Why are white ceramic rings used in aquarium biological filters? Whats the use and benefit of it?

2 Responses to “Why are white ceramic rings used in aquarium biological filters? Whats the use and benefit of it?”

1. setucrazy says:

   March 24, 2010 at 4:56 am

   Bioligical filters work because they’re colonies of bacteria. The ceramic rings are porous with extremely high surface area, allowing these colonies to grow in abundance. The rings are bulky, packing loosely, allowing for water to flow easily over all the surface of the rings, which allows more of the chemicals to be treated by the filter. The rings are also inert so they won’t kill your precious swimmers.
2. huggz says:

   March 24, 2010 at 5:43 am

   There ceramic is a particular type which is very porous and has lots of surface area for bacteria to breed. These are the good bacteria which change your ammonia ( from fish waste and decay of plants etc) into nitrites, and then different bacteria which share the media, will change if from nitrites to nitrates.
   Ammonia and nitrites are highly poisonous to fish, nitrate is also poisonous but the levels have to be very high to actually affect the fish.
   This is the biological filter.
   The mechanical filter merely catches particles of debris in its structure.