Effectiveness of BioHome

[stormchild]

Hi all. My fishes keep dying when i exceed 12 fishes in my 2 feet tank. One or two of the more fragile speicies will almost definitely pass on when i stock 14 or 15 fishes. The filter i'm using is a cheapo Eden 501 lookalike that goes by the brand seven star. Initially i thought it could be due to the filter itself. Then recently, i came across biohome and decided to try it out after seeing the selling point that you may be able to stock more fishes with biohome.

So the questions:
How effective is the claim that you can stock more fishes when using Biohome as filter media?

Is it a good move to supplement my biohome with activated carbon?

Thanks for any reply.

[stephen chung]

I don't think Eden 501 is enough for a 2ft tank..Try using a bigger filter like eheim 2215..

[bossteck]

Better yet, consider getting a bigger tank

Serious! If you can afford the money and space, and you like to have a larger stock of fishes, why not? In the long run, you benefit by having a larger margin for error, and your fishes will thank you for the bigger space.

It is not a good idea to push your filteration to its limits during 'normal operation' because if things goes wrong, it can go realy realy wrong.

I am using 3 boxes (small) of biohome in my sump tank along with other biomedia. Even though I am using it, there're really no way for me to comment if the claims on the box is really true or the effectiveness of it because I have not done any experimentation. But I believe in terms of space efficiency, biohome has an edge of other bio media like ceramic rings or japanese mats.

On the use of activated carbon, it is usually not recommended by most hobbyist here, because the general view is that it acts as a sponge for toxins and just like a sponge, once it is saturated, it becomes useless and may even start to leech the toxins back into your tank. There're different views on the leeching part thought, but what most agree is that there is a saturation point, and once that is reached, the activated carbon does not do its job anymore. My personal view is, never leave carbon in your tank unless there's something in it which you want to get rid of, once it is ridded off, remove the activate carbon.

[uklau]

Biohome is a media where beneficial bacteria will colonise. The more it is, the more efficient it will be in converting ammonia to nitrite & finally to nitrate. While your fishes may not suffer from ammonia poisoning, too much nitrate will also kill the fishes.

[valice]

Biohome is just like any other ceramic rings. Housing for nitrifying bacteria to colonise and then helps to break down harmful ammonia and nitrite into less harmful nitrate.

If I am correct, Biohome plus is the more expensive version which already has dormant bacteria on it and so almost immediately, you have the bacteria.

[New_garden]

biohome is a good filter media.. in fact i stop using other media after trying biohome. it does help in maintaining water parameters. i think the plus version provides some kind of added nutrients to the beneficial bacteria.

The important thing to whether u can stock more fishes depends on why the new additions are dying. if the causes are because of aggression, competition for food etc then changing the media/filtration probably wouldn't work too

[New_garden]

for activated carbon i dun think its reccomended to use it for long term. Main thing is that I'm too lazy to change it... Just use AC temporarily when your water screws up and you need a quick remedy or u just simply want to clear up the water

[Shadow]

By the way, what fishes that you have? How big are they?

I got 40 fishes + 20 shrimps in my 2ft tank for 3 months without any issue. But all my fishes are small pygmy cory and Trigonostigma espei

I agreed that 501 is too small for 2ft, I'm using 2215 and 2kg biohome. One thing that I notice after using biohome, I have less/none green algae, those that usually stick on the glass. I guess the information written on the box is true

[stormchild]

i currently have:
3 otos.
1 zebra oto.
1 tiger oto
2 royal killies
2 gardneri killies
1 dwarf puffer
1 female ram

RIP (since the tank was started):
1 Lyretail killie
several zebra otos
1 dwarf puffer
several clown killies

and the one that really made my heartache and prompted me to start this thread... my handsome male german ram.

I agree that my filter is too small... that's why i bought biohome with the intention of maximising whatever i have at the moment. I am actually holding out till next year when i get my 4 feet. Then no more cheapo filters.

but the issue of fishes dying from lack of food or aggression is most definitely out. As far as i can tell, it's a very peaceful tank. And everyone gets their favourite food 6 days a week (1 fasting day).

I just hope that biohome can help to hold out for me. At least until my 4 feet is cycled and ready for fishes. thanks everyone for the advice.

[Quixotic]

If you understood what nitrogen cycle is about, then you would understand how Biohome or any other biomedias work. The bacterias, that colonise Biohome or any other biomedias, are the ones that will help in removing ammonia/nitrite.

How effective is it? It is certainly effective enough to help remove the waste, as do other biomedias. So yes, you can stock more fishes by using more biomedias in your filter.

However, there is a lot more to it than just the biomedias alone, stocking, plants, feeding and maintenance etc., they are all inter-related in an aquarium environment.

If you stretch your stocking bioload beyond the colonised bacteria could process waste, if you indulge in heavy feeding every day which introduces a lot more waste, if you clean your biomedias using tap water directly which kills the colonised bacteria etc., then you will be putting your fishes at risk and your biofilter would struggle to cope with the waste.

