Hello, Has anyone used or does anyone know if Hydroton is a good bio filter media for use in a sump? I have seen it mentioned by a member of this forum and I am try to research on it but no proper comments found in terms of it is good or not! Any comments will be welcome. Thanks,
I don't have any experience with it but wanted to know where you can get some of it? I wanted to try it out.
The stuff floats ... I have used it,not in a sump, as a hydroponic bed on my experimental tanks. Does it work as well as the rings? Not sure - since the outer shell is more baked I do not think you get good flow through the ball, but yes it is usable. Jimmy horticulture shops are the only people I have been able to find it at. Later Ferdie
Hmmm, Taking what you say into consideration, I guess this would still be a better bet than using lava rock? In terms of price I think it would end up in the middle as well, cheaper than rings\seachem matrix\sera siporax and more expensive than lava rock. Also maybe just giving a medium performance as well? Would love to hear from more people that use the stuff
I have used Aquaclay as bio filter media and also the aquaclay ground in place of the gravel in my tank. I haven't had any problems with it at all. Actually it is pretty good. I found it at purlec hydroculture in boksburg. I was told that the hydroton is a better used in hydroponics, aquaponics and hydroculture.
@sandrawandsworth and anyone else interested I got this info from the supplier (I think its the same one sandrawandsworth uses) ***************** Aquaclay F 4-10 Used in an aquarium Aquaclay F 4-10 is the ideal filling material for filter constructions. The 4-10 mm balls allow optimum filter utilization and, a good rate of water flow. On the outer surface, within the big pores as well as in-between the balls bacteria can stabilize and increase. Within the inner pores anaerobic strains of bacteria are able to stabilize and colonize in order to make nitrogen out of nitrate. For multi-layer filter constructions Aquaclay F 4-10 can be put into the provided filter medium bag. Aquaclay should be washed under warm, running water before filling the filter. In new filter constructions the bacteria need approximately 2 weeks to reach roughly 70% of the filter performance. After 4 weeks nearly 100% of the filter performance is reached. The colonization time can be reduced by using bacterial cultures (bacteria starter). When putting it in an already running filter system, you should never exchange Aquaclay® completely. Leave one third of the current material in the filter and fill up the rest with Aquaclay®. This way enough pre-existing strains of bacteria are available to reach the full filter performance again as quickly as possible. In an exceptionally large colonization area of 280 m2/l (this corresponds to 25 l of material with a filter surface of 1 football field) Aquaclay F 4-10 contributes to the optimum cleaning and water quality. In the garden pond the shoal water zone will be planted with „useful plants“ for pollutant decomposition. Here Aquaclay acts as a ground substrate. hereby the construction does not silt up. The cleaning of the water is taking place with Aquaclay and useful plants. The result is clear, clean and hygienically flawless water by optimum space exploitation. The filters are optimally engaged due to the round form of Aquaclay. The bacterial biofilm removes pollutants like ammonia, nitrite and nitrate while consuming the proteins and carbohydrates as food. Phosphates are stored within the material and will not dissolve back into the fresh water. Surface: 280 m2/liter Weight: apprix. 650 kg/m ********************** From my research, this is almost the same surface area as Sera Siphorax. The supplier also told me that they have 100L of Aquaclay on a 1200L test tank that is going well. I think its definitely worth a shot!
if u want hydroton, go here: http://www.hortishop.biz/ i bought mine here..they got shops in gauteng and cape town.. was pretty cheap imo
more specifically: http://www.hortishop.biz/index.php?...&layout=category&task=category&id=7&Itemid=18
Will keep you all posted. Still in the process of designing my tank hence all this research to keep it as cost effective as possible. Both Hydroton and aquaclay are significantly cheaper than conventional aquarium brands so lets see... Might test some out in my Aquaclear 300 on a 4foot in the mean time!
Spotted something new at the nursery today - a product called hydroball .. R90 per bag - think the bag was like 20l or so but did not check on volume - my bad. Also see they now have a co.za site. I did not purchase it since it is larger than the hydroton that I use but did find this vid ... Might be an alternative for the hard to find hydroton. Later Ferdie
Hydroball in mini aquaponics tank Hey Guys, Been researching for my mini-aquaponics setup and came across this post. Was also looking for a bio-filter. Got some Hydroball now in my mini-aquaponics setup. 11 baby Tilapia fingerlings and a grow-bed full of Hydroball. Going to put some seedlings in the setup tomorrow, so will let you know how it all goes! But sofar so good! Will try upload a pic of my minisetup asap!
Hey Guys, Hydroton is excellent stuff! I have been using it for years and it is so far the best performance for the money that I have found. It is as good as Siporax but is a fraction of the price! Purlec in Atlasville is the cheapest I have found it. It does float but all I do is cap it with Ceramic Rings.
Daryl, is this the pricing you get from them, or do they have better pricing if you go there? http://www.purlec.co.za/ecorderform.html http://www.purlec.co.za/acorderform.html http://www.purlec.co.za/phorderform.html
@TomK To be honest, I have purchased there only once - as this stuff really lasts forever - and cant remember how much I paid. However, I shopped around a bit and as an example, it was about half the price of HortiShop. I unfortunately forget his name but "the guy" - a very nice Canadian - is the importer of the product and had bag loads of it the last time I was there. Apparently he does have a warehouse but I met him at his house in Nightingale street. Do yourself a favour and Google the contact details for Purlec and give him a call. Daryl
I also bought mine from him. Cannot rem the exact prices, but was the cheapest. Very nice guy. I am using mine in my canister filters and it is going well so far!
Mini-Aquaponics Setup Photo Here it is! The two net pots have basil seeds and coriander seeds... so those *should* be sprouting in about 2-3 weeks. The Hydroball has a mixture of seeds. And the Fish Tank has 11 happy tilapia (2cm-4cm)... happy but hungry...I better go feed them! :-D
