It is easy to evaluate how good different types of media are as the results of water testing will tell you unless you're using a damaging water conditioner (e.g. Prime) then all the results will be the same with high nitrate (since the bacteria will be kept at an artificially low population through starvation). I'm not sure if you have checked out the video link in the video description and pinned comment but it is a very useful video to show the differences in filter media: bit.ly/3Lfksso Also, here is a link to a study done by Athens university where Biohome is shown to naturally reduce ridiculous amounts of pollutants (including nitrate through anaerobic bacteria activity): ru-vid.comUgkxtEkJp-Ot-sr43DtEwMtd6ReLzSK2yQD6 On the same page there is another post where viewers took it upon themselves to post reports of what the Biohome had done for their systems and also what something as simple as water conditioner choice can do (check the comments under the post): ru-vid.comUgkxFdgRRt6GxA1o3ffDzsF5dbOaB5xAuoFX Here's an example of a typical report: @leytonaustin2359 7 months ago I went to Biohome and set my pumps up exactly like you suggest after discussing and researching a couple of years ago. After nearly killing my discus with a massive ammonia spike, and using Seachem Prime, I spoke to you who suggested water changing to get rid of the prime and trusting the media. I’ve not had an issue since, and last time I checked, both my tanks, both with FX6’s brimmed to the fullest with Biohome, are fully cycled and 0,0,0, at most 0,0,10. Thanks for the help! On the 'community' tab on my channel there is also a post on Germ Theory vs Terrain Theory: ru-vid.comUgkxQR8CbpF8GxMbWmhjBk88kKKngpvo6d3G and that post explains what is going on now with paid online 'influencers / ambassadors' pushing absolute nonsense. It's no wonder people are confused about Nature and why they get tricked into using a nation of chemical 'treatments' and huge water changes - none of that is necessary when you have the right level of filtration.

I'm not sure what you are asking here?

If you have a 250 litre tank the FX4 definitely won'y have too much flow. Plants like a good turn over of water and the 3kg of media which the FX4 will hold is easily enough for a normally stocked fish tank (and more than enough if the tank is planted). The FX4 is definitely the better made filter too and will have a greater resale value if you ever decide to sell it. You can get a spray bar for the FX4 is you want to spread the flow through the length of the tank.

Unfortunately the 'pearl' media is far too large to be of any use as the only problem it solves between that and the original media is that it is smooth instead of having sharp edges. Food (and fish) still gets stuck under the pearl media and it is just as bad to clean properly (with a gravel cleaner) since it is much too large. See how it goes but I was very disappointed when I saw them release that stuff for sale.

You're not wrong there, lol

Yup, it only took them over 4 years to make those obvious changes, lol The frustrating thing was that Oase were telling anyone who asked them about the plan to drill more holes in their pipe that it may void their warranty - then Oase did exactly that for the 'pro' version. Sometimes I wonder what the 'scientists' who work for these companies get paid for as it's a simple 1:1- more water in = more water out.

You're not wrong there. The Oase filters are better quality all round.

They both hold the same amount of media (5kg Biohome Ultimate) but the Oase filter is much easier to clean.

@@pondguru thank you

I'm glad you find the videos useful - thanks for watching.

They have Stevie Wonder working in the canister filter packing department.

You could try it with something finer in the pre-filter. I know that plenty of people prefer to use the fine filter foam in the Oase Biomaster filters then fill all the trays with media instead of sacrificing the bottom tray for foams and fine pad. That means you clean the pre-filter more often but such it is a simple task it is popular. That could also work for the Hypermax filter. With regard to the positioning of the intake and outlet pipes just experiment to see what works best for you. As soon as you add any sort of structure and plants it alters the path of the water flow so there is never a right and wrong place.

Cardboard Goldfish

Good one - I'm glad you find the videos useful and best of luck with your tankd. I think my videos are starting to re-appear in subscribers' feeds which is really strange since they've been largely hidden since early 2020 by RU-vid / Google.

