# ceramical rings



## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Two questions about this,

- Do you think different brands make a big difference in effectiveness?
- Do you think they affect GH?

I saw some for sale in AI for like $5/lb. Anyone has experience with those?


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Being ceramic, they should be inert and not affect GH. There seems to be quite a few opinions as to which is better, although I don't have one. I use plastic pot scrubbers instead, unless they came with the filter.


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## damianrosario2000 (Nov 3, 2009)

As bill said, ceramic is inert so it should not affect the chemical composition of your tank water. I made them myself once for an internal filter. Was really inexpensive. But mainly made them because where i live they don't exist.


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

I use pot scrubbies too. Wouldn't think any difference in brands...but the companies would differ. lol


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

The small red colour rings from AI are not inert. They sell two kinds, a larger cog like one and the smaller one with a lot of pores on the surfaces. I bought the small one a few months ago and tested it with some RO water. Its really dusty and increased my tds from 2 to over 100 as well as increased my gh from 0-1 to 7-8. 

I used about 1/4 quarter litre of the rings and 3/4 of RO water. If you have a large aquarium, I'm sure the effects would be minimum but I didn't want to take the risk. You can do the RO test as well to confirm.

Hope that helps


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

arc said:


> The small red colour rings from AI are not inert. They sell two kinds, a larger cog like one and the smaller one with a lot of pores on the surfaces. I bought the small one a few months ago and tested it with some RO water. Its really dusty and increased my tds from 2 to over 100 as well as increased my gh from 0-1 to 7-8.
> 
> I used about 1/4 quarter litre of the rings and 3/4 of RO water. If you have a large aquarium, I'm sure the effects would be minimum but I didn't want to take the risk. You can do the RO test as well to confirm.
> 
> Hope that helps


I just bought a pound of it today and was told the red ones does not affect your water while the white ones do :/ Would washing it carefully help? I'm planning to use it for my cherry shrimp tank and now I'm kinda scared.


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## arc (Mar 11, 2010)

Did you ask how the white ones affect the water?

Washing should help and having a large tank should further dilute the effects. If you are using it for a cherry thank, it should be fine as these shrimps can tolerate a lot of conditions.


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

arc said:


> Did you ask how the white ones affect the water?
> 
> Washing should help and having a large tank should further dilute the effects. If you are using it for a cherry thank, it should be fine as these shrimps can tolerate a lot of conditions.


I don't remember exactly if it was KH or GH the guy said the white one will raise. He did say it doesn't really matter which one I get if i'm keeping only cherry, but if you do keep CRS you shouldn't use the white one. Im gonna soak it for few nights before using it, hopefully it will be fine.


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