Biohome

biohome1

New Member
Hello Everyone.

We are the main distributor of Biohome sintered glass filter media in the UK.
Biohome appears to have become the media of choice by Arrowana keepers in Asia and there are lots of reviews of Biohome on the various Arrowana forums in Singapore,Malaysia and Indonesia.
It seems Biohome is difficult to obtain in Canada and US,we hope to change this by being able to ship it at a sensible price to anyone who has found it hard to find.

I look forward to answering any questions about Biohome anyone may have.

Michael
 

chen88

Super Moderator
Welcome Michael...very much looking forward to one day soon i hope using your product!
 

biohome1

New Member
A couple of examples of what it costs to ship Biohome to Canada are on our website www.mckoi.co.uk
Its takes around 3/4 days to get there.
Biohome needs between 21-42 days to start to function and where possible a little existing media should be added to seed it.

Michael
 

rulaifu

New Member
A few questions (sorry if I ask for stupid questions as I haven't looked at fish stuff for many years)
1. Is your product (both grades) ideal for the sump or canister filter? Or functions the same on both way
2. For sump, can your product be put together with bioballs?
3. For canister filter, does your product function as substrat and work well with ceramic rings?
4. The ceramic rings is lifetime, which means you don't need to replace them in certain period of time. How is your product?
5. If this works for canister filter, how many kilo is needed for EHEIM PRO iii and how many kilo is needed for Fluval X5
Thanks
 

Joey

Moderator
A few questions (sorry if I ask for stupid questions as I haven't looked at fish stuff for many years)
1. Is your product (both grades) ideal for the sump or canister filter? Or functions the same on both way
2. For sump, can your product be put together with bioballs?
3. For canister filter, does your product function as substrat and work well with ceramic rings?
4. The ceramic rings is lifetime, which means you don't need to replace them in certain period of time. How is your product?
5. If this works for canister filter, how many kilo is needed for EHEIM PRO iii and how many kilo is needed for Fluval X5
Thanks

Sorry to butt in, but the answer to your questions is as follows:

1: sintered glass media is fine and performs well in any application. Bacteria doesn't care what it lives on, but that bacteria performs differently in a canister than it would in a wet/dry. Media has nothing to do with how the bacteria will react in a certain setting.

2: The Bio Home has far more surface area than bio balls do. combining the two shouldnt be an issue, but watch for channeling.

3: Bio home comes in the form of smaller cylinders. They would work the same as the ceramic rings.

4: No sintered glass media, or ceramic media lasts a life time. It will eventually clog, and even disintegrate. Having a good prefilter will help prevent clogging, and so will proper maintenance(rinsing every few months) Proper care will make the media last a very long time(several years) but not life. Eventually its always a good idea to add new, and remove some old. Never all at once.

5: Ask him how much comes in a liter, or gallon.
Once you know, you can calculate it on your own, based on your canisters capacity.
 

biohome1

New Member
I would agree with the answers given but add a little.

1:Biohome is used in both sump and cannister filters, the most critical factor to get the best from it is flow rate, longer the contact time between water and media the better it works.

2: Biohome can be used with any other biological media, the best way to prevent channeling is use it in layers with something like jap mat.

3:It works with ceramic rings but is really instead of.

4:We have had report of it lasting 15 years but I would expect after many years use it will start to breakdown due to the water flow. there is nothing easier to clean,just a rinse and its done.
I agree to change bit at a time.

5: We sell Biohome by the kilo, a kilo is around 1.25 litres by volume, I do not know the volumes of the cannister filters mentioned.

Hope this helps
 

Joey

Moderator
FX5 holds 5.9 liters.... so you'll need just under 5 kilos there.

Pro 3 holds 12 liters(+1.5L for mechanical) so you'll need just under 10 kilos there.
 

rulaifu

New Member
Thank you.
If I understand correctly, once I put the biohome in the canister filter, I don't need ceramic rings nor the substrat, but just biohome based on the volume provided by MOTORO
 

biohome1

New Member
Yes. just the Biohome and a little existing media to seed it with, plus some form of mechanical filtration to take out the solid waste.
Biohome is NOT a mechanical filter media.
 

Joey

Moderator
The sponges that came in your canisters act as your mechanical filtration rulaifu. The bio home will be used to fill up the canister trays.
 

rulaifu

New Member
Before I will take action to buy, I would like to know:
How many times better BIOHOME vs EHEIM substrat?
Thanks
 

biohome1

New Member
I can only give you the figures for Biohome I do not have any for Eheim.

Biohome is about 42% porous and has a specific surface area of around 1 sq mtr per gramme.

How this is achieved can be seen under magnification ( a magnifying glass is fine no need for a microscope) Biohome is made by creating a matrix of different size particles, it looks like a pile of snowballs !
Each particle has a surface area, put them together and these are the sort of figures you get.
Other sintered glass filter media are full of microscopic holes wwhich is why they tend to clog, Biohome is not made in this way.

How many times better is it than Eheim ?

What are we measuring ?

Biohome has been around longer so no one knows yet if Eheim will give the same life span.

Both products are available in Asia but on the various Arrowana forums Biohome appears to be the media of choice and its not because it costs less I think its more expensive.
 

Joey

Moderator
EHEIM substrat is volcanic rock as far as i know.... volcanic rock in the form that this media is in, is called Pumice. Pumice has an average of 90% porosity.(this is not proven with eheim though)

To see which one is the better media, take a sample of each, and drop the both in water.... which ever takes longer to sink, has a higher porosity. Higher porosity doesn't always mean more surface area though.... higher porosity also means it wont last as long....

Bio home probably has the higher surface area, and will be longer lasting. Plus it is cheaper.
 

rulaifu

New Member
Thank you for all the valuable informations. Once I have myself convinced with more clear picture, I will get back to you. Have a great weekend.
 

biohome1

New Member
A new version of Biohome is under trial at the moment for use in moving bed filters, its not on the market yet but can be seen on you tube under " moving bed filter Biohome" it works like K1 but being made from glass (silica) is a natural surface to bacteri, more info when we have it...
 

cape

New Member
postage is quite hefty. Wondering if there is enough people interested in Toronto to make a large purchase to reduce cost.
 

biohome1

New Member
Take a look at the new filter media from Biohome at bio-motion.co.uk it can be used static but it is designed for use in commercial moving bed filter systems to upgrade there performance
when added to existing K1 style media,over 10x the surface area of plastic and medications do not knock it out like they do on plastic media, its active again in a few days, because the commercial trials of the media are going to take over a year Aqua-Bio who manufacture Biohome are selling it direct to hobbyist fishkeepers via the bio-motion web site. good thing is its lightweight so pretty cheap to ship, 2 litres by volume less than a kilo in weight.
Getting good feedback here in the UK so worth a look..
 
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