Loaches Online Forum

Ok so I'm looking for materials to use for nice biological media. I was wondering if I could just use random stuff like the fluffy eggcrate material used for various things like beds, packaging and so on. It looks like it could probably hold a ton of bacteria since it has so much surface area.

I just got engaged and most of my money went to the rock, so I'm totally open for low to no cost solutions

Fine, rough gravel (not the rounded stuff) should work, not as good as pourpose made media, but a lot cheaper.
You should use more than you would usually use.

What about that egg crate stuff? Will that work? It's the same consistency as the bio stuff that came with my filter pads from drsfostersmith.com

Isn't that made of cardboard (in Holland it is...)
Putting that in your filter will make a right old mess if you ask me.

No its not the actual crates that eggs come in, its a foam thats used for packaging, sound deadening, and sometimes used to make beds softer.

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This stuff fits almost perfect between the fins in my sump, and would allow the water to flow in the grooves.

Haha, thats definitly different to the stuff we transport eggs in

But are you absolutly sure the stuff is inert?

In other words does it contain anything harmful to fish at all.

If you're not sure, would you want to chance it???

I'm not sure that's why I was asking. How do you test something to see if it is inert?

You where wondering if you could use the stuff

Don't exactly know how to test it.
There are so many things that can alter the water chemistry or give of harmfull stuff, I woudn't know where to begin.
(in holland there are 'weekmakers' in most plastics, don't know the translation, just know its bad for fish)

You could probably test it on a different tank, chuck the stuff in, with some fish, if they don't die, its probably allright.
Not sure if you would like to test that way.

If u really want to go on the safe side. Why not buy some of the internal filter sponges?

I know that some lfs with pond filter sell them in huge sizes.


This is a picture of a small one.


I would go for the blue one which isnt waved solid. (middle one on the picture)

Do not use the material you are calling egg crate. It is so fine that it will plug up with debris, slow the water flow and starve the bacteria for oxygen.

The coarser sponge material in that picture is much better. Yes, there is less surface area, but the surface area that there is is better exposed to lots of water flow to keep the bacteria happy.

Lava rock works OK, too, it has all sorts of surface area, yet is chunky enough to keep the water flowing. I used some 3/8 lave for a planted sump and the water never quit flowing.

The concern with the sponge sorts of materials that are not designed for aquarium use is that they may be made of material that is toxic to the fish. Set up some sort of system or just put some of that material in a tank with some Guppies or Danios and see what happens. Let the test run for a month or longer.

Do you know what sort of foam that stuff is? Polyester foam is OK, urathane foam is not.

Thanks Diana,

that's what I was trying to say about the toxicity, if my English was sufficient.....

Ok this is pretty cool. I work for a paint company in their IT department. One of the chemists let me use their FTIR machine to ID the foam. He's been working here for 25 years and was able to tell what it was just by looking at the graph it created in the machine's software. He's 90% sure it's urethane. So it's most likely not safe. This is some real CSI stuff, and I was totally geeking out over it.

Sounds like a great connection!

Yes it is. If anyone has a resource like this I'd be really interested in your library of knowns. (FTIR spectrographs)