# DIY Bio Media?



## Ital_stal (Jun 4, 2010)

Anyone make their own bio media or use household alternatives?
I just purchased a dozen pot scrubbys as media (6 for $1 at dollarama) was curious if anyone has used these.

I've also herd of using other stuff such as lego blocks and plastic army men.


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## bluedog800 (Nov 24, 2010)

Ital_stal said:


> Anyone make their own bio media or use household alternatives?
> I just purchased a dozen pot scrubbys as media (6 for $1 at dollarama) was curious if anyone has used these.
> 
> I've also herd of using other stuff such as lego blocks and plastic army men.


yup i do use the same pot scrubbys, have them in 2x 1200 cascade filters, one 2213, and several HOB's

i do like them, simple and affordable.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I too have used plastic pot scrubbers. They are cheap, effective, and easy to clean. If they get plugged up, they can be unrolled. There was a good page from Werners pond that had a comparison of a variety of bio media, but it appears the page is now gone. Regardless, pot scrubbies scored very high in the cost/effectiveness ratio.


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## ryno1974 (Dec 6, 2009)

I use them in the sump for my 100 gallon. I have 200 of them in there, and in the past two years I havent had to touch them. Work great, and I am planning on using them more in the future.

Not sure are green army men though


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## liz (Jan 16, 2008)

What are plastic pot scrubbers?? Anyone have a pic. of them?


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## bluedog800 (Nov 24, 2010)

these are the ones that i use.


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## dogger99 (Jan 18, 2009)

where did you buy them??????????????



bluedog800 said:


> these are the ones that i use.


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## bluedog800 (Nov 24, 2010)

dollarama or a buck or two probably the first one - they are all the same as long as they are made of just plastic.


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## damianrosario2000 (Nov 3, 2009)

I have also used sponge, smashed building bricks, leca (porous clay used for gardening) and the plastic hose that is used to isolate wires into a wall. All of them worked awesome. In fact, those are the materials that i have now in my diy canister.


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

so your just putting these in your filters to catch some crap?


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## liz (Jan 16, 2008)

does the dye in them leach out into the water?


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## dogger99 (Jan 18, 2009)

joe said:


> so your just putting these in your filters to catch some crap?


according to some online sources about surface area....

the average pot scrubbie has around 370 m2 of surface area per cubic foot, while Bio balls have have around 160 m2/cu.ft. so Bioballs have less then half of the effective surface area and cost over 3 times as much as nylon pot scrubbies.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I have yet to see any indication of the dye leaching out. The scrubbies don't lose colour even if placed in pure bleach.
As far as surface area goes, the scrubbies beat bio balls which aren't really meant to be used in a cannister. They are normally used in a wet dry that is rather large comparatively, and there are a lot of them to make up for the relatively small surface area to volume ratio they represent.


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## bluedog800 (Nov 24, 2010)

if by crap you mean beneficial bacteria, then yes - physical crap, no, the idea is it is large enough to pass by toward other filter pads that will be cleaned....


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