# Anybody Use Scrubbies In Your Canisters?



## 4tanks (Feb 8, 2011)

Just curious, I built a skippy filter for pond and I use scrubbies in it. Was wondering how they'd work in canisters.


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## PhantastickFish (Dec 29, 2006)

lots of people do. i dont.


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## MPG (Mar 14, 2010)

I currently use some in my eheim and it works fine.. ehfisubstrat would be 10x better but I was broke at the time so I had to improvise.

Don't cheap out, just get the recommended media.


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

scrubbies work awesome for wetdry filters, but i have my fx5 stacked with them and it seems to work great!


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

Many have used but I would not cheap out.

Eheim substrate for me


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

Scrubbies don't work well in a fully submerged enviroment.


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## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

I have 1 tray in one of my fx5's that's filled with scrubbies, the rest are filled with ceramic rings.


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

have them in my FX5 works fine


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## wizardslovak (Feb 17, 2007)

Johnny_Zanni said:


> Scrubbies don't work well in a fully submerged enviroment.


not to offend you but thats bs









i got scrubbies in wet/dry canister and ac 110

in fact ac110 has nothing else but scrubbies and i have never had problem with water , all parms are great and RB is happy there


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## zeefs (Jul 26, 2010)

i had the scrubbies in 1 tray of my fx5 and always showed a small trace of ammonia as soon as i switched to fluval bio max ammonia was gone. thats just what happened to me on 1 tank so to each their own


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## Sanjo Eel (Aug 21, 2008)

I have a tray or two of scrubbies in both my canister filters. I bought them cause I didn't have $100 to spend filling it up with CR to begin with, so I am just replacing them with CR over time.
Also,they work great on my cast iron pots.


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2011)

the green scrubbies are just meant to replace the mechanical filtration correct??? so you would use scrubbies... instead of the sponge in the ac110?? correct???

so zeefs comparing "fluval bio max" and green scrubbies is not really a fair comparison?


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## zeefs (Jul 26, 2010)

no the scrubbies are used as bio media for bb to colonize on. The bio max is way better IMO i always showed some ammonia with those scrubbies untill i switched to bio max and right away the ammonia wAS gone.


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## Gaijin987 (Nov 14, 2006)

IMHO.. I don't understand why most people swear by the ceramic bio rings. maybe because they cost more? more money equals better right??

personally, I don't like ceramic bio-rings, and use only pot scrubbies in all my filters. ceramic bio rings and other media of that nature are a great filter media, the reason they are great is the same reason I don't like them. they have thousands of tiny little pores for the beneficial bacteria to colonize inside of and, for the first 6 months to a year they WILL out perform pot scrubbies as bio-rings seed/colonize the BB faster. BUT then it all changes... after 6 months to a year (depending on your system) bio-rings turn septic as those same pores clog up with dead bacteria/gunk and the biorings lose most of their surface area for BB. alot of fish keepers do a rotation system with multiple bags of bio-rings to keep the rings pores clean. in my experience I much prefer pot scrubbies, they are much cheaper and last for ever, and work great, especially after they are a year or two old and get really "gunky" I never have problems with water params. ammonia and nitrites always read zero. I just gently rinse them in old tank water during water changes... not enough to clean them... just enough to get a little of the gunk off and allow water to flow through again.

just my .02 about what has worked for me... to each their own


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

The pot scrubbers didn't work for me in my fx5, way to much ammonia, yea I'm not rich so every payday (every two weeks) I could afford 2 boxes of ceramic rings.... Took me a while to replace it but now my water doesn't have any trace of ammonia and the flow of my fx5 is way better.


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## the_w8 (Jul 28, 2003)

i have some of those scrubbies in my AC110 along with the rings and it works


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Gaijin987 said:


> ceramic bio rings and other media of that nature are a great filter media, the reason they are great is the same reason I don't like them. they have thousands of tiny little pores for the beneficial bacteria to colonize inside of and, for the first 6 months to a year they WILL out perform pot scrubbies as bio-rings seed/colonize the BB faster. BUT then it all changes... after 6 months to a year (depending on your system) bio-rings turn septic as those same pores clog up with dead bacteria/gunk and the biorings lose most of their surface area for BB. Thats if you don't clean them. Cleanign them every few months will eliminate this problem. Scrubbies are essentially a mech media that BB can colonize but they will also trap debris if not kept clean
> just my .02 about what has worked for me... to each their own


IMO either will work fine but when you are going with something finer you have to work harder to keep it clean. You could use filter floss as a bio media but the problems arise becasue it traps debris too easily. Same with scrubbies, bioballs, mech rings, matrix... They can be good biological fiter medias as long as they are kept clean. IF you let debris accumulate in them then it could cause more harm then good imo.


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## Gaijin987 (Nov 14, 2006)

CLUSTER ONE said:


> IMO either will work fine but when you are going with something finer you have to work harder to keep it clean. You could use filter floss as a bio media but the problems arise becasue it traps debris too easily. Same with scrubbies, bioballs, mech rings, matrix... They can be good biological fiter medias as long as they are kept clean. IF you let debris accumulate in them then it could cause more harm then good imo.


_"Scrubbies are essentially a mech media that BB can colonize but they will also trap debris if not kept clean"_ I don't completely agree, but I understand what your getting at and along those lines... I have a pre-filter box before my scrubbies in my sump that is filled with filter floss. the floss gets changed every week during water changes

what do you mean by "cleaning every few months"? because if you are meaning gently rinsing ceramic bio-rings with tank water.... that is not "clean" to me because the pores are still clogged, and their surface area is reduced by over 50%. bio-max even states on the back of the box to replace 30-50% of your ceramic rings every 3-6 months due to pore clogging, and to only do 30-50% at a time to let the old media re-seed the new. some fish keepers keep multiple bags of bio-max or something similar and have some sort of cleaning process set up so while some bags are being used as media.. the others are getting de-clogged. (I've read of a few different methods... some keepers even use a bleach/water mixture, which IMO can't be good)

when I am deciding on what to use for filter media I look at three things.. 
1. surface area (how much BB can the media hold) 
2. ease of use (how often do I have to clean/maintain the media) 
3. lifespan (how often do I have to replace the media)

ceramic bio rings do really good at #1 but at the expense of #2 and #3
bio-balls (pot scrubbies) on the other hand, have about the same or more #1. but because it is external surface area and not internal (tiny pores) they don't lose out on #2 and #3. as I stated in my earlier post.. IMHO the only place where ceramic bio-rings out perform pot scrubbies is in time to seed... (ie they will colonize BB faster due to those tiny pores that I don't like)

not trying to jump on you cluster, your point is valid... I'm just trying to clarify things. I get sick of new people coming here and asking about filter medias and not hearing both sides of the story, and getting told things like "don't cheap out! get the good stuff" instead of being shown the pertaining information and coming to their own conclusions.


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