Nice one - I'm glad the videos have been useful as I put them out to help. I still can't believe that I've never seen a video like this one since it's such a visual demonstration for viewers who are deciding what sort of filter media to use. When you see the interior of the media at a sensible magnification it becomes quite obvious that some media is useful and some is not - that's maybe why the other (sponsored) channels and 'ambassadors' don't do a video like this, lol

Yes you will need to add bacteria (most people get talked into buying seachem 'stability') to keep the bacteria topped up if you're starving it with prime. It is a ridiculous situation since a system should never need seeding with bacteria outside of the initial set up - when you've got a sensibly sized filter which is set up with suitable filter media and you're not starving the bacteria (with prime) the bacteria will be free to populate the system perfectly in line with the available food (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate). It is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which is locked up and kept from the bacteria, hence the starving effect by prime. It is a pharmaceutical business template which I don't agree with. I made a video on such treatments which may be of interest here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1YCtMYZQlig.html and I did a long post on the 'community' part of my channel which explains why most people unfortunately trust the 'experts' who just want to sell product: ru-vid.comUgkxQR8CbpF8GxMbWmhjBk88kKKngpvo6d3G I hope that helps and best of luck with your tank.

'Simultaneously' implies that you are running them both at the same time on the same pond - that is no problem. Ideally I'd run the 2 pressure filters with 1 pump to save big on electric. Assuming that the filters are feeding to a common point the pump in the pond would feed to an Oase YDB splitter: geni.us/ZGXAQu with 50% of the flow going to each filter. The outlets of the filter would run to a second Oase splitter to rejoin the flow then the pipe would run up to a cascade, shower filter or wherever you would want to take it. Running the filters in tandem like this is the best way to run 2 pressure filters since if they are used in sequence (one flowing into the other) the second one will be doing next to nothing as far as filtering goes. Hope that makes sense and best of luck with the pond.

Nice one - I'm glad you found the video useful and best of luck with the tank.

Most sellers of pond equipment will have the foams in the UK but they are normally only available as a set of 3 or 4. I have them on my website (foams page): www.filterpro.co.uk

Cattle Spire

You asked me this question a few weeks ago and I wrote a massive long reply? If not then this is word-for-word the same question from someone else.

@@pondguru Hmm, I don't believe I did. Just coincidence I guess. Could you link to the video with your reply, would be interesting to read it.

​@@adalwolf8328 I have over 1000 videos on RU-vid so have no chance of finding that reply or comment without spending hours looking for it. If you are using a conditioner which starves bacteria (e.g. prime) it really doesn't matter what media you use since there will be so little bacteria in the system that the nitrate will always be high. I made a video on such treatments which may be of interest here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1YCtMYZQlig.html and I did a long post on the 'community' part of my channel which explains why most people unfortunately trust the 'experts' who just want to sell product: ru-vid.comUgkxQR8CbpF8GxMbWmhjBk88kKKngpvo6d3G I hope that helps and best of luck with your tank. With regard to pore size I made a video a few years ago which shows different types of media at a sensible magnification and the pictures don't lie: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QTtAUYR67Eg.html Unfortunately nobody claiming that media gets clogged or pot scrubbers are better than proper filter media has bothered to make a similar video but that is no surprise. Too many people confuse bacterial slime with bacteria and that is a huge problem as that sort of ignorance is confusing for people who are just looking to get a good filter media which will support bacteria. Plastic (K1, cheap plastic balls etc.) is a hostile environment for bacteria to colonize so it has to build up a slime when successive populations of bacteria live (and rapidly die) on that surface. When looked at under a microscope it is claimed to be bacteria but that is nonsense. Unless you use an electron microscope you will never see individual bacterium. The more suitable a surface is for bacteria to colonize the less slime it will build up so for the likes of Biohome (which is perfect for bacteria) there is no slime build up and therefore to anyone cracking it open after 10+ years there will be no 'bacteria' (slime) inside it - the bacteria doesn't need to build up slime when a surface is suitable for colonization. I hope that makes sense but if not then feel free to ring me any time on 07772848730 no worries. There is so much fake information online that I'm never surprised when people are confused - if a (sponsored) channel with 200K+ subscribers is saying something it must be true, right? ... lol

@@pondguru Agree this hobby is full of anecdotal information. Thanks for clarifying.

