I have a canister filter with 3 sections for filter media and i‘m deciding whether to use bio balls or ceramic tubes? i already have both but which is better? This will be used in a freshwater tank!
Depending on the size of your canister filter. Sorry I'm in metric when it comes to liquid measures but, in a filter that holds less than 10 litres you really don't get enough surface area for your bacteria to thrive. And the speed of the water moving through these smaller filters is quite fast and can actually prevent good bio populations from growing well. Over 20 litres bio balls are great because they are quite open and let a large volume of water through while still allowing plenty of surface area for your lovely bio population. Also the water is moving at a lower pace when you get to this volume. At the Aquarium / store I worked at for many years, we ran big sump filters up to 250 litres on some of our displays. They were very well established and a couple of them had nothing but bio balls and other than the actual pumps needing a service and clean every three to four months, we never did anything with the filters. On our discus display though we ran canisters, as the discus were not able to cope with the overflows to the sumps. The canisters for them were around the 10 litres, and they were run with ceramic noodles, and did very well. Just a cool water rinse, and good clean of impellers and in/out lets every 10 to 12 weeks was enough to keep them working really well. At home I run canisters and still find the size of the filter, is the closest thing to a rule in the bioball ceramic noodle debate. Of course in the long run it comes down to personal choice and individual situation.
The ceramic tubes will work best in a canister filter because of the over all size. Bio Balls are geared more for sumps than canister filters. ceramic will offer you more surfs area than the bio balls and I think cost is less as well. When it comes down to it they both do the same job .