So when it comes to fish stocking, sometimes less is more. You need to feed less and therefore, less waste.

Alternatively, plants can also remove the waste and nitrification can be de-emphasised, which is why there is contention that fishes are healthier in a planted aquaria.

As for activated carbon, I am not keen to subscribe to the notion that it will leech toxins back, even if it is possible theoretically. However, these scenarios are unlikely to happen under aquarium conditions. As not all activated carbon are created equal, I believe this can be attributed instead to products that are of lesser quality.

Some previous disucssions on activated carbon.
To carbon or not to carbon?
What are the effects of using activated carbon?

[zyblack]

I remembered seeing on Biohomme's website 2 years back saying that it is used in water treatment plants in U.S. to treat sewerage. Think that should put your mind at peace about its efficiency. I think it is good if you are using a filter with limited media capacity like say an internal filter or Eden 501 lookalikes. If you are using the bigger external ones than maybe more economical to get cheaper medias like say the common ceramic rings.

[larlee]

i currently have:
3 otos.
1 zebra oto.
1 tiger oto
2 royal killies
2 gardneri killies
1 dwarf puffer
1 female ram

RIP (since the tank was started):
1 Lyretail killie
several zebra otos
1 dwarf puffer
several clown killies

and the one that really made my heartache and prompted me to start this thread... my handsome male german ram.

I agree that my filter is too small... that's why i bought biohome with the intention of maximising whatever i have at the moment. I am actually holding out till next year when i get my 4 feet. Then no more cheapo filters.

but the issue of fishes dying from lack of food or aggression is most definitely out. As far as i can tell, it's a very peaceful tank. And everyone gets their favourite food 6 days a week (1 fasting day).

I just hope that biohome can help to hold out for me. At least until my 4 feet is cycled and ready for fishes. thanks everyone for the advice.

I am using seven star too for my 1.5 ft. tried on a 2ft tank, it cant handle the volume of water(just testing to see how it handles since it has a flow rate of 200l/h) you can just get hydor prime 10/20 for less than $90
prime 10 can handle 80-150l of water so it should be enough to take on a 2ft tank. or you can still add a sponge filter

[stephen chung]

stormchild,

Eden501 is no cheapo filter. I think it is the best for its class. You are just using the wrong equipment thats all. Get a 2nd hand filter since you are not using it for long term.

[Titus]

I am an avid user of BioHome or rather Biohome Plus. Never turn back since I started using them.

The maximum I ever had was 12 x L360s in an 2x1x1 IOUS tank with approximately 1.5kg of Biohome Plus . These are adults and the bioload of them are HIGH!!! Constantly chewing on DW and discharging waste.

My personal experience is that Bio Home works best in systems where water are being forced through them. Best results achieved with IOUS or cannister. In OHF, not too effective though.

The other media i ever use together with BioHome are Coral Chips.

All the plus points of Bio Home being said, I would rather under stock, over filterate and aerate in my setup. Why want to push to the extreme?

Cheers
Titus

[wasabi8888]

I feel that killies are hard fishes to keep.. I have lots of fishes in my 2 ft. All are OK but once i put killies in, the killies will go heaven pretty quickly...dun think 12 fishes are that much or C328 very busy clearing dead fishes everyday

[enhanzed]

how to handle bio home if i intend to wash the filters of my ehiem 2213 ?

[valice]

2213 has a feature known as backwash. If you ahve the taps, you open the top tap first and then the bottom tap. The water in the filter will flush part of the mulm out of the filter media.
Then use your tank water to rinse your media filter.
Done.

[Quixotic]

I feel that killies are hard fishes to keep.. I have lots of fishes in my 2 ft. All are OK but once i put killies in, the killies will go heaven pretty quickly...dun think 12 fishes are that much or C328 very busy clearing dead fishes everyday

What you don't see is auntie changing their water every few days. You can have a higher bioload provided you have ways of lowering the waste, one of which via water changes every few days.

Oh, twelve L360 in a 2 feet tank is definitely stretching the bioload, which is why you need to have a huge amount of media to support them (1.5 kg of Biohome). Plecos generally generate a lot more waste than other fishes, and the tank setup is normally devoid of plants (which helps remove waste). Don't forget L360 can grow up to 30cm in size as well.

So really, for a tank that size and the number of plecos, you need to have a really good biofilter and very regular maintenance.

[valice]

To be exact is every day. Not every few days.

[Titus]

Oh, twelve L360 in a 2 feet tank is definitely stretching the bioload, which is why you need to have a huge amount of media to support them (1.5 kg of Biohome). Plecos generally generate a lot more waste than other fishes, and the tank setup is normally devoid of plants (which helps remove waste). Don't forget L360 can grow up to 30cm in size as well.

So really, for a tank that size and the number of plecos, you need to have a really good biofilter and very regular maintenance.

Yeap, that's a whole load of bio-load and waste. I used to do 80% WC weekly even with so much BioHome Plus put in.

my largest L360 was almost 11 inch