Groovy - sounds good to me. Best of luck with the tank.

Yup, it's the way anyone who knows about filtration has always filtered water - that's why you see the same process in water treatment plants and sewage plants. Somehow that didn't translate properly to the aquarium trade and I've never understood why. I still get opposition now from people commenting that they will never alter how their filters are set up since the manufacturer must know better. They definitely 'trust the science'.

Since leaving university and the schooling system (which I hated from the age of 5 to 21) I have had a quest for proper knowledge so I appreciate it if the videos have helped. BTW, 'shit the bed' is a type of chili sauce which is very popular in Australia and I really want to try it since it seems like a challenge.

Good one - hopefully you got the biggest model since they also do one which is smaller than the filter in this video.

It would be impossible to maintain the correct level in the tanks unless they were joined by a suitable sized pipe. Separate, no. Linked, yes.

That is a mighty high price but I did pack a ridiculous amount in this small sump.

That definitely seems like a great deal - best of luck with the tank.

That is a great solution - sensible and simple. Best of luck with the filter and tank.

If you're trying to create an under gravel system like I've done here any substrate you use will end up getting mixed together since the system is cleaned using a gravel cleaner. Using the small pumice ('matrix') is no problem since it will do the job of ordinary aquarium gravel but ideally you'd use something which is good for bacteria to colonize and not white in color since white substrate tends to bleach out the color of the fish. A darker substrate is always better for fish color. If you want to build a cheaper (and less effective) version of the set up shown in the video you'd definitely be better off using ordinary aquarium gravel as opposed to pumice due to the color problems associated with white pumice.

Thanks for your advice I really appreciate it. I had one other question. Since the white pumice doesn’t seem to be good for the setup could I use the alpha grog that came with it over the foam and then put a layer of the fluorite glass pebbles over that to make the bottom smooth. I understand it would get mixed up when cleaning but the alpha grog is bigger and easier to separate (or I could just be creating a giant headache for myself 🤷‍♂️) but would it still provide the same biological filter while covering the large holes and gaps and sharp surfaces that are associated with the alpha grog?

@@AB-oq8qe The reason for switching from the Alfagrog to the small gravel substrate is to make it easy to clean. Adding Alfagrog over foams won't make it any easier to clean. An under gravel system relies on having some sort of small substrate over the top of the foams in the Biorb or over the under gravel plate in a traditional tank. If you use large substrate over the foams you will not be able to clean the system properly. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for your response. That makes sense to me now. I’ll probably order the biogravel and then use the white decorative stones Oase has on their website to help with the aesthetics. Thanks for all your help.

@@AB-oq8qe As long as you can easily move the stones out of the way to allow you to properly clean the tank (with a gravel cleaner) it's all good but an under gravel system generally wouldn't have large stones over the substrate.

100% - an air rifle in the UK is a vastly underrated survival rifle but one of the best for sure. Way more accurate (and powerful) compared to an air pistol and an air rifle will harvest all the sensible sources of food no problem. I shot for many years with nothing more than a decent air rifle and had great success. However, you may be interested in a video I made on my other channel since it shows the Ruger 10/22 build I made a few years ago which is my go-to rifle: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FNqOdz-Suzo.html

I'm not sure about that but I do my best.

(my other channel) You're lucky to get that much - I can't even get any video from this video. It just cuts out and resets every time I try to play it. RU-vid has been messing quite severely with my videos so it is no surprise that it won't play or has no sound.

No worries and thanks for watching.