Every aquarium, be it a marine tank or a freshwater aquarium, or a backyard pond, works on a similar principal where the confined environment strives to achieve a chemical balance, essential to sustain the life that they host. In order to maintain that equilibrium, we use different types of filter media in our filters.

No matter the environment, the most important and efficient type of filtration is biological – colonies of beneficial bacteria that break down harmful ammonia (NH3) originating from uneaten food, fish waste, and other decaying matter, into less toxic Nitrites (NO2), and later to Nitrates (NO3), in a process known as the nitrogen cycle.

These bacteria occupy all surfaces in a fish tank – aquarium glass, décor, plants, and, in reef tanks, live rock. The aquarist’s goal is to provide an optimal surface on which the bacteria to grow and the best way to build healthy colonies is the use various types of biological media.

CerMedia, based in USA, offer a wide range of biological media in various shapes and forms for both commercial and residential applications. Interestingly, the company also produces ceramic media for biological filtration in municipal and industrial installations to filter large volumes of waste water. Their aquarium line of products is called MarinePure and can be used in freshwater and saltwater tanks, as well as outdoor ponds and other systems where efficient biological filtration is crucial for the well-being of their inhabitants.

The company produces several differently-shaped forms of biological media for home aquariums. Available are 1.5” – diameter spheres, 8” x 8” x 1” plates, 8” x 8” x 4” blocks, flat cartridges (for hang on back filters), irregularly shaped chunks resembling live rock, as well as various size cubes.

How does MarinePure differ from other biomedia?

To answer that question, we have to look closer at MarinePure’s unique structure. The media is made of aluminosilicate ceramic material that is fired in temperatures over 1000 degree Celsius. It is inert, meaning it should not leach any substances to the aquarium and change the water chemistry. There are two qualities that separate Cermedia’s product from others in the market – its huge surface area and open-pore structure.

To measure bio-media effectiveness, its surface area is important. The larger the surface area, the more bacteria can colonize it with the result that less media needs to be used to achieve the same goal. The unit of measurement for surface area is ft2/ft3 or m2/m3, which translates roughly to the amount of two-dimensional, usable surface on a three-dimensional structure.

To maximize this ratio, the material needs to be very porous, and that is what Cermedia perfected with their ceramic media. The numbers are as follows – plastic bioballs, which is the least efficient biological media, has an average surface area of 100 ft2/ft3. The most popular ceramic rings and gravel-shaped pieces are better, with an average surface area of 20,000 ft2/ft3.

MarinePure comes in at 132,500 ft2/ft3 for spheres and 139,800 ft2/ft3 for blocks. That’s over 6 times the surface area of the next most-efficient media!

One MarinePure 1.5” bioball has 240 square feet (22 square meters) of real estate for nitrifying bacteria to colonize. That’s impressive, given that most people have limited space for biological media in their filtration system.

Ultimately, higher surface area leads to more sufficient ammonia and nitrate removal.

The interlocked, open-pore structure is another aspect of MarinePure that makes it stand out from other bio-media products. Unlike bioballs or ceramic rings, water flows through MarinePure with ease, even at minimal flow. Decaying matter is quickly broken down by nitrifying bacteria and flows through the pores freely, keeping it from clogging. Should MarinePure get clogged after a prolonged time, a simple rinse in aquarium water is enough to free it from detritus. Below is photograph showing the structure of MarinePure.

MarinePure is light enough to be suspended in the basket of your canister filter, yet it sinks when dropped in water. This is important since most other ceramic and plastic media available has to be kept in a mesh bag and weighed down to prevent it from floating and getting stuck in the return pump’s impeller. One additional advantage to MarinePure is how easy it is to cut it to size- a kitchen knife or a small hacksaw is all you need to cut out desired shapes.

MarinePure is not the cheapest biological media available, but given its vast surface area and flow-through technology, the premium price seems to be justified. In South Africa, a 1.9 litre box of 1.5” spheres (balls) retails for around R625, and a 8″ x 8″ x 4″ (20.5x20.5x9.5cm) block for R1050.

In summary, MarinePure is by far the most advanced biological media available in the market, and it already has a legion of followers amongst both freshwater hobbyists and saltwater tank keepers. It’s a great choice to supplement reef tanks where only minimal live rock (or none at all) is used, and in a large systems where biological filtration is in high demand. Freshwater aquariums benefit greatly from biological media and with MarinePure, much less can be used to achieve the same ammonia and nitrate removal capabilities.